Well, the best approach comes down to whether this is a temporary or long-term/permanent option for you and your family. These options are completed at a time and location of your convenience and have assigned teachers for all classes, as well as providing official transcripts and grades, just like on-ground/in-person school options. Some of the common misconceptions include: Lets attempt to address these one by one. 2) Identify the subjects you would like to teach each of the children. In all honesty, because we got sick of answering the question of Can we watch? questions, we came up with a specific rule to guide their choices. For example, Connecticut only requires a notice of withdrawal, legally, but does recommend (only a recommendation, not a legal requirement) a notice of intent to homeschool and portfolio review. is backordered and will ship as soon as it is back in stock. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites, Common Sense Media. Our children need to be able to disagree and question things when concepts or instructions arent clear to them. No year, and no day, to be honest, looked the same for us, even when I tried to plan it to be the same, and my kids turned out just fine. The ability to have an open and honest discussion with their teacher, administrator, or even boss, is a skill that will only help them in their future. Administrators need to be able to raise concerns when they see inactivity and absences, to agree or disagree with reasons behind them, and then for everyone to be able to constructively discuss options for solutions, and even test out different solutions (and yes, sometimes fail and try something else). Some states and districts are surveying parents to find out their comfort level with the options listed above (or others, depending on the state and district). Marc Zao-Sanders (2018) wrote an informative article on TimeBoxing, accessible here: Organizing your space is another aspect of your current situation that you have total control over. Crafted with 100% of natural origin ingredients, MUTHA Body Butter is a whipped trifecta of shea, cocoa, and mango butters, vitamins, fatty acids, and pure seed extracts. It is important to be fully informed of all legal and regulatory requirements prior to making your choice, so that you are making a fully-informed choice. What is Montessori Education? In sports psychology, life coaching and other venues recently, youve likely heard the term locus of control or phrases like control the controllables. Situations like the pandemic we are currently experiencing bring to light the true meaning of these phrases, as there is so much that is truly out of our control. Another point to consider is that you have every right to make the time spent educating your children as high a priority as any other meeting, so schedule it. Literally blocking it off on your calendar and communicating your schedule with your bosses and colleagues will make sure you are all on the same page and that everyone will respect that time. The first consideration is the age levels you are teaching. Here are a few options, as examples: CDC. Or, are you not comfortable sending your children to school at all until there is a vaccine, for example? Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.focusonthefamily.com/parenting/age-appropriate-chores/, Grown and Flown. If you want to really make it fun and engaging with everyone involved, you or the meeting organizer can make up a bingo card and send it out to everyone on the call. Coronavirus (COVID-19). Starting your day with gratitude and calm activities has been said to start your day off on a positive note. Always made with effective, clean ingredients; never made with fillers or toxic ingredients. You can make, download and print your own bingo card at sites like BingoBaker, accessible here: https://bingobaker.com/ Yet another alternative is to keep your call off speaker, but let your kids mark off the square on the bingo, and you tell them when the criteria has been met. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/, National University Library. Our toddler also participated, at an age-appropriate level, in virtual field trips, science experiments, and other educational activities with her sister. They all come in 8 ounce jars and a little goes a long way. A few of the things that are currently within our control are: 1) our reactions to the current situation, 2) our attitudes, 3) our schedule and 4) our space. If your remote/distance learning/homeschooling is only planned to be temporary, keeping as close to the curriculum their classmates are learning in school will make for the smoothest transition when the time comes for them to go to school and join their classmates again. (n.d.). 4) Ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and identify how each will be held accountable and how opportunities for improvements will be identified, evaluated, and implemented. But, there is also so much that is fully within our control. Instead of trying to convince your kids why they should be quiet and calm during your conference calls and hoping for the best, you might try giving them specific activities to keep them busy during these times. They already do for other meetings and for lunch, right? You will need to determine, based on the number and ages of children, your work schedule, and any other constraints, what subjects you want to teach and can manage to do so with minimal stress. I present to you the conference call activity challenge for today (03/17/2020): Conference Call Bingo (with your kiddos)! Why not act like the dedicated school time is just another meeting? Just take a few deep breaths and enjoy the time you have with your kids, because they really do grow up so fast, and this pandemic and chaos will eventually pass. If you have chosen to homeschool instead of opt into distance learning through your school, and the option is temporary, you may wish to file the notice of intent to homeschool and proceed to work closely with the school to ensure the smoothest transition back into the school when the time is right. Our girls were homeschooled since Kindergarten, and I chose materials for each individual subject for each girl, and planned the curriculum and lesson plans myself throughout this entire time. Note that this option and how it is implemented differs greatly per state. Trust that everyone is doing their best (whatever their best looks like on a given day) and trust that everyone has the childrens best interest at heart are a couple of others. Educators have never taught during a global pandemic, much less taught remotely or taught some students remotely and some in person at the same time. Find a fort posted by someone else and draw a picture of their fort and estimate how many people you think could fit in their fort. The first major hurdle for the transition was figuring out what grade they should be in. Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation app, is providing a series of their meditations for free in the midst of the current situation. These extreme stances come with equally strong language, which can be misleading to the new or uninformed, so it is important to make sure you fully understand the true requirements before making decisions, finalizing your plans, and submitting any notices or documentation. Its challenging to ensure everyone is on the same page during a normal school year, but even more challenging during a global pandemic. AnimalCams. In Connecticut, the only thing you are legally required to do is file with your local board of education a letter of Notice of Withdrawal. The two most commonly tested subjects in standardized testing tend to be math and language arts, so when we homeschooled, we put the most emphasis on these two subjects, integrating the others as appropriate and as possible. The fourth consideration is the schedule of the subjects you have selected to teach. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/slideshow/2173553/coronavirus-school-closings-keep-kids-busy/1/, Wiess, S. R. (2020b). At this point, state and local boards of education are doing the best they can with the little information they have to plan for something none of us have ever had to deal with before. I will gather and post a list of the supplies I always kept on hand soon. ), 3) Do you think you might want to send your students back to school in person either some time this year or in future years? Either way, some people are going to be happy and some unhappy, regardless of the plan or approach that is taken. While you are working on a schedule more customized to you, your kids and your work schedule, two companies, Khan Academy and Scholastic, have recently provided lesson plans and activities free for children who are now staying home due to school closings. In the middle of the fall, we collectively decided that it was time for the girls to attend public school. As parents, educators, and administrators, (and our children) we are all part of a team with a common goal of ensuring that our children are safe, cared for, and that their learning is promoted and supported in all ways possible. It is also an opportunity for us to find ways for our kids to help around the house and to teach them new life skills that are no longer taught in schools. Before you start, identify an award they will earn if you get a bingo and/or if they black out the entire card by meeting the criteria of each bingo square on the entire bingo card. Your next steps are: 1) Identify the age groups of the children you are educating and whether they need to be planned separately or if the plan and content can be the same. Others may be planning their own lessons and activities. Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Think about other ways that you can work to promote trust, constructive conflict, commitment, accountability, and attention to results as part of your students learning team and pick one item to focus on at a time. A great list of them compiled by STEAMsational is accessible here: https://www.steamsational.com/free-printable-homeschool-planners/. Weathering the Storm. that you will be bound by? at the schools themselves, but something to be aware of when asking them for assistance of any kind. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/about-our-ratings, Common Sense Media. All movies, for example, have ratings from Common Sense Media, as well as a kids rating and a parents rating, but even more helpful are the details provided by Common Sense Media behind their specific rating. Common Sense Media, for example, provides a list of Kid-Safe Browsers and Search Sides, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites. 30 Gratitude Games and Activities for Kids to Practice Thankfulness. There are also many online tours of national parks, zoos, and aquariums. If you are homeschooling on your own, you and your children might be the only members of the team, but for others remotely schooling via distance learning options provided through their school or district, there are many other members of the team, as well. It will make your planning much easier and less stressful if you acknowledge right now that you are one person and cannot be an effective fulltime teacher for 8 hours and full time worker for 8 hours, nor do you need to be. Common Sense Media includes reviews of some books, as well. https://medium.com/taskworld-blog/lencionis-5-dysfunctions-of-a-team-330d58b2cd81. Looking at these from a more positive lens, as opposed to negatively identifying them as dysfunctions, the list of what teams need to thrive include: The foundation of working together as a group, especially in a stressful, unclear, unpredictable situation like remote learning during a global pandemic, is trust. When you get stressed or overwhelmed, just remember that surviving is all you and your family need to do right now, and the rest will all work out eventually. The traditional homeschooling community is extreme in their desire to be unregulated and to have full freedom to educate their children however they wish, with minimal or no governmental intervention or oversight. (Also, in Connecticut, if your children were never enrolled in a public or private school, no notice of any kind needs to be filed. (2020). When you are planning your days, you will first need to decide how much time you want (or need) to spend with your focus dedicated to your work (in meetings, for example), and how much time you want to spend homeschooling your child (or children). I was in the same situation as many of you, having to figure out what to do to keep the toddler busy while working with the preschooler. With some states canceling in-person schooling for the rest of the academic year and others extending the closures for additional time periods or indefinitely, but messages coming from politicians that we need to re-open the country, we are in a state of wait and see. Make a fort out of anything you like (Amazon boxes, sheets, blankets, etc.). How might it impact their learning? Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://hslda.org/legal, HSLDA. Hopefully, you have found this content helpful, and are on your way to planning a (relativelythey are our awesome kids, after all) calm, fun and enjoyable adventure educating your children at home while working. If any of you are like me, you started your working and homeschooling balancing act by trying to explain to your children how important work is, and how you have to focus (and they have to be quiet) while you are on work calls. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://welltrainedmind.com/a/what-are-the-non-core-subjects/?v=7516fd43adaa, Common Sense Media (n.d.). However, with everything clearly defined and with trust, constructive conflict and commitment, holding each other accountable for their respective parts becomes much easier, and does not need to involve finger pointing or other negative non-constructive behaviors. The reality is that we need to accept that nothing is going to be perfect in this imperfect situation, so for the perfectionists out there (like myself), if we are surviving and our families are surviving, we are doing the best we can, and that is good enough. There are so many different aspects and layers of trust, as well. While the kids play, you can plan your day(s). Attention to results is the top and smallest portion of the pyramid. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.k12.com/. Best Kids Yoga Videos on YouTube. .css-wj9w2n{font-family:GT Pressura Web,Arial Narrow,Arial,sans-serif;font-size:1.2rem;color:#f86B4E;-webkit-letter-spacing:0.2em;-moz-letter-spacing:0.2em;-ms-letter-spacing:0.2em;letter-spacing:0.2em;line-height:2rem;text-transform:uppercase;}Oh no! Many other options exist, just be sure that you are accessing them through sites that you trust. Khan Academy has provided help and getting started pages for their content here: https://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post/611770255064350720/remote-learning-with-khan-academy-during-school, and the lessons themselves are accessible here: https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSZhOdEPAWjUQpqDkVAlJrFwxxZ9Sa6zGOq0CNRms6Z7DZNq-tQWS3OhuVCUbh_-P-WmksHAzbsrk9d/pub, Scholastic has provided schedules and lessons here: https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html. Game Reviews. 3) All members of the team should remember that discomfort leads to growth and work on being ok with being held accountable, with hearing feedback that they dont really want to hear, and with giving honest, constructive feedback to other members of the team when things arent working well. Age-Appropriate Chores. The second option is for grades 6-8, called Digital Compass, which is accessible here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-compass. To step back and take a look at what this truly means, it is helpful to have a lens through which to view this team and the relationships and responsibilities of the members of the team. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/2218929/how-many-hours-homeschooling-per-day/. Homeschool Laws By State. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from, Zao-Sanders, Marc. The CRHE and HSLDA do a great job of keeping up with the current state regulations and how they are implemented (along with your legal rights and options as a homeschooler) (CRHE, n.d.; HSLDA, n.d.). In my classroom, I start my classes off by having my students volunteer to Tell me something good. The good things could literally be anything, and they have ranged from I had a good breakfast this morning, to My football team won last night. If you want to add variety or switch things up a bit, the Bestow Team created a list of 30 gratitude games and activities for kids, accessible here: https://hellobestow.com/blog/gratitude-games/. Then, your stress levels went through the roof when it didnt all go smoothly with calm, quiet kids and dedicated focus for you. Having a dedicated space will allow you to put everything away in a neat and orderly fashion after every day, so that it is available and easy to access the following day. (Note that this is an unpopular opinion and not promoted or frequently supported in the traditional, long-term homeschooling community, though, so questions about this option in these traditional groups or distribution lists may not be met with the most positive reactions.) While I worked and homeschooled, I had a variety of types of jobs, all technical/knowledge-working jobs, some with more flexibility than others. For other jobs, like when I administered analytics servers, I had more flexibility to design my work day around the desired school schedule. For example, one was created by E. Gilliam, and is accessible here: https://www.conferencecallbingo.net/blog with the printable version accessible directly here: https://www.dropbox.com/s/xbwyrg21rbg79fj/conferencecallbingo.pdf?dl=0. Thats all any of us can do, and the only way we are going to figure out what will work is for everyone to be comfortable communicating and providing constructive feedback when things are not working. If you are teaching one child, you can skip this section. How School Closures Can Strengthen Your Family. Organizing any extra items needed (for science experiments, for example) over the weekend for the entire week will also help make your work/homeschool days flow much smoother. In these times, I found educational videos that could fill the spaces, where my children could still be learning, but I was able to focus on the meetings and my work. This is a great time to have the conversation with your manager about the priorities of the work currently assigned to you, the hours they expect, or require, you to be available, and where flexibility does (and does not) exist in your schedule, workload and work-related responsibilities. Commitment is built on a foundation of trust and constructive conflict. Common Sense Media. The Butter is best for everyday indulgence, pregnant mamas, dryness, soothing skin, minimizing stretch marks, sealing in moisture, and real men who know they need moisture too. They had to tell us the recommended ages by Common Sense Media, parents and kids and were only allowed to watch movies, play games or download/use apps that were 2 years over the lowest age recommended out of the three. Remote Learning with Khan Academy During School Closures. They are used to having their days and activities planned out for them months in advance. The best resource we have found for determining age-appropriateness of movies, games, applications and some websites is Common Sense Media, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/. If you want more information prior to pursuing this option, your best bet is likely to reach out to the school or district directly for more information about what the portfolio review might look like, what kind of support and guidance you can expect from them, etc. (These are usually set at the state-level and enforced at the district or school-level. CommonSenseMedia.org. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-compass, Common Sense Media. (2020). Coronavirus Closed Schools: 27 Activities to Keep Kids Busy During School Closures. Sign up for discounts or exclusive offers. The standard subjects tend to include math, language arts, science, history or social studies, art, technology, health, physical education, and music. The answer to this question can provide further guidance for what choice might be best for you and your family, on top of the obvious comfort level with sending them to a physical school building in August or September. We have never parented (or helped our kids with remote learning) during a global pandemic. Its also important to understand what is and what is not likely to happen in the next year curriculum and academic-wise and how that might impact you and your children. Retrieved April 19, 2020 from https://grownandflown.com/soft-skills-for-teens/, Minecraft. If you are unsure, Common Sense Media is a great place to start. Homeschool Organizations. Making sure others respect your time is actually easier than it might seem at first. Its important that parents, educators and administrators clearly define what the goals are and monitor progress toward those goals. (n.d.2). What Are the Non-Core Subjects?. As you wrap up the day, after allowing your kids to play and relax for the first day, take three deep breaths and smile, knowing that you completed some planning and organizing, and that you are on your way. Welltrainedmind.com. These can be accessed here: https://www.headspace.com/covid-19. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/, Montessori Northwest. For later years (grades 3-5 and 6-8) we elected to study math and language arts every day, and study science, history/social studies, art and music one day per week each, leaving the additional day (which happened to be Friday for us) for making up work we didnt complete earlier in the week. We ended up placing them in lower grades than the work they were working on as homeschoolers, both because of their ages and because we knew the work would be easy for them, allowing them to focus on the major personal and social transition with less stress. This can be important if you are deciding between temporarily homeschooling your children and opting into distance learning (especially in middle school or high school grades). You can ask the school about options for continuing distance learning (if they dont already include that as an option in their fall plans).
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