In just a few weeks, we went from counting down the days until spring break to homeschooling both our students and our kids. If you have little ones at home who are still in school, then you may be finding yourself teaching both them and your students! Here are five tips for teaching from home and to help you home-school your kids.
Set Up Office Hours
Office hours aren’t just for your students, but for your kids and even your family if you have to. Let everyone know what time they can come to you with questions, help with homework, or anything else. Be firm with your office hours, or you will end up spending all your time helping other people with no energy left for yourself!
Use Free Resources to Supplement Your Lesson Plans
You don’t have to do all the lesson planning yourself! There are a bunch of great resources out there to help you with teaching from home and to bring some fun into the online classroom! I made a big list of free resources you can check out here. Right now, you can access virtual tours, have celebrities read to your kids, and so much more!
Create Opportunities for Hands-On Learning
While teaching from home, you may not physically be there with your students to create a fun learning environment for them, but you can create that same atmosphere for them no matter where they are! Think about the types of materials they will have on hand wherever they are. What food items might they have on hand? What resources do they have access to right now? Use these to your advantage and let your kids do a craft, science experiment, or something else from home.
Create a Routine and Try to Stick With It
Creating a routine while teaching from home will help you block out your day better. Create blocks for everything you need to get done in your day and try to stick to those blocks as much as you can! This will not only help make this hectic time in your life bearable, but it will also help you create structure for your kids. You may have to deviate from your routine occasionally, but stick to it the best you can.
Take Breaks and Encourage Your Kids to Go Outside
After a few days of constantly staying inside, both you and your kids will need some fresh air. Open up the windows while you’re homeschooling, or go for a social distancing walk around your neighborhood if you can. Even just stepping outside into your backyard to play with your kids for a while is better than nothing! Get creative and find a way to keep your distance from others, and get outside if you can.
This is a difficult time for teachers all over the world. The best thing you can do for your students right now is be there for them. This is a difficult time for you, but it’s also a terrifying time for them too. Do the best you can, and here’s to being able to use the bathroom without finding someone to cover for you!
