How To Make A Schedule For Your Kids Learning From Home

As we get closer to school, it's hard to know what the "normal" school schedule is going to look like. Some kids will be at school 5 days a week, some 3, some 2, others not at all. Or depending on if a school has a COVID-19 breakout, everyone could go back to learning from home.

When the coronavirus pandemic first hit and every school shut down, parents has to become at home teachers and maintain a full time job that either had them working from home or actually going into the office. With still some uncertainty if your kid(s) school schedule, we figured we could give a little tip to help maintain some normalcy during a school day when they are at home.

When researching the best at home tips when your kid is learning online, whether they are in kindergarten or a senior in high school, the biggest piece of advise was create a schedule. A schedule and routine is always great to have. But what is the best way to create a schedule with your kids? Especially the younger ones?

According to Emily from Lakeshore Learning, creating a daily schedule with your kids should be very inclusive. By that, I mean they need to help create the schedule. Forcing them to go to bed hasn't worked their entire life, so why force this upon them. Here are Emily's tricks to help create a schedule with your kids.

1. Have Them Help Create The Schedule

Work together to create the schedule. Yes, kids will add some of the things they want to do, which may be a little goofy, but letting them have ownership is key. Again, forcing them to follow a schedule won't necessarily make them want to follow along.

2. Set Expectations

Setting expectations is very important especially if you or the other parent is working from home. If they have down time in their schedule and they have a tendency to be noisy or want to come talk to your or the other parent working from home, that can be distracting for everyone. As long as everyone in the home knows what each part of the day brings, it should go smoothly.

3. Transitioning During Activities On The Schedule

Let's face it, 30 minutes of quiet reading time isn't going to be your kids favorite part of the school day at home. It wasn't their favorite when they were at school (probably). But when they go from lunch to outside time and then inside for learning, that transition can be a little rough. To transition from activity to activity, have a fun song to sing, have an impromptu dance party, make it a fun race, or whatever you can think of to make the transition fun and encouraging.

Schedules and routines are very important. Don't forget you can expand on their schedule and include things that start the day like making the bed and brushing their teeth, to ending the day by taking a bath and brushing their teeth.

See the video from Lakeshore Learning's Emily below.