I read a criticism a few years ago about the ways we tend to separate children into very strict categories and classes based exclusively on their ages. Yes, of course there are developmental trends for every age, but imagine if you were assigned your job or your Sunday school class based only on your age.
Do you really have that much in common with other people who are your exact numerical age as of Sept. 1? Probably not.
We do that to kids in traditional schools and Sunday schools because that makes the most sense for teachers and administrators. And as a teacher myself, I’m thankful I have whole classrooms full of teenagers and not a mix of 30-something kids aged 5 to 18.
However, sticking to that artificial model of age separation is not going to work well in a quarantine situation. We must adjust our “rules” and expectations for our kids to work within our homes. Trying to force our homes to be like traditional schools is only going to lead to frustration and stress.
First, a couple of caveats: one, our school district is not taking graded work, which frees me up to design and implement learning that I think will work best for my kids. Second, I am a school teacher, so I am not trying to get 40 hours of work in on top of caring for children. I have nothing but respect for those of you operating under stricter guidelines.
So please understand my suggestions are just that — suggestions. Take what you like and leave the rest. There is no right way to do this, but there are more-stressful ways and less-stressful ways. I’m suggesting below a few ways that have made my “schooling” attempts less stressful.
Opportunities
First of all, and most importantly, look at everything you do as a potential learning opportunity. Many times, there is no need to have a formal reading or math lesson for a young child when you are already cooking from a recipe or reading the newspaper or cleaning the house.
Talk to your child about what you are doing and why. Have an elementary-aged child read a recipe out loud to you as you cook together. Give your child a pencil and have him or her double or halve the recipe so it will work for your family. Teach the child how to use measuring cups and spoons.
There are also other things you do every day that your children might not know how to do yet. This is the perfect time to teach him or her to load the dishwasher or wash and dry clothes. Kids need to know how to sweep and operate a dustpan and clean a counter, and many don’t.
And now, more than ever before, they also need to know how to disinfect and sanitize. Demonstrate how to dilute a cleaner and talk about what “one part concentrate to four parts water” actually means. Have your kids read the labels of your cleaning products to find out how long they must remain wet to be effective … you may be surprised yourself.
This is also a perfect opportunity for older children and teenagers to explore the differences between a virus and a bacteria, to learn about disease transmission, and to explore history and how other pandemics — such as the Black Plague and the Spanish Flu — changed human history.
Of course, things will be a bit different for both the very young child and the older child. The great news is that an older child can easily help a preschooler count things and recognize letters, and often the older child enjoys being the teacher.
For example, my eldest and youngest have found a stack of bulletin board letters and have begun spelling words on the kitchen floor in the mornings while I cook breakfast. I have made a few suggestions — like that they count the number of Es in the word “bumblebee,” or showing what happens when they trade the P in “pat” for an M to spell”mat” — but once my older child sees what I’m doing, she quickly starts doing similar things. I realize that normal people do not have a stash of bulletin board letters lying around, but I bet you do have a set of magnetic letters or a whiteboard or something that would work.
Preschoolers also need to understand one-to-one correspondence, which basically just means that they need to understand that each item can only be counted one time. They also need to be able to write their names and how to use scissors. All of these skills are easy for an older child to teach.
And if you know me at all, you know I will always beat this drum: pre-readers must be read to. My suggestion is that they hear a minimum of three books a day, from birth. If you didn’t start at birth, you might want to shoot for six or nine books a day, especially during this time, to give your child that jumpstart for school. The good news is that an older child can help with this part, too, and picture books often have a rich vocabulary … so your older child is probably learning more than you think.
Teens
Like preschoolers, teenagers might need a little extra attention. As a high school teacher, my best suggestion is to have your child read at least 30 minutes a day. They will probably want to do this electronically. If at all possible, I would have them read on paper instead. Reading on a device is simply too distracting for most people, and I include myself in that statement.
I know common core gets a bad rap, but the nice part about it is that the standards are aligned, which means that kids of all ages are learning the same reading skills; the skills simply become more nuanced and detailed as the child ages. This works perfectly for family learning, though, because you can ask the same types of questions to all ages and trust that you are lining up with the things they have been taught before and will be taught again. Here are the kinds of questions I suggest asking for fiction:
■ What will happen next? Why do you say that?
■ Why did this character do this? How do you know?
■ What lesson did the characters learn? What lesson or advice do you think the author is trying to get across to us?
For nonfiction, you might ask these questions:
■ What is the main idea? What kinds of details does the author use to prove the main idea?
■ Do you think this information is trustworthy? Why or why not?
When you ask questions about reading, don’t leave off the “why” questions. They are the ones that allow you to hear what kinds of critical thinking your child is doing.
I’m no math teacher, but I’ve been around long enough to know that Khan academy is a great online tool to help an older child or teenager keep math skills sharp. They have videos and practice problems with answers available. Again, don’t forget that “real-world math” is important too, but I do know that some of our older kids really need to be working more complicated problems to stay on track.
But remember above all else that being present is the most important thing you can do for your child at this time. If that is all you can do, that will be enough.
Amelia Plair is a mom and high school teacher in Starkville. Email reaches her at [email protected].
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