Schools, kids and COVID-19
In light of recent events, many parents are concerned about how they will manage teaching their children from home if schools close for COVID-19. Regardless of whether your school has closed or not, you may feel uneasy sending your child to class.
Even if you’re unsure about what action your family will take, it is important to familiarize yourself with your options and make a plan if you need to keep your child out of school.
- Independent Study : In many school districts, parents can have the option to enroll their children in an independent study for 7–10 days or longer. If you’re not comfortable sending your child to school, you can email the school principal and let them know that you want to keep kids at home for a certain number of days and ask them to provide school homework to keep up on studies.
- Online learning: Since the early 2000’s, the online learning movement has spread to 110 million students globally. Many of these online classes or MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) are aligned with state standards as well as common core and can be personalized to fit your child’s learning style and special needs. A favorite choice for parents is Khan Academy which is free to the public and covers grades PreK-12th. Lessons require no prep time or parent/teacher teacher involvement. However, you can follow your child’s progress easily as well as coordinate with your teacher to find the right program for your child. It is also easy for your teacher to connect to Khan Academy and follow your child’s progress.
- Worksheets and activities. If you prefer less screen time and more involvement in your child’s education, lots of curricula is available online to support learning from home. Teacherspayteachers is an excellent site with thousands of lessons plans designed by the best teachers in the United States and reviewed by other teachers around the country. You can search “Free” for free materials.
- Local Laws: In the US, parents have a constitutional right to direct their child’s education as they see fit. HLSDA is a great organization with lots of resources and information about how to go about pulling your child out of school on a temporary or long-term basis during the crisis.
- Social interaction. With school closures, parents may be concerned about their children missing out on playtime and enrichment activities. While less ideal than in-person interaction, there are online classes available that provide group interaction to help your children feel less isolated. Outschool, which provides group classes to homeschoolers, is offering its services for free to parents affected by the crisis.
- Stress management and self-care. Staying at home all day with your children can be stressful and overwhelming for the most stalwart mom or dad. Canadian blogger Cassie Howard has some great tips on how to keep your sanity such as making time to leave the house, prioritizing self-care, connecting with other parents and getting support from a therapist or parent coach. https://maplemoney.com/stay-at-home-mom/
And keep in mind that this can be a time for enriched learning — not a pause in learning. Consider making this a time for your kids to study an area of interest to them that’s not covered in their traditional school subjects, or practice a new skill. It can be a time for more outdoor physical activity. And remember that kids can learn from all kinds of things — practicing math while doing a cooking project with you or counting up the score for a board game. Everyday activities can be opportunities for learning during this time — as at all times.
Modulo is a resource for parents interested in playing a more active role in their child’s education and explore alternatives to traditional school. For more information on how to manage teaching your children from home during the school closings, visit https://www.modulo.app/covid19
