Tips for parents teaching at home during quarantine

Mommas, are you already exasperated at the daunting task of trying to teach your young child during this strange time? Hang in there, and use these super simple tips to save your sanity and make learning all the more enjoyable for both you and your child.

First of all, DON'T overcomplicate this! Your child has worked hard all year. Now, they just need someone to guide them as they review and to help them practice applying what they have learned all year. Don't feel like you're having to teach them a ton of new material. If your child is ready to move on to something else, that's great! Go for it! But the most important thing to do is make sure they have mastered the basic skills and can apply what they know. Also, it is important to remember that learning doesn't have to look like a child sitting down at a table with a pencil. You can use every day experiences to teach your child.

Application is so crucial, and one of the best ways to see if a child has mastered a skill is to see if he or she can apply that skill through writing. If you don't do anything else during this Corona quarantine, have your child write something every single day!

Ways to make writing enjoyable and not seem like work:

*Have your child help you make the grocery list. Ok, so little Johnny probably can't spell lasagna, but he can be listening for the sounds he knows in words and assigning the appropriate letter to those sounds to try to spell the words. It's totally fine for your child to spell these words incorrectly, as long as your child is spelling them in a way that makes sense phonetically (i.e. spugete for spaghetti). Now, if your child is in first or second grade and has learned more phonetic rules, such as when to use c or k, then you should expect him/her to know cabbage starts with a c and not a k.

*Go outside and use sidewalk chalk! What kid doesn't like to use chalk? You can do just about any kind of writing activity with chalk. You could practice spelling words and sight words, play hangman, write stories, or literally anything, and then when you're finished you can spray it off and start over the next day.

*Teach your child to start journaling. This could begin in K-1 with copying down a sentence and then drawing a picture. You could have them dictate the sentence to you and you write it down and allow them to copy it. Once they have the hang of things, they can begin writing the sentence on their own, first with help and then move on to doing it independently. It's important to remember to use corrective feedback appropriately here. Don't overly criticize or correct in areas that haven't been covered yet, but have the expectation for them that if they have learned a skill, such as consonant digraphs, then they should be able to apply that skill in their writing (such as using sh for the /sh/ sound in the word fish).

While working on writing, please, please, please ensure your child is forming the letters correctly! This is essential in their retention of letter names and sounds! Correct letter formation includes starting at the top and pulling downward, and ensuring letters touch the correct lines. For example, uppercase A should be formed like this: Start at the headline and slant down left, go back to the headline and slant down right, and then connect on the midline.

Now on to another very important application component: reading. Obviously reading is extremely important. We all want our kids to do well in school, and the ability to read is usually one of the biggest indicators of how well a child will do in school and on standardized testing. Of course, when we say reading, our children usually moan and complain. That's why it is oh so important that you allow your child's daily reading time to me fun in some way. Yes, you can still time them on nonsense words or oral reading fluency, but you also can allow then some type of "fun" reading activity.

*Sight word or skill word searches in newspapers or magazines is a great way to encourage kids to apply reading skills. If you don't get newspapers or magazines, you can always print off a kid-friendly article from an online source. Have your child look for and highlight certain things, like all the words they find that have sp blends, or all the words that have the vowel team oa. Once they have found and highlight/circled all the skill words, have them rewrite them and then read them to you. You could tie this into writing by having them write a sentence with the word also.

*Read your child a favorite story. It doesn't have to be just your child doing the reading! Modeling for your child how to read fluently is so important. All kids need to see and hear what fluently reading is like. Reading to your child also provides a great opportunity to work in comprehension and discussion questions.

*Don't push books of a certain "level". Let your child choose something they want to read as long as it is something they are capable of reading. Interest is so important when it comes to fostering a love of reading. If it's comics they like, then let them read that. Don't try to force nonfiction. Yes, there is a time when they need to be reading nonfiction, but that is something that can be worked in when you're reading to your child or in some other time outside of "free" reading time.

*If your child has an interest in something, like sharks, then have them research the topic and put together some information about it. I know it sounds crazy, but this can be done even as early as kindergarten. I've done it with my students before and it was great! Using free resources such as library books (which are not going to be used right now during quarantine), EPIC, and PebbleGo (can be accessed through AVL), students are able to find information on certain topics with parent guidance. You could give your child some type of questions to look for the answers to, such as how long can great white sharks live, and then guide them in finding the answers to the questions. Your child is reading nonfiction, searching for information, and compiling the information in some way, whether you just have then write it down or make some type of project.

*Use games whenever possible! Games always make learning more fun. There are tons of free Bingo generators online. You could create Bingo games with sight words, nonsense words, or skill words, and have your child play against you or siblings. You can make your own board game online that incorporates reading sight words and skill words as well. I guarantee you there's a never ending amount of ideas on Pinterest!

Now, let's move onto math. For some reason, this is my students' least liked area. I can't say I blame them because I've never been a huge fan of math.

Math is literally so easy to incorporate into every day learning moments.

*You can count ANYTHING. Like seriously, anything. While your child is doing chores (which I hope they do!), they can count. How many socks are in the laundry basket? How many pairs of socks is that? How many toys are in the floor? The list goes on and on.

*Look for shapes around the house (2d and 3d) and talk about their attributes. How many sides and angles does this shape have? How do you know the door is a rectangle? What shape is the basketball? Why is the basketball a sphere not a circle?

*Just like with counting, so many everyday moments can lead to addition/subtraction problem solving opportunities. You had 7 crayons but you shared 2 with your sister, so how many do you have now? You had $10 in your piggy bank, and last night the tooth fairy brought you $2 more, so how much do you have now. The possibilities are endless!

There are so many opportunities to work on number sense just through simple questioning, and it doesn't even involve pencil and paper work. Remember, learning doesn't have to look like a child sitting at a desk "working". Learning happens all day, every day.

I hope some of these ideas were helpful! If you need anymore ideas, feel free to send me an email or leave a comment on my blog!