Parents, look at remote or hybrid learning as an opportunity, not a roadblock.
Change frustration into action with these tips.
Picking out this school year’s “First Day Outfit,” shopping for school supplies, filling the pantry with lunch staples or filling the school cafeteria account, and easing into the morning alarm and wake-up time may now seem like archaic routines. While preparation for the 2020-2021 school year will be different, let’s modify and perhaps enhance, but not eliminate new school year prep.
With so much uncertainty, it is even more important for parents and teachers to partner and share strategies in order to create an effective start to school, wherever that start takes place. Many districts are starting the year with remote learning. Others are planning a hybrid schedule with formal learning/school taking place in school and at home. As teaching methods change, so do home routines. A successful shift to full or remote learning includes some or all of these changes at home:
1. Create a classroom-like space. Whether it is the dining room table, an office, or a bedroom, organize the space to make each day’s transition to a school setting easy and quick. Make sure it can be a quiet spot. Consider the background that might be seen when on camera or make use of Zoom and Google Meet’s Virtual backgrounds. Keep necessary supplies, power cords, etc. nearby.
2. Bedtime routines should be consistent for all school nights. Whether your child is preparing to go into school or learn from home, check off the basics every school night. Homework turned in? Backpack (or its usual contents) ready? Ideally, all digital devices are turned off for a screen break before bed. Phones and tablets are either out of reach or out of the room during sleeping hours. "Lights out" happens at about the same time most school nights, allowing for 7-8 hours of sleep.
3. Wake-up time is consistent on all school mornings. Use any alarm that makes the most sense for you: A human, an old-fashioned alarm clock, Alexa, Siri, or a sounds-off, out-of-reach phone. It is more challenging to take responsibility for time management when there is no carpool, bus, or walk to school. It might be easier to use our pre-pandemic motivators such as “You’ll be late for the bus…I can’t drive you again.” The onus is now on us and our teens to be ready even when no one is waiting for us.
4. Dress for school and not just from the waist up. Even if our teens are not scheduled to Zoom or Meet on Google, changing from pajamas and sweats into “school appropriate” clothes also helps shift our mindset into a more productive mode. Wearing clothes that are appropriate for peers and teachers makes a private and public statement: We are not lounging, but learning. We are ready to work and interact.
5. Eat Breakfast. Choose your own “Breakfast of Champions:” A quick bite, a 3-course meal or anything in between. Food is a physical and mental signal that helps initiate the school day. The pre-pandemic “I don’t have time for breakfast” no longer applies.
6. Keep snacks and water near the workspace or ready in the kitchen. Many schools have rules that forbid students from carrying water bottles or snacks. Add this one to the Remote Learning Bonuses.
7. Walk around the block or find another standard routine that symbolizes “walking into school.” Clothing, breakfast, bed-time routines, unplugging all vary. For students, leaving our homes to make the journey to school might be the only common denominator missing for all of us. During the spring, some people even chose to walk around the block and re-enter their homes to mimic entering school.
8. Homeroom, literally. School staff tries to help students feel like school is their home away from home. Now, home is their school away from school. Take advantage of learning and working at home. With the time saved from walking to school or waiting for the bus or carpool, consider adding something special, such as exercise, meditation, or family discussions. Have your own homeroom before classes begin.
9. Create a checklist and schedule such as this from Greenwich Public Schools. You can use school-like bells or quiet reminders to stay on task.
10. Role Model as much and as appropriately as possible. In addition to paying attention to how you dress and set yourself up for your day, role model the attitude and outlook that will help our teens persevere. It is important to stay honest and realistic and also positive and hopeful. While we might disagree with the decisions our school administrators and teachers are making, we can help our teens adjust to the plans in the most pro-active way possible. Reach out to school personnel if you have suggestions and concerns that you think are important for them to hear. We all have to dig deeper and find the strength to stay positive and focused while meeting the challenges and adapting to completely new ways of “going to” school.
As we adjust to all of the new, temporary, and ever-changing plans, we can also be more intentional in how we prep our teens and ourselves for this school year. Engage and involve your children in the school year prep. Give them as much choice as possible. Let them choose the space, alarm, homeroom agenda. Add your own and their items to this list. Team up with neighbors and friends. Share checklists, routines, and walks. Consider the positive effects that mob mentality and peer pressure can have. There is more to come once school starts and your teen has Google Classrooms set up. For now, we need to reinforce what we do have. Our goal is to empower our students to build their self-agency and resourcefulness. We can help the educational process if we “push them out of their passive roles as receivers of information into more active roles as learners.” Students and families are, for the first time, being forced to take more ownership over their learning environment and strategies. Yet, the goals of education remain the same. We still strive, with our school staff, to help our teens become life-long learners.