School, but at home: Some coping strategies for anxious parents.

Posted on 25 March, 2020

Okay, people. Sh*t just got real.

In amongst all the uncertainty about life, the universe and everything, we are now expected to take on personal responsibility for the education of our children.

Some of us may embrace this as an opportunity to fully engage with our young ones on their learning journey. Others of us may be more panicked at the thought of supervising Year 9 Maths than we are of running out of loo paper—like that viral video of a mum ranting over having to help her four kids with distance education in Israel. “Now our children will find out how dumb we are. It’s not right. Really.”

Me, in another language pic.twitter.com/mVVejaKeJV

— katie rosman (@katierosman) March 19, 2020

But before you start hyperventilating, let us introduce you to Erinn Pages. She has two school kids and a new baby and started homeschooling the kids two weeks ago.

She takes a positive slant on home learning and is providing some great resources and advice for parents on her @theunofficialhomeschool account on Instagram.

It’s early days yet. But we thought some helpful words from Erinn might set some of you on your way to home learning with a spring in your step.

Why have you set up the account?

I can’t replace our kid’s amazing teachers, however, I thought surely there must be other parents in Canberra and throughout Australia making a similar decision to keep their kids at home.

So I wanted to try and create a central place of conversation—to not only share how we’re going about getting school work completed in isolation but for all parents and carers to feel supported and connected to learning ideas, educational resources and emotional wellbeing information.

What would you like to say to parents who are completely freaked out by the thought of having the kids at home now, and is it realistic to think kids can learn as much at home and online as they do at school?

Canberra parents are already tired after the summer bushfires. More time indoors with their kids over the coming weeks and months will test many, but they do say, “we’re stronger together”.

Not everyone will want a routine nor want to continue formal education at home. But for our family, we need routine and structure for a few reasons.

Our two school-aged sons are already the eldest in their year levels, so we can’t afford to have them repeat another year. One of our sons is also autistic, so having a routine provides a calmer and safer space for everyone in knowing what’s going to happen each day.

We are used to visuals as a way to communicate in our household—so we have pinned up on the wall, what I call the “ish” routine.

Starting the day at 10ish and not on the dot means we’re flexible if the baby needs to be fed or changed, or we decide to go for a walk first up, or I want everyone to tidy up their bedrooms.

I have worked full-time from home before with a toddler and a Kindy kid. In fact, I always worked full-time until this maternity leave, so I know it’s going to be frustrating for parents to juggle working from home, while also ensuring their children are doing school work.

They won’t be able to do as much as they do at school, but I don’t think our teachers will expect that either. This is a unique time, and we have to look after the emotional wellbeing of ourselves as parents too.

Families will need to stay strong and work out what’s most important for their household to achieve in their daily routines.

Schools will all have specific instructions for their kids, but what are some key strategies you would recommend?

I have kept school work time to a two-hour block in the morning before their brains get screen-time fried.

I am not taking away screen time at the moment—the kids need it to connect to their friends. Online social connections are going to be more important than ever during social distancing.

Our two-hour block concentrates on the basics of reading, writing and maths and incorporating knowledge from science, history or geography into these.

Once we get some remote learning curriculum from the school, we will phase ourselves into this and I will rely less on coming up with the content myself.

Some parents may also choose to work in one-hour blocks per child during the day. I have already figured out my Grade 1 child needs more side-by-side support than my Grade 4 child. But then I need to spend more time checking over the work of the Grade 4 child.

I don’t have a high-schooler yet, but online study groups could be an option for helping your kids stay accountable.

Always have a daily check-in time with older kids. You can schedule this like a work meeting in your day.

You also don’t need expensive resources for homeschooling. Simple things you find in the stationery aisle of the supermarket are fine—notebooks, pens, paper. Just please don’t hoard!

Also, if your child doesn’t have an iPad or laptop, ask your school if they can provide one or print the materials for you.

There are a lot of teachers with great Instagram accounts to follow for ideas and resources. I will try and link these from my account for parents to connect to.

But start with what your child’s school provides first and go from there. This is also a time for real-life learning. For example, I want to show my kids how to make their own sandwich—and even how to use a vacuum cleaner!

What should we be aiming for an average day to look like?

My @theunofficialhomeschool routine is definitely the “ish” routine:

• 7-10ish Get Dressed, Make Your Bed, Eat Breakfast + Do a Chore + Move Your Body
• 10-12ish School Work + Daily Journal (this is for writing time and also opening up and talking about our feelings during social distancing and isolation)
• 12-2ish Lunch + Quiet Time
• 2-3ish Creative Time
• 3-6ish Free Play + Connect online with friends
• 6ish Usual Dinner, Bath, Bed routine

For parents, my advice is to check and answer important/urgent emails and do your own exercise at home before school work starts.

When you have to supervise school work and work from home in parallel, just pick one work task or project to concentrate on during this time, and try not to schedule conference calls during this time either.

Use creative time to get kids to help in the kitchen with baking or cooking; fix something in the house or outside; do some gardening; listen to music and dance together; or even learn a language together.

Use Free Play to do what you need to do—either for work or in the house. Let them have their screen time then, so there’s less chance for interruptions!

Erinn will be posting regular tips and resources from her account @theunofficialhomeschool, but remember, your child’s school and individual teacher will be well equipped to help you through this period.

Happy homeschooling, friends.