13 Tips From a Teacher of 30 Years for Homeschooling Your Kids During Corona Virus Quarantine + Free Resources
Congrats! You’ve just gotten a brand new job as a teacher! If you’re one of the many parents around the country who have been thrown into homeschooling, chance are you’re feeling a little in over your head.
If that’s you, we want you to know two things (1) It’s okay to be feeling overwhelmed. Remember, you don’t have to make your kid into a genius during quarantine, and (2) we are here to help!
We talked with a veteran teacher of 30 years and asked her to give us all the advice on how all you parents out there can get teacher of the year during this quarantine craziness.
Here’s what she said…
1 Teacher + 30 Years = Some Great Math Tips for homeschooling
[Math facts] - Practice and Review Addition, Subtraction, Multiplication, or Division Facts Daily
Make homemade flashcards out of copy paper, construction paper, notebook paper, or anything else you have lying around. (PRO TIP: Let the kiddos help you make and decorate them. Sometimes you have to do a little trickery to make them forget it’s school work.)
Have a hyper kid? Try this game... Write the answers to the math facts you’re practicing on pieces of paper. Tape the pieces of paper on the floor and have your kiddo jump on the answer when you call out a problem! (I can speak from experience that this makes math fun!)
[money] - Use money (bills and change) around the house to practice identifying money, counting money, adding money amounts and making change
Make a game out of it! You can play ‘store’ and have them buy things from you, or you can buy things from them so they have to make change for you.
Try to stay away from using fake money. You want them to recognize actual coins and bills.
[telling time] - Use a clock to Practice telling time. by the way, Make sure to use an analog clock, not a digital one!
Have a double whammy of learning and have your kiddo set the clock to the answer of an addition, subtraction, multiplication, or division fact that you call out.
If you have an older kiddo who is learning elapsed time, baking is a great way to demonstrate that.
Example: It’s 2:35. I have to bake this cake for 65 minutes. What time will it be when it’s done?
[fractions] - Use fun things around the house to teach about fractions
Use snacks or toys to show how fractions work.
Example: Cut a sandwich into 4 pieces, each piece represents 1/4, if you eat one of the 1/4 pieces, how much is left? (answer - 3/4)
Example: You have 4 toy cars, you take one away, that leaves 3/4, how much did you take away? (answer - 1/4)
[measurements] - cooking is the perfect way to learn measurements the fun way
Bake a cake or make some cookies and help your kiddo understand measurements like 1/4 cup, 1/2 cup. etc. This is a great time to teach them how to read a recipe and just spend some good quality time with them.
tips for reading your way through quarantine
Read at least one book to your child every day
Make it interactive by asking and discussing questions about the book with your child. Reading comprehension is SO important! Here’s a printable list of questions you can ask your kiddo.
Let your child read a book to you
To make it fun, they can read to the dog or their stuffed animal. (Make sure the book is on your kid’s grade level.)
Make it interactive and ask questions about the book. Talk about:
The characters
The setting
Problems and solutions in the book
Why did the author write the book? to entertain you, teach you, or persuade you about something?
Ask them to retell the story (this is a big one!)
Take time every day to have a quality conversation with your child.
This will help develop their language and communication skills. As tempting as it can be when those tiny humans are taking 15 minutes to tell you about the caterpillar they just saw on the window, avoid just sitting them in front of an electronic device as a babysitter.
Let your child keep a daily journal of what they do each day.
This will encourage and promote writing skills in your kiddo. If you have a kindergartener, they can draw pictures! It doesn’t have to be a long journal entry, just enough to get their little creative brain going.
Use reading materials around the house to practice parts of speech
You can use cereal boxes, magazines, posters, or get this… actual books… to read and point out nouns, verbs, adjectives, etc. If you have younger kids, use these same items to point out letters, colors, and numbers.
Play a verbal game to understand parts of speech
Help your kids understand what parts of speech are and how to use them.
Here’s an example: The answer you’re looking for is “BIRD” so you’d say things like “I am a noun”, “You can see me fly outside and sit in trees. What am I?”
Other Good tips for making the most of quarantine-school
have your children participate and help around the house
You can’t ever go wrong teaching your kids responsibility and structure. Have them help you with washing dishes, using the washing machine, fold clothes, etc.
always have a recess time
Take time to decompress! Play boardgames, card games, or get outside if you can! At the end of the day, they’re still kids. It’s okay to let them act like it.
