How to Best Support My Child’s Online Learning
Online learning, virtual school, or distance learning has been a part of almost every American home this past year. For many families, online learning is a new adoption to your usual routine. Parents who went from dropping off their kids at school suddenly expanded their roles overnight to teacher or teaching assistant. While there is probably a mixed bag of online learning situations or setups for each home, there are similar challenges most parents face while navigating the online learning world.
As a virtual K-12 school, we’ve looked at some of these common challenges and put together some best practices on how to approach potential hurdles so that both students and parents can have a successful virtual learning experience.
Here are 4 common challenges to online schooling and best practices you can start implementing today.
Challenge: My school expects too much. Parents can’t keep up.
Best Practice: Strengthen parent-school relationship.
The learning curve for virtual schooling varies from school to school and parent to parent. There is no “out of sight, out of mind” mentality when your child is schooling at home because when they run into issues in class or with homework, parents and caregivers are the first they will run to for help. And the reality is that parent involvement is essential when it comes to virtual school. Parents and caregivers have to wear multiple hats while supporting their children at home. With this added responsibility, it may suddenly start to feel overwhelming, which is why having a strong parent-school relationship is key to helping students succeed.
Our first piece of advice is to stop and take a breath. There is a lot to digest when you’re first getting used to schooling at home and like our children, parents need some grace. Next, begin to take advantage of teacher and staff support at your school. Teachers themselves are handling the technicalities and planning of virtual teaching, which make them great allies when you explain the challenges you’re facing at home. Open the line of communication and clarify any/all of the barriers you have at home that are potentially preventing you from fully meeting the school’s expectations. Ask for support if you’re having trouble with technology or not quite understanding how to navigate an online program. Believe it or not, you are not the only family that will have these same types of challenges at home, so don’t be afraid to ask for help!
Teachers want to see their students succeed so if there is something at home that’s become a challenge, share it with your child’s teacher so they can better understand and work out a solution with you. We know many parents are juggling a challenging work-life balance, multiple children learning at home, and sometimes unexpected difficulties may arise. Building a strong partnership with your school is not only beneficial to your child’s academic success, but helpful to you as parents to ease some of the burden at home and give you more peace of mind.
Challenge: My child is struggling to pay attention.
Best Practice: Find an effective learning time for your child’s age.
This challenge can arise for any student in grades K-12, at home or in person at school. It is helpful to have a quiet environment with minimal distractions setup at home for your child to take their classes and do the bulk of their work. However, beyond having the right space is the question of how to keep your child engaged in their virtual classes while at home.
The key component here is finding the perfect balance of screen time learning and intentional break time. There are developmental studies that suggest putting specific time limits to learning time as attention spans vary by age. In fact, experts say that a reasonable attention span for children is about two to three minutes per year of their age. Some researchers will increase that limit at five minutes per year of a child’s age, but it all depends upon the child. Regardless, it’s good to take into consideration that a 3rd grader may get fidgety after 30 minutes of instruction, and that’s totally normal!
Having the right expectation for your child will help you to find ways to support their need for a mental break or a quick shift of attention to then regain their focus back on their studies.
For reference, Brain Balance Centers has this chart of average attention spans:
2 years old: four to six minutes
4 years old: eight to 12 minutes
6 years old: 12 to 18 minutes
8 years old: 16 to 24 minutes
10 years old: 20 to 30 minutes
12 years old: 24 to 36 minutes
14 years old: 28 to 42 minutes
16 years old: 32 to 48 minutes
Just remember, that in-school learning has break times, recesses, lunch, passing periods. There are even transitions allotted within class time to break up all the learning time between lessons. So be mindful that you’re providing the same opportunities for your child to take a short mental break while learning at home. In need of some ideas to implement a mental “brain break” at home? Check out these 12 brain break activities.
Challenge: I don’t know how to help my child with what they are learning.
Best Practice: Learn the basics of class instruction.
This particular challenge is new territory for a lot of parents who are now facilitating class time at home with their children. Not everyone is formally trained in teaching and instruction and there definitely is no expectation on a school’s part for parents to be experts. However, a few tips and tricks from educators can give you great tools under your belt when supporting your child with virtual schooling.
The first thing you can do is understand the basic model of class instruction. Teachers typically introduce a new topic or concept in class, provide time for practice, and then assess knowledge. If your child is in middle school or high school, this may look like an online lecture or textbook read of a new chapter, then worksheets, assignments, practice problems, and finally a quiz or an essay due at the end of the unit. Having an understanding of this process means you can better anticipate your child’s workload and how to get them prepared for their formal assessments. At each step, you can observe if your child needs more instruction or additional learning resources to fully understand what’s been taught. You can work with their teacher early on and incorporate more practice activities, or interactive games. Finally, you can communicate with your child’s teacher on when and how they’ll be assessed so your child is fully prepared.
Challenge: My child is unmotivated.
Best Practice: Hands-on parent support and encouragement.
There can be many underlying factors that contribute to motivation struggles for students. It could be a mundane schedule, difficult chapter in science or disorganized binder. Observe your child to uncover what areas in particular they may be struggling with and then create an action plan. Some questions to consider are:
Are they feeling overwhelmed with a particular subject in school?
Is their study space disorganized and cluttered?
Do they have daily assignments written down in a planner/calendar?
Are they getting tired of their daily routine and need a change?
Are they lacking encouragement?
Motivation struggles can easily be resolved when we help our children solve their silent struggles. They may not always voice what is bothering them, or know how to ask for help. Be observant and available to notice these silent struggles. Once you start to uncover the root of their struggles, you can get your child involved in finding a solution together.
If you’re in need of hands-on tips and simple strategies to overcome motivation issues, head to our blog post, Overcoming the Mid-Year Slump.
Whether online learning is a short-term or a long-term plan for you and your child, we hope some of our best practices can give you a boost in being able to better support your child’s learning experience at home. Learn how Pathway Christian supports students and families in their online learning journey.
Sources:
https://www.brainbalancecenters.com/blog/normal-attention-span-expectations-by-age
