During the COVID-19 pandemic and shelter-in-place order, parents are unexpectedly faced with educating their children at home. We are parents too, and it has been challenging.
Whether your child’s school provides intensive academic programming or leaves parents to create academic content on their own, most parents have been forced to afford educational support to their children that they never had to do before. All of which is happening while we parents are balancing our own lives (emotions, jobs, relationships, etc.). This has led a lot of us struggling to get our children to “do school” with us – and a lot of children refusing to “do school” at all.
As a parent myself, I know first-hand how hard this time has been. From my training and personal experience, here are three key things to help parents like you get schoolwork done with your child:
The Three Keys to Getting Schoolwork Done During COVID
1. This is crisis schooling, not homeschooling. This is important to remember – and to give yourself some grace. It’s okay for you to have realistic expectations of what your child’s schooling looks like. You are not a full-time, credentialed teacher. There is a lot going on around you beyond your child’s schooling. So, recognize the stress and emotions of everyone involved.
2. Structure and expectations about time. Having a consistent daily routine during the week helps create a sense of predictability we all are needing right now. Daily structure can look different for every family: some families have minute-by-minute calendars with everyone’s activities noted and some families focus on eating meals at the same time each day. Whatever brings you and your family comfort in consistency is the right structure for you. Pick the top three things that are critical in your day (meals, work, outside time, etc.) and build your family’s daily routine around those three things.
The amount of time devoted to schoolwork each day depends of the age and personality of your child. Pushing your child beyond their limit is not healthy or helpful. Here is a helpful chart about the appropriate amount of time a child should spend doing schoolwork each day and how long children should be able to maintain their attention according to their grade level (Illinois State Board of Education “Remote Learning Recommendations”):
3. Independent work. I’m seeing a lot of parents struggling with time management and balancing everything partially because the work they are giving their children is at an instructional or higher level. Children can’t possibly do that level of work on their own because they need instruction (hence the term “instructional level”) in order to do it.
If you want your child to work on his or her own, you must give work he or she can do on their own. When you give your child schoolwork, it is critical that the work is at the child’s independent work level. “Independent work level” means schoolwork that your child already knows how to do and can do with ease. This level is typically below the actual grade level of your child because your child is still learning schoolwork at their grade level. Often, this is work that is reinforcing your child’s already mastered skills and supporting their development of more advanced skills.
For example, a child who is learning multiplication could do addition and subtraction problems as independent work. Addition and subtraction skills are precursor skills to multiplication that the child already learned and knows. Addition and subtraction are also important conceptual components to multiplication, so by working on addition and subtraction the child is building his skills for multiplication as well.
Lastly, it’s important for children to feel successful and independent, so create time each day that is “independent work time.”
Some great online educational programs
At the end of the day, be kind to yourself...and your children. Take each day at a time and focus on the larger picture of your child’s overall well-being and health.
Need more help?
Interested in learning more, or want an assessment or advocacy services for your child?
For more information about how to best support your child’s schoolwork at home, please contact me, Dr. Skye Stifel, at Insight Neuropsychology. As a former special education teacher, a Nationally and California Certified School Psychologist, and Licensed Educational Psychologist. I have the knowledge and experience to help you with your child.
At Insight Neuropsychology we provide personalized assessment and treatment services to promote cognitive health and well-being. We help you learn about how your child’s brain is functioning and how their environment is affecting them, as INSIGHT is the first step in improving your mental functions.