When Schooling Comes Home

By: Collett Smart

There is a staggered start to online learning all over the country this month – as school holidays officially end. Like many of you, I am picking up this next plate to add to those already spinning in the air. I am actually a teacher as well as a psychologist and let me reassure you, this is not homeschooling. This is not even normal schooling for schools!

Listen to the podcast here or read along below:

Listen: The Mental Fitness Podcast with psychologist Collett Smart

As schooling comes home, it will look quite different for each household and even each child at your dining table. It will look different for tweens and teens, compared to younger primary aged children who are less able to work independently.

This article is intended to make you feel supported, NOT serve as a guilt trip or to point out what you are not doing. Things will happen according to your child’s abilities, interests and even your own available time.

There are fantastic tips and pieces of advice online right now, so I don’t claim to have come up with every idea below. Teachers work well as a village and I have gathered some great ideas from that village, for you (Spoiler alert – it’s not all about worksheets).

As a start…

Some have said, “This is not home schooling – a better term is crisis schooling.”

Many tweens and teens are grieving right now. Grieving the loss of face-to-face socials with friends, their sports, arts, parties, events, part-time jobs, independence…

The best thing we can do to support struggling kids, is to honour that grief process, by doing a lot of listening.

Expect our kids to act out. Expect some back chat. Expect some withdrawal. Expect them to not want to get out of bed. Expect them to not have words to express their inner frustration.

Give yourself a lot of grace too! Some of you have lost jobs, or your partners have lost their jobs. Some parents who are working outside of the home might be afraid of going out right now. This whole way of living has parents feeling frayed and frazzled too.

It is okay to NOT be amazing at everything. Especially at supporting your child with their learning. Don’t try to be a Pinterest parent. This is not Pinterest School. This is not a competition! 

Principals and teachers have been at pains to say that they do not expect you to be your child’s teacher. Your job is to be your child’s parent, and then just do the best you can.

What are the most important things you can do?

Your child will likely need two things from you. You already have all the tools within you, as a loving parent, to do them. You are probably doing them already.

They need to feel that their home is a safe place and that you believe in them.

The safe place

We can create a sense of safety at home by establishing routines (learn more in my article how housebound families can stay sane). But also by ensuring our children feel heard. Let them name and express their feelings, without providing uninvited solutions. 

“If core emotions are continually suppressed, they put stress on the mind and body. Too many emotions, coupled with too much aloneness, in persistently triggering environments, make it difficult, if not impossible, for a child to feel safe and calm.” – Hilary Jacobs Hendel, Psychotherapist

Touch your teens in ways that feel loving to them, because touch is known to help soothe a stressed nervous system.

The cheer squad (using the 3 E’s)

Find an opportunity every day to engage, encourage or express belief in your teen’s abilities.

You don’t need to use shallow praise (which they will see right through anyway). Rather, catch them doing something good, fulfilling, helpful, worthwhile or caring.

For example;

• Thank them for helping with a chore after their online learning time
• Praise them for their effort at sitting down to do online work
• Ask them to show you what they learned that day (and give your undivided attention if they do)
• Tell them you believe that they can get through this time
• Reassure them that this will end and,
• Make your face light up when you see them enter the room

Where online learning comes in

Set up a learning space

Help your child set up a learning space at home which is separate from a chill or leisure space. i.e. at the corner of the dining table, in a study or at a desk. Not on their beds or on the couch. This helps their minds to mentally prepare for and get into a learning zone for a period of time.

Help your teen to maintain a routine

Routines help anchor us. They reduce stress by providing some predictability (something we all need currently) and give us a sense of control over our day.

We know that routine and connection are important for our young people‘s mental and social health at this time. Having to get up, dressed, connect with teachers, classmates, and yes, even do some routine schoolwork can be good for them. It can help minimise the daily blur.

Teachers also understand the importance of routine and accountability. My own children’s school, like many others, has scheduled an early morning online check in. Students need to log in to the school’s chosen online portal and send a thumbs up or comment that they are ready to start the day.

Teachers immediately become concerned about the students who regularly miss check-ins. The ones they feel might watch Netflix until 3am (as an attempt to drown out the COVID noise) and then sleep until lunchtime each day. Teachers worry about how to keep these kids engaged and connected.

Parents will be surprised at how fast things get done, compared to a regular school day. It is important that we don’t put pressure on our teens (or ourselves) to artificially create work to fill some sort of 6 hour ‘school’ day.  The bulk of the day’s lessons might be done within 2-3 hours for some tweens and younger teens.

Former chair of NESA, Tom Alegounarias, reminds us that it isn’t appropriate to be in concentrated and engaged learning all day, while at home, because that isn’t actually what happens at school. Students don’t remain in a focused state for prolonged periods.

I know from my teaching time that a chunk of my lesson included getting Joe to take out his pen, reminding Sera to turn to page 6, giving Mel ‘the look’ to stop nudging Ben, or calling extroverted Liam back to his seat to do his writing – for the 6th time.

The school day also consists of line up times, year meetings, assemblies, break times and all sorts of other great socialising. All part of the stuff that makes up the social fabric of school life. That which is not part of an ‘ at home ’ or online learning day.

What is essential to cover?

Apart from our Year 12 students (another article entirely!) who need to remain engaged, parents keep asking what their children ‘should’ cover. This is not easy to answer, because every family and child will be different. While some students will happily engage in all of the tasks set by their teachers, others will find this really difficult.

For working parents or those with tweens and teens who need more supervision at home, stick to the basics. Take advantage of the mornings, when young people’s minds are fresher. (Unless of course you have a teen with sleep issues, then chat to the school and adjust their schedule as needed.)

The basics – literacy and maths

Your child’s school will provide what works best for them. Besides, there are so many blog posts and websites with fabulous recommendations.

Try for some…

Reading: Schedule in 20 minutes of free reading time every day. There are some amazing authors who have recommended books for tweens and teens. (Side Note: Authors need all the support they can get at this time too!).
If you have a child who doesn’t enjoy reading, let them listen to audiobooks. This absolutely counts as literacy. (Audible recently announced their launch of Audible Stories.  This is a new service, providing free audiobooks for small children and teens, for the duration of the COVID-19 pandemic.)

Writing: My son loves writing – so I will be approaching his teacher to ask if he can rather develop his own short book or story series, in place of writing topics set for him each week. Jo Ong, a teacher friend of mine, developed the Super Toilet Paper comic series, which I think some creative tweens and teens would enjoy. Jo’s own kids are writing Super TP adventures to contribute to their comic each day.

Maths: Get your teens to do at least some of the Maths exercises that their teacher sets. Alternatively, both Khan Academy and Eddie Woo’s Woo Tube provide great content during this time.

However, if it all feels overwhelming or as if there is too much content to get through, contact your child’s school. This is new territory for teachers too. They are also trying to figure out the what and how much. They really want to support your child.

Learning does not end in a worksheet

It has been said that children can develop their broader knowledge by watching historical movies, discussing ideas over dinner, or listening to and then talking about podcasts. My nephew’s High School set the students a Minecraft building exercise for History. How amazing is that?

Teach practical skills like building a fire, changing a light bulb, changing a tyre, getting kids to read a recipe and cook once a week.

But don’t force it – some things will happen organically.

In our case, we don’t make elaborate crafts, work on old cars or bake as a family (my daughter does the baking). We do what fits for us. As an example, my husband has been extending our deck for some time. My 12 year-old son has been fascinated and asked to use the power tools recently. He now drills the screws into the demarcated spots, on his own, a little bit every day. He is meticulous. And he loves it.

Don’t forget either, that delivering care packages to a neighbour’s doorstep teaches empathy and emotional intelligence.

Alternatively, ask your children what they are interested in and then encourage them to learn about that.

These all count.

Also part of mental health

Plan some fun

Down time and chill time need to also be part of your child’s daily routine. Getting some exercise and socialising are usually very much a part of a young person’s week.

In my article on  Housebound Families I mention, “This is not the time to overly restrict screen-time.” (Although, I don’t mean all boundaries or age restrictions go out of the window). A large chunk of their screen time will be for socialising too. Gaming or social media are great sources of connection with friends that your teens are missing dearly.

My youngest doesn’t usually get game time during the week, in term time. But currently, he needs to connect with and chat with his friends after ‘school’. He doesn’t own a phone, so his Xbox (in the lounge room) is a wonderful way for him to do that right now.

Look after YOUR mental health

Be real with yourself about what’s actually happening. Perhaps journal or mentally list all the things you and your child accomplished in a week – no matter how small it seems to you – to remind yourself that they are learning. That you are doing a great job.

But, some days…

Some days I know that none of the above is going to go as planned. Maybe the best thing, some days, will be that our children simply feel safe and loved.

Some days, we will lay down the plates and hug and chill and go for walks. To just be together. The plates aren’t going anywhere. We will pick them up again tomorrow.

Our lives will never be the same after this. One thing I can promise you – your child will learn something new things during this time. This is life and we learn from all experiences in life!

You’ve got this parents!!

If you prefer to listen along, here is the link to my podcast on this topic. It is part of a 4 part series called, ‘The Mental Fitness podcast’. Available on Spotify, Apple podcasts and more.

Also read Mental Fitness – How families at home can stay sane.

Article supplied with thanks to Raising Teenagers

About the Author: Collett Smart is a psychologist, qualified teacher, speaker and internationally published author. She lives with her husband and 3 children in Sydney, Australia. The heart of Collett’s work is to support and bring Hope to parents of tweens and teens.