Children are all worrying about their day to day right now – and rightly so. There is nothing wrong with homeschooling the kids, but when the kids are not used to it it’s all rather overwhelming. If you’ve recently made the swap to homeschool the kids in the pandemic, it may take a little time for your kids to get used to the new status quo. The transition isn’t an easy one, and it’s important that you recognize that it may take your child some time to get used to the new changes.
You can stick to as much normality for your kids as possible when homeschooling, from printing their school shirt designs to ones that they can wear at home as a “uniform” as such, to keeping the same schedule as their school day. You can also use fun worksheets for kindergarten, that can make learning easy and fun for kids. You may not want to work solidly from 9-3, but that doesn’t mean that you can’t plan their day and their activities to match as closely as possible to the day in which they’re used to. You can make the changes that you need to to make this homeschool situation as positive as possible for your children and their mental health. So adaptation is a must and we’ve got some of the tips you need below!
- Go slowly where you can. Things need to be gentle when you’re at home, and you can switch gears from parent to teacher gently so that your kids feel secure enough to keep working on their learning. Some children aren’t interested in learning when they’re not in the right environment, so don’t dictate: work with them to replicate that environment as much as possible.
- Celebrate! Homeschooling doesn’t have to be a difficult thing to do – it should be celebrated. Yes, there’s a pandemic, and yes the kids are out of their comfort zone, but you can celebrate something every single day to work on the health and wellbeing of your kids. You want to celebrate every single win and remind each other that you are safe and healthy – even if their besties aren’t around.
- Remain Flexible. In your expectations while teaching and working from home, you need to be flexible. Things won’t always stay the same, but you can make each day count and these are all going to look different from the one before. It may be worth trying new ways of doing things and rolling with it when a day doesn’t go the way that you initially planned.
- Communicate. Where you can, communicate with your kids about what matters the most to them. Honor their differences and similarities and make sure that your child feels communicative with you and able (and secure) to do so. They should be okay with telling you what works for them and what doesn’t, so ask them what they need to be able to learn.
Your children are in a new situation, as are you. Work together to make homeschooling something that they feel comfortable with. You should be able to work with your kids to feel happy and comfortable while they embark on home learning.
