Common Sense Media includes reviews of some books, as well. There are also many online tours of national parks, zoos, and aquariums. (n.d.). While you are working on a schedule more customized to you, your kids and your work schedule, two companies, Khan Academy and Scholastic, have recently provided lesson plans and activities free for children who are now staying home due to school closings. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.roblox.com/, Wiess, S. R. (2020a). Montana requires a notice of intent to homeschool to be submitted to the local Superintendent of Schools, but does not require any other forms or portfolio review, etc. What can your student do to promote these team functions also? What we sometimes forget, though, is that our kids are, as well. As you wrap up the day, after allowing your kids to play and relax for the first day, take three deep breaths and smile, knowing that you completed some planning and organizing, and that you are on your way. When I started homeschooling and working from home, we had one preschooler and one toddler. AnimalCams. (n.d.). We cannot control what this pandemic has become or is about to become or the ripple effects it may cause. An example of this is a new kindergartener starting homeschool in the first year of school eligibility. So, how do we, as a team of parents, educators, and administrators, work together as a high performing team and not fall into the 5 dysfunctions of a team identified by Lencioni? (Note that this is not a comprehensive list.) One option is for grades 3-5, called Digital Passport, and is accessible here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport. (n.d.). While you are on a conference call today, have your kids stand next to your whiteboard or sit next to you coloring or doing some additional activity, and work with them to complete a bingo card based on what is said or done on your conference call. With some states canceling in-person schooling for the rest of the academic year and others extending the closures for additional time periods or indefinitely, but messages coming from politicians that we need to re-open the country, we are in a state of wait and see. Calling it schoolwork for the toddler made her feel like she was getting to do something cool that her big sister was doing, while really just doing what she would have been anyway. Accountability is the forth level in the pyramid identified by Lencioni, and aligns closely with constructive conflict and commitment. What Ill provide below is a brief overview of some of the options for planning the work, starting with four considerations for doing so. Common Sense Media provides two different options for digital citizenship education. Some of the common misconceptions include: Lets attempt to address these one by one. Coronavirus (COVID-19). You are the parent, and you know what is best for your children. It is important to be fully informed of all legal and regulatory requirements prior to making your choice, so that you are making a fully-informed choice. 4) Ensure that roles and responsibilities are clearly defined and identify how each will be held accountable and how opportunities for improvements will be identified, evaluated, and implemented. KEY POINT: You do not have to replicate your full workday and the full school day, so give yourself a break and get rid of that expectation right away. The one thing that all of those spaces had in common was a dedicated space to store all of our supplies and work. (n.d.). While you are determining how much time you want to dedicate to your work, also consider if there are specific days or times of day that you have regularly scheduled meetings, deadlines for regular work, or other time-specific restrictions. Retrieved March 16, 2020 from, Center for Disease Control (CDC). (Note that this is an unpopular opinion and not promoted or frequently supported in the traditional, long-term homeschooling community, though, so questions about this option in these traditional groups or distribution lists may not be met with the most positive reactions.) While I worked and homeschooled, I had a variety of types of jobs, all technical/knowledge-working jobs, some with more flexibility than others. Will you and your children be ok with this or able to handle any repetition or boredom by supplementing with other activities? Its challenging to ensure everyone is on the same page during a normal school year, but even more challenging during a global pandemic. With everyone rushing around trying to figure out what they are going to do for the fall, it is important to also pause, step back, and consider how the plans you make for the fall fit into your future educational plans. When we homeschooled, for earlier years, where I had many conference calls, and the kids were younger, we used videos for most of the elective subjects and studied each subject almost every day. (Many states do not allow homeschoolers to participate in activities at the public school, but some states do. A big lesson learned in this transition is that no matter what homeschool curriculum you choose, there will be differences in what they learn there and what is covered in the public school curriculum, thus, some material will be repeated and there will be gaps to be filled in other places. 100 Things to Teach Your Teen While Youre Stuck at Home. The options are so abundant that it can often be overwhelming, especially for those new to educating their children at home. If any of you are like me, you started your working and homeschooling balancing act by trying to explain to your children how important work is, and how you have to focus (and they have to be quiet) while you are on work calls. (The first is required if choosing homeschooling and not purchasing a pre-packaged curriculum or enrolling your children in a full-time online school. When you are planning your days, you will first need to decide how much time you want (or need) to spend with your focus dedicated to your work (in meetings, for example), and how much time you want to spend homeschooling your child (or children). In these times, I found educational videos that could fill the spaces, where my children could still be learning, but I was able to focus on the meetings and my work. For those who are not experienced or knowledgeable about publishers used for K-12 education, the National University Library System has a list on their website, accessible here: https://nu.libguides.com/CommonCore/ccss_publishers. (Dont forget to include what you used to keep your fort together tape, staples, clothes pins, etc. Homeschool Organizations. Khan Academy Schedules for School Closures. Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://docs.google.com/document/d/e/2PACX-1vSZhOdEPAWjUQpqDkVAlJrFwxxZ9Sa6zGOq0CNRms6Z7DZNq-tQWS3OhuVCUbh_-P-WmksHAzbsrk9d/pub, Khan Academy. Literally blocking it off on your calendar and communicating your schedule with your bosses and colleagues will make sure you are all on the same page and that everyone will respect that time. The state, on the other hand, wants to have as much control and oversight as possible, in many cases. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites, Common Sense Media. Your next steps are: 1) Identify the age groups of the children you are educating and whether they need to be planned separately or if the plan and content can be the same. Uncertainty and lack of direction and why can cause unnecessary stress and a lack of commitment. 3) Clear out, setup and organize your dedicated storage area for your schoolwork and related supplies. Weathering the Storm. 3) All members of the team should remember that discomfort leads to growth and work on being ok with being held accountable, with hearing feedback that they dont really want to hear, and with giving honest, constructive feedback to other members of the team when things arent working well. (n.d.). Are you comfortable sending your children to school in the fall, as long as CDC guidelines for schools are followed (CDC, 2020)? Greater Good Magazine. Lets face it, we are all in survival mode right now, and trying to claim anything else would be misleading. Instead of trying to convince your kids why they should be quiet and calm during your conference calls and hoping for the best, you might try giving them specific activities to keep them busy during these times. Yours will too. Thats all any of us can do, and the only way we are going to figure out what will work is for everyone to be comfortable communicating and providing constructive feedback when things are not working. This is a great time to have the conversation with your manager about the priorities of the work currently assigned to you, the hours they expect, or require, you to be available, and where flexibility does (and does not) exist in your schedule, workload and work-related responsibilities. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews, Focus on the Family. Make a fort out of anything you like (Amazon boxes, sheets, blankets, etc.). (n.d.). CommonSenseMedia.org. (This is in no way intended to imply that they wont help you, since we have always experienced the exact opposite, especially when in direct contact with teachers, administrators, etc. Other paid options exist for states which do not offer state virtual schools, like K12, ConnectionsAcademy, although many others exist, as well (Connections Academy, 2020; K12, 2020). What Are the Non-Core Subjects?. Headspace, a mindfulness and meditation app, is providing a series of their meditations for free in the midst of the current situation. For parents looking online for content for their children, who may not be familiar with different websites, movies or apps, or unsure how to tell what might be safe or age-appropriate, this post is for you. For gratitude, an easy option to start your day would be to talk about three good or positive things. Remote Learning with Khan Academy During School Closures. Our girls were homeschooled since Kindergarten, and I chose materials for each individual subject for each girl, and planned the curriculum and lesson plans myself throughout this entire time. Our children need to be able to disagree and question things when concepts or instructions arent clear to them. The second is what is being referred to as remote or distance learning, or, in our district, cooperative distance learning, which I think describes this option very well. The key is not to be happy or unhappy about the approaches, but to be informed. Free Printable Homeschool Planners. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/articles/2218929/how-many-hours-homeschooling-per-day/. There are a few things to consider. Current Homeschool Laws. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://www.steamsational.com/free-printable-homeschool-planners/, The new challenge to keep the kids occupied during conference calls is: FORT MAKING!!! (Remember: If you dont know where you are going, any road will get you there. Well, the best approach comes down to whether this is a temporary or long-term/permanent option for you and your family. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://hslda.org/legal, HSLDA. One combined list of these is accessible on EarthCam.com, here: https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/. Harvard Business Review. Awake and Mindful has collected five yoga videos for kids that might be one option for a calm activity to start off the day. School and schoolwork does not have to be an all-or-nothing situation. On top of a foundation of trust is constructive conflict. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.k12.com/. Coronavirus Closed Schools: 27 Activities to Keep Kids Busy During School Closures. At those times, my kids were at the ages where they needed more hands-on help and their school workload was higher, so it worked well for us. There are so many options available to teach every subject, and many are free. It is nice to have a separate table, countertop, or other area that you could leave your work out on all the time, but in most cases, this is not an option. Enjoy! While we await final proposals for opening of schools in the fall from states and local districts, we are all asking what if? What if schools open as usual in the fall at full capacity? When trying to decide what is best, there are always multiple considerations. More details about the rating systems used for the Common Sense Media ratings can be found here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/about-our-ratings. If you are homeschooling on your own, you and your children might be the only members of the team, but for others remotely schooling via distance learning options provided through their school or district, there are many other members of the team, as well. Find a fort posted by someone else and draw a picture of their fort and estimate how many people you think could fit in their fort. But, there is also so much that is fully within our control. These are legally optional. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://nu.libguides.com/CommonCore/ccss_publishers. There are so many different aspects and layers of trust, as well. Patrick Lencioni wrote a book called, The Five Dysfunctions of a Team, which gives a simple, straightforward way to think about what is needed for teams to function well and to thrive. Welltrainedmind.com. schoolwork has to follow the school day/week schedule, the schoolwork has to only include academic subjects, the kids have to be working on academic work the entire time, socialization is an afterthought when homeschooling, the kids are responsible for schoolwork and parents need to continue all of the housework. The last thing we need is to waste time searching for books, pencils, paper and other supplies while we are trying to work and homeschool. Youre Probably Homeschooling Way More Than You Need To. They are used to having their days and activities planned out for them months in advance. How might it impact their learning? that you will be bound by? Remember that you have options and that considering the short term and the long term will help smooth any future transitions for you and your children. The CRHE and HSLDA do a great job of keeping up with the current state regulations and how they are implemented (along with your legal rights and options as a homeschooler) (CRHE, n.d.; HSLDA, n.d.). Schedules created and posted in a common location provide clarity to everyone involved and help the parents avoid questions like what are we doing today? and what subjects are we working on today? There are many free printable planners and schedules available online. (n.d.). A few of the things that are currently within our control are: 1) our reactions to the current situation, 2) our attitudes, 3) our schedule and 4) our space. Starting your day with gratitude and calm activities has been said to start your day off on a positive note. Commitment is built on a foundation of trust and constructive conflict. While the kids play, you can plan your day(s). Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.sheknows.com/parenting/slideshow/2173553/coronavirus-school-closings-keep-kids-busy/1/, Wiess, S. R. (2020b). Its important that parents, educators and administrators clearly define what the goals are and monitor progress toward those goals. Marc Zao-Sanders (2018) wrote an informative article on TimeBoxing, accessible here: Organizing your space is another aspect of your current situation that you have total control over. Educators need to be able to express concerns to parents and administrators when things arent working for them, their class, or even particular students. You can make, download and print your own bingo card at sites like BingoBaker, accessible here: https://bingobaker.com/ Yet another alternative is to keep your call off speaker, but let your kids mark off the square on the bingo, and you tell them when the criteria has been met. Best of luck with this years educational adventures. Given the current closure of public schools, many publishers are providing content online for free, as well. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://montessori-nw.org/what-is-montessori-education, Roblox. Before you start, identify an award they will earn if you get a bingo and/or if they black out the entire card by meeting the criteria of each bingo square on the entire bingo card. You dont have to wait until plans for the fall are released to figure out what you are comfortable (and not comfortable) with. SheKnows.com. (2020). The standard subjects tend to include math, language arts, science, history or social studies, art, technology, health, physical education, and music. (Parents, dont be jealousyou can make forts, tooand even take your conference call from inside your fort, if you want to.). The rule for our girls was that they had to look at all movies, games, and apps up on Common Sense Media and bring them to us prior to asking the question of whether they could play, watch or download something. Trust that everyone is working toward a common goal, for example, is one type of trust. Many of our kids had packed schedules of school, sports, and other activities, with barely enough time to grab a sandwich in the car for supper. You will need to determine the best balance and schedule for your family based on the ages you are teaching, the subjects you have selected, and the modes you have chosen to use to teach those subjects. Making it clear that it was a big kid privilege to sit at the table with us to work on schoolwork was also helpful in motivating (relatively) quiet focus. When you get stressed or overwhelmed, just remember that surviving is all you and your family need to do right now, and the rest will all work out eventually. In the middle of the fall, we collectively decided that it was time for the girls to attend public school. I was in the same situation as many of you, having to figure out what to do to keep the toddler busy while working with the preschooler. (This is the option rated as highest risk by the CDC) (CDC, 2020). What is Montessori Education? 5) Understand and be honest and open about what you (and your student) can and cannot reasonably take on and complete given everything you have going on outside of school responsibilities, and be open to working with your student and their teachers and school administrators. We also chose to provide our girls with education regarding proper behavior online, rather than feeling the need to constantly police them and their online activities. Considerations for Schools. (2020). If yours has not done so, or you would like to supplement the work provided to your kids, there are many approaches to doing so. A visual representation of the five dysfunctions Lencioni identifies is shown below. (n.d.). Many state and local education-related publications have language that indicates that the notice of intent to homeschool and the portfolio reviews are required. In fact, they have created a launch page for the current times, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/resources-for-families-during-the-coronavirus-pandemic, Common Sense Media. They had to tell us the recommended ages by Common Sense Media, parents and kids and were only allowed to watch movies, play games or download/use apps that were 2 years over the lowest age recommended out of the three. (Note that we do still have the requirement that they add us on all social media accounts so that we can monitor their activities there if we choose to do so.) In work environments, especially when working on projects, everyone has clearly defined roles and responsibilities which are laid out on a project plan. (n.d.). The activities in the basket could be anything from printed mazes, cut and paste activities, manipulative for counting, coloring books, etc. If you decide you are not comfortable sending your child to their current school in the fall, what options do you have? Being completely clear on goals, roles, and contributions can promote commitment and team cohesion. What if schools open in a blended format, where schedules are alternating day to day or am/pm? If you want to really make it fun and engaging with everyone involved, you or the meeting organizer can make up a bingo card and send it out to everyone on the call. The reality is that we need to accept that nothing is going to be perfect in this imperfect situation, so for the perfectionists out there (like myself), if we are surviving and our families are surviving, we are doing the best we can, and that is good enough. (2020). (2020). Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic. Small wins go a long way. 4) *BONUS* You can also take an inventory of what you have for school supplies (paper, pencils, pens, markers, crayons, glue, scizzors, stapler, tape, whole punch, etc.). You will need to research your options in your area if this is a deciding factor for you. The traditional homeschooling community is extreme in their desire to be unregulated and to have full freedom to educate their children however they wish, with minimal or no governmental intervention or oversight. Its important to have an honest conversation with your family and make the decision that is best for you, and to communicate that through these surveys. (These are usually set at the state-level and enforced at the district or school-level. In my personal opinion, consistency in accountability, especially for online learners, is fundamental to their success, I believe, but it takes everyone involved being on the same page to maintain an appropriate level of accountability. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.minecraft.net/en-us/, Montessori Northwest. Attention to results is the top and smallest portion of the pyramid. (2020). Administrators need to be able to raise concerns when they see inactivity and absences, to agree or disagree with reasons behind them, and then for everyone to be able to constructively discuss options for solutions, and even test out different solutions (and yes, sometimes fail and try something else). Just take a few deep breaths and enjoy the time you have with your kids, because they really do grow up so fast, and this pandemic and chaos will eventually pass. Digital Compass. Examples of delivery modes include DVDs, online learning games, online video lessons, printable lessons, workbooks and textbooks, fully online classes, and instructions posted online that allow you to create your own. They also expect to have to make up for missed learning in the fall for this last spring, especially for the younger students in lower grades. (n.d.). In my previous post, I noted that some schools and some districts are providing work for their students, which is great! If this was or is you, trust me, you are not alone. An alternative is to make your own bingo card that might be more age-appropriate, like one with silly words or um and uh, for example, that might be easy for little ones to pick up on during the call. Hopefully, you have found this content helpful, and are on your way to planning a (relativelythey are our awesome kids, after all) calm, fun and enjoyable adventure educating your children at home while working. It will make your planning much easier and less stressful if you acknowledge right now that you are one person and cannot be an effective fulltime teacher for 8 hours and full time worker for 8 hours, nor do you need to be. A great list of them compiled by STEAMsational is accessible here: https://www.steamsational.com/free-printable-homeschool-planners/. (n.d.). Kid-Safe Browsers and Search Sites. Homeschool Laws By State. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.connectionsacademy.com/, CRHE. (2020). Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport, Common Sense Media. Think about other ways that you can work to promote trust, constructive conflict, commitment, accountability, and attention to results as part of your students learning team and pick one item to focus on at a time. You can ask the school about options for continuing distance learning (if they dont already include that as an option in their fall plans). (2020). These are all considerations when building a foundation of trust in a remote or distance learning team with all parties involved. At this point, state and local boards of education are doing the best they can with the little information they have to plan for something none of us have ever had to deal with before. Administrators have never run schools, districts or boards of education during a global pandemic. There are many options for finding safe content online for kids. One way to focus and be able to sift through all of the options is to decide what modes you wish to use to teach each of the subjects you selected, and limit your searches to the selected mode for each subject. Connections Academy. https://medium.com/taskworld-blog/lencionis-5-dysfunctions-of-a-team-330d58b2cd81. Almost three years later, I can tell you that it was the right choice for both of them, without a doubt. In all honesty, because we got sick of answering the question of Can we watch? questions, we came up with a specific rule to guide their choices. Florida is more strict, but does have umbrella schools that allow for smoother navigation of the requirements. Roblox. You dont need to go crazy buying organizing supplies. These can be accessed here: https://www.headspace.com/covid-19. You can use an existing bingo card, plenty of which are posted for free online. (This is a big deciding factor that can save or cost you a lot of time and stress. Having a dedicated space will allow you to put everything away in a neat and orderly fashion after every day, so that it is available and easy to access the following day. Common Sense Media, for example, provides a list of Kid-Safe Browsers and Search Sides, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites. In Connecticut, the only thing you are legally required to do is file with your local board of education a letter of Notice of Withdrawal. ), 3) Do you think you might want to send your students back to school in person either some time this year or in future years?
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