Education At Home During CoronaVirus

In the midst of CoronaVirus anxiety, social distancing and a new world of kids and parents at home 24-7 without friends or community resources, I asked my friend and neighbor Stephanie to write a few thoughts on homeschooling and educating kids during this crazy time. Last summer, she wrote a guest post about reading aloud during summer break. Her advice on educating at home and resources below are amazing, helpful, reassuring and calming.

For me, I think I just need a loose routine for educating at home – one that is flexible, but gives my 3 girls some responsibility, autonomy, creativity, comfort and fun during this weird and scary time. Plus, it allows me and my husband to get work done too. I love the resources that Stephanie provides to do just that, but I think her resources are adaptable too. I hope some of this will help you as we move into this new path together.

Thanks, Sarah, for inviting me to write about homeschooling for The Wandering Rumpus.  There are SO many places on the internet offering help, guidance, free courses for parents looking for help during these strange days of quarentine for coronavirus.  I’m honored you thought of me to contribute my thoughts to your corner of the internet! 

Is my kids’ educational success contingent on this break?

First and foremost, please know that a break (a few weeks, 2 months, 6 months or more!) from academic rigor in the classroom will NOT derail your child’s education. For example, last year two of my kids were struggling in math. We took 6 months off from introducing new content and reviewed math concepts, did art projects with a math bent, solved word and story problems, and played LOTS of board games with math concepts. Six months later we went back to our math curriculum and the new math concepts clicked; we’re right on track and at grade level. Any future success for our kids is not hinged on the next few weeks or months. With a few resources for the time ahead, all will be well, I promise.

Homeschool Resources

• Years ago I stumbled upon Simple Homeschool.  I immediately loved the “there are no educational emergencies” vibe.  Jamie Martin is offering sage advice and her post about the 3 hour homeschool solution is a great place to start. Grab a math review book for your child’s grade and dive into this post. 

• When my kids were tiny I found Erica at What Do We Do All Day?  Her book lists have been indispensable in sourcing a variety of perspectives and adventures through books.  There are SO many games and activities here. I dare you to try and do all of them over the break ahead.  

• Two of my “sheros” and “homeschool gurus” are hosting a free online conference called Homebound and will be keeping the replays up on the web indefinitely.  I use both Bravewriter developed by Julie Bogart and Story of the Word History Curriculum by Susan Wise Bauer.

• Scholastic has lots of fun and educational material on its website with all kinds of free videos, articles, and activities for kids and parents across a wide range of topics and ages. 

• Read Aloud. If all else fails, reading aloud for any amount of time makes me feel like we’ve accomplished the essentials. Yesterday I had everyone pick a poem to read aloud at lunch. We went through a spell of me reading from history text during afternoon snack. We have listened to audiobooks in the summer while eating ice cream.  We are now in a sweet space of making tea at night, keeping lights low and lighting a candle while I read a fun series of autobiographical books by Chinese-American author Grace Lin: Year of the Dog, Year of the Rat and Dumpling Days.  We started these before we knew coronavirus started in China and I feel like I’m doing my part to fight xenophobia! My almost 13 year old is enjoying them just as much as my 10 and 7 year old.  If your voice needs a break, try audio books.  Our public library just added 3000 new ebooks and audiobooks.  Audible is offering free audio books.  Or have an astronaut read to your kids!

“If you want your children to be intelligent, read them fairy tales. If you want them to be more intelligent, read them more fairy tales.”  -Albert Einstein

Other Homeschool Necessities & Recommendations

• Quiet. A quiet hour after lunch keeps us all sane.  Everyone gets an hour alone, in their rooms to reset.  

• Self Care. “You cannot pour from an empty cup,” said some wise person a long time ago.  I do my best to carve out time for self care: meditating before I leave my bedroom in the morning, a walk outside after breakfast and chores, yoga during kids’ screen time, connecting with friends via text, FaceTime or Zoom, reading before bed.  It is so important to me for my kids to see me taking care of myself and taking breaks when I need them. This 5 minute meditation has been helpful this week! 

• Be at home. However you decide to structure your days remember: your home is not a school!  It’s important to keep home a safe and nurturing place for your kids, especially during this stressful and uncertain time.  Keep things cozy: 
  • play relaxing music (my kids like Lo-Fi beats on Spotify, I like our local classical station).
  • Add snacks that keep blood sugar levels even like fruit slices and nuts 
  • Light a candle 
  • Do work outside on a blanket
  • Read on the porch swing
  • Make tea or lemonade.  We are into making mocktails with ingredients to support the immune system similar to this one. 

Basically:  keep things simple, add a few hours of math, reading and writing practice.  Add snacks! 

• Go outside – This is great self-care, psychologically beneficial and calming to the nervous system and good exercise.  We are so lucky that our local, state and national parks are still open!  
  • Watch a sunrise
  • Plant a garden
  • Make a sidewalk chalk obstacle course (search internet for images)
  • Fly a drone
  • Go on a picnic, your front yard counts!
  • Climb trees
  • Skip rocks
  • Hike, try new trails
  • Start a nature journal
  • Watch a workout on your phone and do it outdoors
  • Look at the stars
  • Have a water balloon fight
  • Go for bike rides
  • Watch a sunset

“Look deep into nature and you will understand everything better.” – Albert Einstein

• Have your kids learn life skills
  • Teach everyone how to do their own laundry
  • Learn more about Money
  • Have the juicy conversations about sex, pornography and consent
  • Cook! We are focused on keeping our immune system strong with food, avoiding things that take a toll on the immune system like sugar, dairy and alcohol.
  • How to listen when someone is feeling big feelings.  We use this chart and let each side share their reality.  Parents can listen to this podcast on Healthy Relationships for an introduction to listening well.
  • Practice Gratitude.  We’ve had fits and starts of this as a family but this was the first thing I started doing after panic set in!  I grabbed up some scratch art note pads that Santa left in their stockings and put them on the dinner table. Kids love rituals, and my youngest looks forward to writing something down and sharing it with the family.  
  • Recycle and compost if you don’t already!

Our kids are always learning.  They are watching us and how we are reacting to the fear and anxiety about the coronavirus.  This is the main education we are giving our kids right now. The comforts that home and healthy, imperfect adults provide right now is paramount.  The academics are important, but let’s put them in the proper place. Keep academics short, keep it fun, keep it cozy and make sure it works for you, your family and your schedule.  It’s okay to let our kids explore, play more and study less in the immediate future.     

Thanks Stephanie! Check out this article for more at-home activities and this one for cooking at home with your kids!