Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 49 seconds
I hope that wherever you are, there will be a plan for your work and your child’s education that feels safe to you, given whatever the conditions of COVID are where you are (and not just health but social and economic conditions as well).
Karen Costa has organized and invited me to join a webinar scheduled for August 25, on this topic, and I would love to hear your own tips/ideas! Here is the announcement (and I suppose where you can register as well)
I do not at all feel like an expert on this, and my kid is 8, about to turn 9. I interviewed her about this. What worked well for her last semester and what didn’t, from me and from her teachers. She said that what worked for her was when her teacher gave them math games and such to do, and also when I offered her playful ways to learn material (e.g. using more interesting books about the same subject they were learning; using kinetic sand to learn about fractions). About what she didn’t like: she didn’t like it when her teacher forced them to turn their cameras off (esp early in the morning – though she didn’t say that…). And at home… when I shouted 🙂 ummm I knew that one. She liked it when I worked with her collaboratively on some of her projects. Not in the sense of doing stuff FOR her, but being with her to bounce ideas off of… I sense that she is just one of those people who prefers learning socially… and her school never gave her opportunities to do this collaboratively online – I had thoughts of organizing this myself informally, but never got round to it. All moms were really stressed and pressured as it was anyway… But maybe next year will be different? I don’t know.
Anyway… if you have strategies for how you plan to support your child online next semester (what is their age range?) and you want to insert them here, I might quote/cite you in the webinar! And of course you are welcome to join the webinar!
Early on I showed my kids (both 13) how to set up a Google Hangout and had them invite a few kids from their lunch table at school. Many dropped off after a few weeks, but my son and his best friend still maintain this habit, meeting in Hangouts and watching YouTube videos together from 12-1 every day. It has been a nice way to add some structure to our day and also keep the kids socializing safely.