Guest Blog Post by April Meyers

It’s safe to say that this year has brought about unprecedented changes to your child’s educational routine. In fact, chances are good that your own routine with work and other activities have changed drastically. And if you’ll be playing a bigger role in your child’s learning at home this year, you obviously want to do your best to ensure that they move forward.

Teach & Kids Learn (TKL) revolves around providing meaningful, effective education for kids of all ages. That’s why we’ve listed some practical tips on how you can supplement your child’s education at home and support teachers in the process.

Understand Remote Learning

There are two primary types of remote learning for children: homeschooling and blended learning. When homeschooling, the parent (or a trusted adult) is responsible for developing and administering their own curriculum to the students. With blended learning, the parent facilitates a curriculum that is created and delivered by a professional teacher. Unless you’re homeschooling your child, they are likely engaged in blended learning, whether they are attending physical classes part-time or doing everything online.

Clean Up Your Home

Once you grasp what your responsibilities are, it’s time to look around your home. Do you have a clean environment that will foster your child’s educational needs? If not, set aside time to declutter and deep clean your home. This not only will help to reduce stress for everyone in the household, but it can also make for better energy throughout the home and minimize any negative consequences like complaining, arguing, and excessive criticism.

Establish and Adjust

One great thing about learning remotely is that it’s flexible. Particularly when it comes to homework, your child can do it at any time as long as it’s turned in on time. Nonetheless, it’s important to come up with a routine that helps your child learn consistently, especially if you are working from home and handling other household duties.

Establish a school routine that maximizes your child’s productivity, but leave room for adjustments. In fact, you probably won’t develop the perfect routine at first; just be flexible as you determine the best way to help your child on their educational journey.

Use Online Resources

There are tons of free and inexpensive resources available to school kids of all ages, many of which have become popular since the pandemic started. For example, Sparkle Stories, Teach Your Monster to Read, and the But Why? Podcasts are great for children in preschool and kindergarten. Codecademy, IXL, and Ted-Ed videos can provide wonderful supplemental material for kids in elementary and middle school. And high schoolers may benefit from utilizing resources like Against All Odds: Inside Statistics, Project Gutenberg, and the Crash Course web series. Spend some time researching these and other great resources to determine which ones you should try with your child!

Help Teachers Where You Can

Finally, it’s critical parents do what they can to support the teachers in their children’s lives. These are unprecedented times, and teachers are trying to navigate them the best they can. Allow for some grace as your child’s teacher adjusts to the new normal, try to be open-minded to different strategies and curriculums, and show up to virtual parent-teacher meetings whenever possible to show your support and offer ideas.

2020 was a very challenging year for students and parents, and it seems 2021 will come with difficulties of its own. Make sure that you understand your role as a parent in your child’s remote learning journey, and try to keep a clean living environment. Develop a flexible routine for your child’s studies, and take advantage of all the online supplemental resources available. Lastly, look for ways that you can encourage and support your child’s teachers.

If you would like to learn more about navigating these strange times or how TKL is transforming education, visit teachnkidslearn.com today!

April Meyers, 
www.mindbodyhealthsolution.com