5 tips for parents stuck at home with their kids due to Coronavirus

Due to the recent outbreak of Coronavirus, schools are closing and many parents are forced to stay home alone with their kids. If you find yourself in this situation and are concerned about how to make sure your child doesn’t fall behind, here are 5 tips to keep them learning and occupied without causing too much disruption to your life.

1. Keep your kids on track academically. Khan Academy is a fantastic, free online platform for grades K-12 that children can use to independently learn any subject. The lessons are aligned with common core and personalized to fit your child’s learning style. For even greater personalization, try Khan App Kids for grades Prek-7. Learning can happen completely independently without any help from you. Personalized lessons are available for children with dyscalculia, dyslexia and other special needs.
2. Keep your kids occupied. You can continue to work and get your errands done while your child learns. Torchlight is an all-inclusive curriculum geared towards fitting in learning at odd times while you go about your day. The “carschooling” portion includes quick and easy audio lessons you can use while in the car during short or longer errands by simply pushing play. They also incorporate learning into clever bedtime stories and quick exercises you can do over breakfast and dinner. No lesson prep time required. Just open the book or press play on the audio portion and you are good to go.
3. Teach your kids in 20 minutes a day. Learning doesn’t need to happen more than 20 minutes — 2 hours a day. Since so much time in a classroom is spent on behavioral management and keeping the whole class up to speed on their studies, a parent spending 1–1 time with their child 20 minutes to 1 hour a day with the above curricula is plenty to stay on track. Learn more about the efficiency of mastery learning here.
4. Get creative about childcare: do childcare swaps with neighborsor sign up for a local forest school. If you’re having trouble finding childcare, consider swapping with a nearby parent. Post to a local parent group or message your child’s class that you’re looking for 3–4 parents to swap with and you can all take turns hosting at your home.
5. For social interaction, consider joining a local homeschool meetup. With secular homeschooling on the rise, very welcoming and diverse groups of homeschoolers of all ages meet regularly to play in the park, meet up at the beach or visit local museums. You can join a local group and get plenty of play time. If you’re in San Francisco Bay Area, HUGS/SF is a great local group for kids of all ages, or you can contact Modulo or join SEA to find an active homeschool group near you. If you’re not feeling comfortable leaving the house, consider signing up at Outschool for group classes online.

AND A BONUS: Don’t be afraid of boredom. In our culture, we are often taught that boredom is a bad thing and we have to entertain our kids at all costs, but boredom can be very fertile ground for creativity and help kids foster important qualities like self-reliance. If you’re not convinced, check out this Harvard research on the importance of boredom for learning.

Manisha is the co-founder of Modulo.app , a new website and app designed to support parents doing Modular Learning, a new approach to childhood education that involves greater parent participation in learning and a more flexible school schedule. We are currently providing free services to families affected by Coronavirus to help support them educating their children during the crisis.