Homeschooling Tips For First Timers!

Team Mobi here!  This post is super relevant right now as many parents and caregivers around the world are taking on the challenge of homeschooling.  While e-learning has started for many places, we thought it would be useful to share these things to use throughout this whole journey.  While going through this process, we’ve learned that many teachers are advocating the same concepts: 

• Get to know your child/children and their interests
• Focus less on academic achievements and more on nurturing life skills, family bonding, identifying emotions, and stress management skills
• Build social support networks/communities (virtual to maintain social distancing)

Get to really know your kid(s)!

Across the spectrum from kindergarten through high school, all of the teachers we spoke with said getting to know your kids is the most important thing for any educator and parent to do.   Step back and try not to assume that you already know everything about your child.  Treat each child as an individual and ask them questions about what they like, what they’re interested in, and what they don’t enjoy.  Also use your child’s learning styles to your advantage.  For example, some are musical, others kinesthetic, and many just need to move (a lot).  An example of how to teach a child that loves music would be to sing everything out to the tune of their favourite songs.  Incorporating your child’s natural talents, interests, hobbies, and passions will make learning easier, more efficient, and more enjoyable for all.  Unsure of what your child’s learning style is?  There are tons of online quizzes that you can use as a guide.

 Embracing individualism also means that we have to avoid comparison—each child is different just as every family is different.  If you go down the rabbit hole of comparing what your child is doing, or what activities your family is doing to the picture-perfect social media families, you will feel like you’ve failed when you haven’t.

 Focus On Non-Academic Skills

This is perhaps one of the more difficult things for parents to really understand.  We are in a world where academic achievements seem to be valued higher than practical life skills.  Some of you might wonder what life skills you can even teach a young child, but there are so many things you can get started on.  For example, cooking can be a great opportunity to teach a life skill while incorporating things like measuring, fractions, and teamwork.  Have your kids help you clean around the house, organize their toys/closets/etc.

Embrace this amazing (and challenging) opportunity to have tons of family time and teach your kids the importance of basic human values like gratitude, collective efforts, and the importance of human connection.  Set the emotional tone and ask your kids how they are feeling and how they are dealing with things in these globally stressful times.  It is difficult to both learn and teach anything when you and/or your child are feeling overwhelmed and stressed.  Kids pick up on the emotional climate around them and as adults, we have a difficult time remaining calm at times.  Kids have very real fears that need to be addressed in age-appropriate ways and they need their parents to be open to sharing as well.  You don’t have to have all the answers, but kids just need to feel safe and be heard as well.  If you are having trouble figuring out how to relay information to your child, check out CBC Kids or CAMH online for some resources and videos.

Maintain & Build Social Networks

Kids (like most humans) are social beings.  It’s important to remember that social distancing only refers to physical distance.  We can take this opportunity to teach children how to build and maintain healthy relationships despite the distance.  Arrange phone calls, video chats, virtual parties, etc with your children’s friends and family.  If you have grandparents or older relatives in long-term care facilities or nursing homes, they might really be feeling the hit of isolation.  In these cases, consider getting your kids to write a letter or create artwork of their favourite memories with their grandparents and mail it to them.

Thank you so much to our teachers who provided all of this valuable insight for all us parents who have no idea where to start!  Tune in for more ideas!

 Much Love,
Team Möbi