In this present situation caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, almost all the educational institutions like schools, colleges etc have been closed for an indefinite period. It is hampering the study habits of the children, who have just started going to school from a few months back as well as the students of higher classes.
In this circumstance, some of the parents have started thinking about homeschooling their children so that they could be able to continue the study process from home. Nowadays, there are several online apps that provide study materials online.
So, let’s dive deeper into the aspects that can make homeschooling more happening and interesting for your children.
How to make your child’s homeschooling interesting?
Let us take a look at a few instructions that can help you to ensure your child’s uninterrupted learning process in the lockdown condition of your country because of health concerns.
In this present situation when everyone is captivated at home, it is really important to take good care of your child’s physical and mental health along with yourself.
Your very first duty is to focus on your child’s emotional health. This is the key factor of learning anything. As the children can not control their emotions, each small thing can create a large impact upon their mind. Such as every child has already started questioning why they can not go to school!!
This sudden lockdown has prisoned them inside the home. Also, they can not go outside to play with their friends. You should not pressurize them to study as if your child is upset and stressed, it will be difficult for him or her to concentrate on anything.
So, it is better to make them know about the present condition of the country and give them time to evolve with the situation.
Find out your child’s interests
As a homeschooling parent, you don’t actually have to set a curriculum, especially for a limited time period like this. Instead, pay attention to your children’s interests and the things they enjoy doing. Sometimes listening to your kids will keep their mental health on track. Just make sure that amidst all these, learning takes place naturally.
Offering them the freedom to select their subject of learning keeps them motivated and focused on learning while staying at home during the Coronavirus lockdown.
Encourage for indoor games
As Covid -19 is a highly contagious disease, most parents are against letting their children go outside to play. In this condition you can encourage your children in indoor games. You can also engage them in making origami, singing, drawing new pictures or cutting color paper to create designs, making scrapbooks etc.
Have a flexible routine
When you and your children are staying for all the time, it is really not necessary to follow any strict routine. Make your children’s daily activities entertaining. Otherwise, they will get bored of doing the same thing everyday.
Divide their activities in segments. Present those activities as fun tasks to them. Do not forget to give them appraisal for their deeds! It will help in growing up their self-confidence in future.
Growing up regular learning habits in your children
“Habitual learning is important. a little bit of practice and routine.”, says Homerlein. Regular reading stories to your children can help to grow up their interest in reading books. It will not only improve their reading skills, but can keep them busy for several hours in a day during lockdown condition.
Moreover, asking them to help in cooking and household works can help their counting skills and give them lessons of self-dependency. Do not get attached with your children for all the time, leave them independent for sometimes. It will foster their self-motivation and will enrich their creativity.
Buying online learning apps or arranging live classes
All the educational institutes are thinking of starting online classes for their pupils. Many schools have started taking virtual classes. The educators are developing new teaching apps, tools etc.
The homeschooling parents need to avail these facilities to their children through the internet, so that they can follow a systematic process of learning even staying at home.
Unacademy, Byju, Voot kids are some learning apps for kids. You can purchase them according to necessity. Some of the news channels of India are providing study materials related to school syllabus with the help of some expert teachers.
Do not help your children in every step
Most of the parents are not that much trained like school teachers in case of following proper teaching methods. As every parent has too many household works to do and some of them have to accomplish their office work from home for the current situation, it is not always possible for them to give enough time to their children.
Sometimes too much work pressure can make them impatient. So, there is a tendency of solving their children’s question book on their own and asking the children to memorize the answers. As it is less time consuming, parents encourage the young ones to do so. But, this process is totally wrong. Your children will never learn from it, rather than they will become dependent on you. They will lose the interest of learning new things. It will be harmful for their intellectual growth.
So, do not spoon-feed your child. Try to make learning a fun game for them.
Parents are advised to allow your children to think over the textbook questions themselves. Finding the solutions of the problems by themselves will increase the curiosity in learning new things. It will develop their thinking skills. Otherwise, a monotonous learning schedule can bore them during this long lockdown period.
Wrapping up
Homeschooling can be proved very much entertaining to the children as they do not have to wake up early in the morning and there is no tension to miss the school bus as well. Instead of rushing, children are in a relaxed mood.
There is no tension of upcoming class-tests or mid-terms. Learning from means they can take more time to finish their worksheets and can take more breaks than school. Studying will become more fun for them.
So, in this pandemic lockdown situation patents should follow the above discussed tips to get their children busy at home. Make the educational process a recreational activity for them, rather than pressurize them to study hard.
Allow them to know about the corona virus and the precaution measures for it. Keep concern about your children’s sanitization. Let them choose their favourite subjects and let them study accordingly.
