How to handle Virtual Learning from Home
Facilitating internet learning from home has been challenging for us. Not only do we have to provide a comfortable home environment for our children, but we now have to treat it like a classroom too! Even our youngest is expected to spend between 4-6 hours on the computer every day, with ourselves facilitating the learning.
The main thing we’ve learned is that our children need structure and some sort of control to make them feel more willing to learn from home. Below are some of the ways that we’ve tackled internet learning from home and made it feel more manageable for the whole family.
Dedicate a Learning Space
Choose a room or a corner of your home that can be a dedicated learning space. Your child is only allowed to sit there whilst studying or e-learning, and is not to be disturbed during ‘school hours’.
Make a Schedule
Create a daily schedule that includes learning hours, time to eat, time to relax, and time to move. This way your children will know at exactly what time they are finished with school for the day. Breaking internet learning sessions up with short 10-minute breaks can also make the time that they need to spend at the computer feel much more achievable. Plus it will give their eyes a much-needed rest!
Limit Distractions
If you have younger children, try to think of ways to keep them occupied in another area of the house where they won’t disturb their older siblings. Maybe you have a grandparent or neighbor close by that can keep them for a couple of hours every day. Don’t kick yourself if you have to give in to a little more screen time once in a while – we can’t do everything!
Think About Food
Make sure that your kids are getting three big, nutritious meals a day. Feeling a little bit hungry is the fastest way to get distracted from schoolwork. Have healthy snacks ready and available at their desk or that they can help themselves to quickly.
Allow Downtime
Create a daily schedule that includes learning hours, time to eat, time to relax, and time to move. This way your children will know at exactly what time they are finished with school for the day. Breaking internet learning sessions up with short 10-minute breaks can also make the time that they need to spend at the computer feel much more achievable. Plus it will give their eyes a much-needed rest!
Personalize the Area
Go online or visit a store with your kids and allow them to choose a couple of items to personalize their desk area. This might be a plant, a lamp, a mouse pad, or a set of headphones. Anything that makes the space feel like theirs will mean that they’re more likely to want to spend time there.
Get Them Involved
Asking our children to help us with snack preparation and creating the daily schedule has helped massively with keeping them motivated. Instead of treating them like students, we treat them as our children but with even more responsibility, so that they can feel good about having some sort of control over their days.
Relax and do what works best for your family! If the daily schedule is as good as in the trash some days, that’s ok.