The quarantine of 2020 has made educating our children a tremendous concern. Access to online school is helpful, but many children need more stimulation and learning opportunities. To help parents help their children, consider the options listed below.
Personalized Study
One of the challenges in keeping children engaged and excited in the learning process is finding out what will fire up their creativity. There are individualized education program programs that can help your child get fired up about the learning process.
The brain of a human being is particularly elastic when they are young. Languages, for example, are easier to learn prior to puberty. Studying a new language online is a wonderful way to keep your child engaged in the online learning process.
Private Projects
One of the challenges in turning online learning into a positive and personal experience is defining the difference between entertainment and engagement. There are many wonderful television programs that both engage and entertain; for example, Sesame Street calls for children to count, recite the alphabet, and work on bigger concepts like empathy and sharing.
Consider a program that asks your child to build an engineering mindset. This thought process allows children to fail; yes, there are things that won’t work when we try something new.
The engineering mindset asks:
- what worked?
- what didn’t?
- what do we know now that we didn’t before
- how can we change our approach to get things to work the next time?
If your child is afraid to try lest they fail, their lifepath will become narrower over time. New activities are frightening, but failure doesn’t have to be the end of any activity. Learning new things often means that we must dig in or approach our attempt from a new angle.
Free Resources
Not everyone can afford a private educational assessment for their child. Luckily, there are many tremendous free resources available for children that can trigger their curiosity and encourage them to explore something new.
From writing a novel to reading free copies of the classics, public radio, and television, as well as many museums and publishing houses, offer fun activities that a child attending physical school may not have the time or energy for. While the goal is to safely return kids to classrooms, access to individual learning can allow them the chance to grow as they study on their own.
Food Preparation and Science
Learning to handle a pencil is part of dexterity learning. If you’re sheltering in place or if your children are home at least a few days a week, consider involving them in the cooking process of everyday living.
Older children can learn to manage a knife, younger children can stir soup, and the youngest can combine dry ingredients with a whisk. At every point, you can learn facts about nutrition, food origins, and study new cultures by their favorite or most popular dishes.
Physical Education
For those of us in the northern hemisphere, the coming winter is worrying. Staying active is part of staying healthy, so schedule trips outside whenever the weather allows. What is growing along the sidewalk or along your walking path? If there are birds or squirrels to see, where do they live and what do they eat?
If your child is masked all day, getting them outside where they can breathe freely and burn off some energy can help them wind down during a very stressful time. Adults and children alike are really struggling these days, so getting some physical energy worked out can help.
Living History
If you have older relatives nearby or even far away, try to schedule an online session or a phone conversation with some of your elders so your child can connect. It doesn’t have to be all interviews; there are many online games that will allow your child to play a card game online with an elder as they talk.
With these programs, your child can combine
- matching numbers
- matching colors
- communicating with an elderly friend or relative
Your family elder will get some much-needed connection and you can get a break from serving as a primary teacher.
The future is uncertain, but educating your child during a quarantine can be managed with online resources. Find out your child’s best learning style and put their favorite subjects under the microscope to foster creativity.
