‘Feeling like a failure.’ Parents overwhelmed teaching kids at home. Here are some tips
Parents have a new title to add to their resumes during the COVID-19 pandemic: Teacher.
And many are not thrilled about it.
Frustrations are on the rise as parents are quickly learning that teaching their children on a day-to-day basis isn’t as simple as some might assume during coronavirus “stay-at-home” orders.
“We tried to make it work the first week,” Alexandra Nicholson, a parent whose son is in kindergarten near Boston, told the Associated Press. “We put together a schedule, and what we found is that forcing a child who is that young into a fake teaching situation is really, really hard. I’d rather have him watch classic Godzilla movies and play in the yard and pretend to be a Jedi rather than figure out basic math.”
Parents of older children are feeling the stress as well.
“I wanted to get into a fetal position and hide out,” said Sarah Karpanty, a mother of two middle-school sons in Roanoke, Virginia. “When all this started we were all like, ‘Thank God kids aren’t affected.’ But we have to be honest, the kids are not OK.”
Teachers and those who work in the education system have been stepping up all over social media to help disheartened parents who find themselves wanting to run and hide from their kids instead of continuing with a daily lesson plan.
Here are some tips to help all the new quarantine-made teachers during this pandemic.
Know your child
NPR suggests that while teaching your child, it’s helpful to know their strengths — such as if they work better independently or need the extra support of working one-on-one with you.
“Online [and independent] learning is really hard for a lot of people,” MIT education researcher Justin Reich told NPR. “It requires a lot of self-regulated learning skills.”
For example, if you find your child works better in groups, a Zoom study session with a classmate or multiple classmates might work for them. NPR also says that “the older kids are, the longer they may be able to work on their own,” so don’t feel discouraged if your child would rather work independently.
Let your children help you make the class schedule
As The Cut points out, children need a sense of control, so it’s beneficial if parents allow their children to be involved with the daily planning.
Elizabeth Sussman, a middle-school special-education teacher, involved her family when incorporating a daily routine.
“I talked to them about what they thought their day should look like, how we need to get outdoor time, how we need to make sure the dog gets walked, how we keep our apartment clean and pick up after ourselves,” she said.
Or don’t create a schedule
Sometimes, it helps not to follow a strict, set schedule that’s planned at the beginning of the day as opposed to writing down what they’ve learned after the fact.
“I write down at the end of the day all the learning experiences we did versus trying to script them at the beginning of the day,” says Christy Thomas, a former middle-school teacher who now home-schools her children along with running a podcast, “Everyday Motherhood.”
“This allows me not to freak out on my kids. Kids naturally do more on different days. Some days, my 7-year-old just wants to do math and is totally engaged with it. Another day, we learn about animals. Overall, it equals out.”
Engage in passion projects
Is your child interested in cooking? Gardening? Drawing? According to Ana Homayoun, an education coach for students, now is the time for children to pursue and practice personal interests they’ve had but didn’t have time to focus on before the coronavirus pandemic.
Set up designated space for learning
Even though most children move around during the day, it’s best if they have a pre-designated space for learning, according to Homayoun.
“Have you kids pack up their materials into a basket so they can put them aside when they’re finished,” NPR suggests.
Don’t overdo it
If parents try to cram too much into a day, not only will it burn them out, but burn out the child as well, which will lead to more frustrations.
“If kids are getting frustrated, they’re not going to be able to learn,” says Julia Hainer-Violand, an elementary-school teacher. “Take a break and return to the activity later.”
Be forgiving
This is a stressful time for parents and children, so if things get too out-of-hand, parents need to remember that they can put on a movie or television program so both parties can decompress and take a breather.
“You don’t have to home school if it’s really going to cause severe emotional distress for everyone involved,” Homayoun says via NPR. “And I think that’s really important for parents to hear right now because we all feel so much personal pressure.”
This story was originally published April 27, 2020 at 12:15 PM with the headline "‘Feeling like a failure.’ Parents overwhelmed teaching kids at home. Here are some tips."