Tips For Homeschooling During The COVID-19 Pandemic

The following tips for homeschooling can provide you with all you need to know about homeschooling especially during the COVID-19 pandemic…

We can all agree that the year 2020 has taken us all by surprise. Many of us back in March didn’t even think it possible that by the end of this year we would be still struggling with COVID-19 within our community (as is also worldwide) and without a clear and finalised date for a safe vaccine. This has led to a lot of uncertainty and fear when it comes to sending children to school, especially for those parents and children who are deemed vulnerable and susceptible to complications in relation to this virus. For this reason I would like to share with you some tips on homeschooling that I’m personally applying with my own children whilst homeschooling them since the beginning of this scholastic year. This is especially for those parents who are worried that their children are missing out on their learning experience, and who feel the need for some extra guidance on how to go about with homeschooling during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Note: If you are already being supplied with daily homework/guidance by your child’s teacher directly, please follow that, and only use any of the tips for homeschooling mentioned below as extras. Additionally, please note that the following are tips based on my own personal experience with homeschooling, and that I am not offering advice as a teacher, which I am not, but as a mother.

Tip #1: Considerations

Children are all different, and various factors come into play when adopting a homeschooling method that is best for your own child. Age is an important one of them.

Younger children are easier to homeschool since a lot of their learning is basic and easy, and so, you may be able to follow on the content related to the syllabus, and correct your child’s work yourself.

If your child is at such an age (this is the method I’m using with my own almost 6 year old), start by gathering all the books and workbooks that are being covered by your child’s teacher during this scholastic year and separate the books for each subject. Then start going through the books and choose a couple of the easiest pages for each subject especially Maths, English and Maltese (more on this further down). With each day, you will then start moving to harder/newer units whilst letting your own child’s progress guide you.

Preparation is key! I always make sure to give my daughter some time to play whilst I prepare the content I’m to cover on the day, as that will provide the child with a well prepared structured / formal teaching time. During that time, mummy should switch to teacher-mode 😉 This will help your child to distinguish homework time from the rest of the day.

Some teachers provide their class children with additional handouts during the scholastic year. Whilst it is not the responsibility of the teacher to go out of her way to help out if your child isn’t physically attending school, many teachers are willing to do so especially considering the weird times we are living in. If you have a way of contacting your child’s teacher or school secretary, you could ask whether more content is being given to the children from time to time, and if yes inquire whether there is a possibility of picking it up during an agreed time from the school. Then you can also sort these in the different subject packs and choose daily work for your child accordingly.

Keep everything organised, and collect all work into a box file for safekeeping and as evidence that you have indeed been taking responsibility for your child’s education in the best way that you currently can.

Tip #2: Allocated Homeschooling Time

Hard times call for drastic measures, and sometimes, following a rigid schedule may not work with all children, as happened with my youngest. She can follow and be a ‘good’ student in class physically, but when it comes to homeschool and/or online school, her attention span doesn’t allow her to do much more than 3 hours a day. Thus, I advise you to follow your child, let your child guide you on what is best for him/her.

With my daughter I have adapted a daily schedule of about 3 hours of work from Monday to Sunday (yes, all week, but we are compensating for the lost hours per day this way). She responds much better this way and actually looks forward to her daily homeschooling dose every morning!

As for subjects, I’ve personally adopted the following method: at least 3 pages of Maths, Maltese and English daily (can include extra reading from the school books provided). Then I also incorporate one or two pages daily from Social Studies, Science and Religion/Ethics, alternating these subjects on a daily basis. This will ensure that your child’s focus will still be on the main subjects, but without leaving out any additional subjects.

The good thing about homeschooling is that you can adjust it to your own schedule. Personally I have times when I can’t start homeschooling my daughter at the usual time, especially when I have my own lectures to attend. But that’s okay. As long as we separate that part of the day and adopt the ‘teacher-mode’, your child will adjust accordingly.

Tip #3: Spice It Up!

You can easily make homeschooling a more interesting, fun, learning experience by incorporating related videos to your child’s homeschooling time. The advantage of living in 2020 is that we have unlimited free resources to work with effortlessly. And the best part of all is that a video serves as a small break for your child in between writing tasks. For example, if your child is currently working on tasks about the use of ‘a’ or ‘an’, you can easily search for ‘a or an for kids’ on Youtube, and a list of videos will come up. Choose the videos that you think will appeal more to your child, keeping him/her entertained while learning at the same time. The video below will give you an idea of what I’m talking about…

Do encourage your child to participate during the videos. For example, with the video shown above, you could encourage your child to try say the correct phrase before the speaker by pausing to give your child more time if need be.

Apart from videos, try to get more creative. For example, you can use blocks, buttons, dice and so on in relation to Maths, to help your child visualise related concepts. You can also create number flashcards (if you don’t already have them) and create some fun games with them, which will make homeschooling fun whilst being a learning experience…plus you can also take this as an extra opportunity to bond with your child during this time.

Tip #4: Older Children

Things get a little bit trickier with older children. Some parents may find it harder to help when it comes to correcting such homework, and tension may build up.

As mentioned in the tips mentioned further up, do encourage your child to try to ask the school teachers if they can offer any additional support, but at the same time keep in mind that they can refuse to go out of their way to help, and have the right to do so. But from my experience with my 12 year old daughter, there are teachers who are willing to send handouts online to be printed and worked out, and some also encourage the children to send scanned copies so as to check them. There is no harm in asking for help as long as we do so politely and accept a no if need be.

As mentioned further up, today our children are blessed with a wealth of information readily at their fingertips. Encourage your children to seek out help in relation to their homework. There are a lot of learning resources on Youtube, as well as on the internet. Needless to say, you know your child best of all, and so, take any necessary precautions when it comes to keeping tabs on your child’s online activities for safety purposes.

Another resource that older children can incorporate in their daily homeschooling practice is Teleskola, which although in my opinion is still missing a lot of much needed content, can still provide some guidance and learning. Teleskola features video lessons that have been pre-recorded by teachers, sometimes also including related extra printable resources, for schoolchildren from Kindergarten to Year 11.

A feature that I personally loved especially for my older daughter from Teleskola is the Recorded Lessons section. When scrolling down on that link you will find a ‘Timetable’…click on your child’s scholastic year and you will get a rough idea on what lessons should your child be doing weekly depending on the year group.

Encourage your older child to be in control of his/her education if undergoing homeschooling. This is an opportunity to instill a sense of responsibility in your child. Offer all your support and if need be try to find a teacher who is willing to correct or offer any extra education support for your child during these times, against payment of course. Education is always a great investment.

Tip #5: Go With The Flow

My final tip from my tips for homeschooling list is to listen to your own child’s needs. Be flexible, and if your child is not feeling quite well, go easy if need be. As much as we are being affected by the current situation, so are our children, and stress may impact their learning abilities as well. Encourage your child by incorporating ways to make it more fun and at the same time a bonding experience. Favour positive parenting when it comes to homeschooling, so your child will look forward to it every day.

I would like to finish this tips for homeschooling article with the following image, which I believe says a lot. Life depends on how we look at it. We can choose to focus on all that is wrong (which currently does look like it is quite a lot to handle…), but we can also focus on the better things. This instills a feeling of gratitude within us, and the more we feel grateful, the more things to be grateful for will flow into our lives. So do focus on that feeling of gratitude for having the chance to experience more one-on-one time with your own child, and make this a memorable time for both of you, so in a couple of years time you can look back and still smile.

If you’re a mum like me and you have more tips on homeschooling children, please contact us on [email protected]

If you are a fully qualified teacher willing to help out with corrections or additional support through online means, please contact us on [email protected]