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. 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. (n.d.). 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. What can your student do to promote these team functions also? CommonSenseMedia.org. To commit to common goals, everyone on the team has to be aware of the goals, understand why those goals are important, and be aware and accepting of their role in helping the team attain those goals. I will gather and post a list of the supplies I always kept on hand soon. So, what options are there? Making sure others respect your time is actually easier than it might seem at first. You dont have to wait until plans for the fall are released to figure out what you are comfortable (and not comfortable) with. 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. If you have chosen to homeschool instead of opt into distance learning through your school, and the option is temporary, you may wish to file the notice of intent to homeschool and proceed to work closely with the school to ensure the smoothest transition back into the school when the time is right. (n.d.2). Awake and Mindful has collected five yoga videos for kids that might be one option for a calm activity to start off the day. Its important that parents, educators and administrators clearly define what the goals are and monitor progress toward those goals. How Timeboxing Works and Why it Will Make You More Productive. It is also very important to note, especially when you are reading and researching your options, that there are two extremes to the homeschooling debate or conversation, especially in Connecticut, but it is likely evident elsewhere, as well. The two most commonly tested subjects in standardized testing tend to be math and language arts, so when we homeschooled, we put the most emphasis on these two subjects, integrating the others as appropriate and as possible. They are asking because they truly care about your children and your input. They are used to having their days and activities planned out for them months in advance. To avoid things becoming disorganized, piling up, getting dirty during meals, etc., it is best to dedicate a shelf or whole bookshelf to the schoolwork, books and all related equipment. Trust that everyone is working toward a common goal, for example, is one type of trust. This can be important if you are deciding between temporarily homeschooling your children and opting into distance learning (especially in middle school or high school grades). 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.). Educators have never taught during a global pandemic, much less taught remotely or taught some students remotely and some in person at the same time. You will need to determine what is best for you and your children. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/about-us/our-mission/about-our-ratings, Common Sense Media. 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. ), 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? 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. Carter, Christine. ), 4) If you choose homeschooling instead of distance learning, are you fully informed of any reporting requirements, regulations, etc. For those that had more meetings than others, I allocated the time for the meetings first, and then figured out what schoolwork I could fit in. AnimalCams. While I worked and homeschooled, I had a variety of types of jobs, all technical/knowledge-working jobs, some with more flexibility than others. Age-Appropriate Chores. Our children need to be able to disagree and question things when concepts or instructions arent clear to them. 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. 2) Identify the subjects you would like to teach each of the children. 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. 
Best of luck with this years educational adventures. As part of a successful, high-performing and well-functioning team, we have to work together as a team toward common goals, just like a sports team or a project team in an organization. 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. 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. 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. In sports psychology, life coaching and other venues recently, youve likely heard the term locus of control or phrases like control the controllables. Situations like the pandemic we are currently experiencing bring to light the true meaning of these phrases, as there is so much that is truly out of our control. 
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. If your student is overloaded with work, have them work with their teachers and administrators to request extensions or accommodations where needed. The state regulations say that families MAY submit a Notice of Intent to homeschool and participate in portfolio reviews. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport, Common Sense Media. Accountability involves all levels, including our children consistently being held responsible for their work. 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. We homeschooled in many different locations, including a multifamily house where we had a full room dedicated to homeschooling, my parents house where we had an area in the basement, our family members kitchen counters, and even an RV, when we traveled around the US. State Virtual Schools. One combined list of these is accessible on EarthCam.com, here: https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/, National University Library. https://medium.com/taskworld-blog/lencionis-5-dysfunctions-of-a-team-330d58b2cd81. Harvard Business Review. These are all considerations when building a foundation of trust in a remote or distance learning team with all parties involved. These are legally optional. If your remote/distance learning/homeschooling is only planned to be temporary, keeping as close to the curriculum their classmates are learning in school will make for the smoothest transition when the time comes for them to go to school and join their classmates again. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites, Common Sense Media. (n.d.). When I started homeschooling and working from home, we had one preschooler and one toddler. No one knows what the right answer is to any question or problem right now, BUT, we can all try things, fail, get back up, and try something else. Parents need to be able to bring concerns to educators and administrators when things arent working for them and their children. However, we can control our reaction to it by staying safe, keeping our family safe, and following the Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2020) guidelines posted here: In my experience homeschooling and working full time (from various locations and time zones), the biggest lesson I learned was that I needed to be organized, but also flexible. Florida is more strict, but does have umbrella schools that allow for smoother navigation of the requirements. Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic. A visual representation of the five dysfunctions Lencioni identifies is shown below. 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. 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). To this day, we stand by that rule and have had very few issues. (2020). For states who are planning in-person school options, many are still providing distance learning as an option, and homeschooling is always an additional option. Although Im not fully convinced that this is the best approach to managing your time, the concept of Timeboxing is similar to the approach Ive recommended above. 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. Digital Compass. (n.d.). There are many options for finding safe content online for kids. It is also an opportunity for us to find ways for our kids to help around the house and to teach them new life skills that are no longer taught in schools. (Dont forget to include what you used to keep your fort together tape, staples, clothes pins, etc. Common Sense Media provides two different options for digital citizenship education. 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. What if schools open in a blended format, where schedules are alternating day to day or am/pm? Stay home and stay safe. 1) Draw out a rough daily schedule (or weekly, if your daily work schedules vary), allocating specific times for work and for schoolwork. 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. How might it impact their learning? 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. (Also, in Connecticut, if your children were never enrolled in a public or private school, no notice of any kind needs to be filed. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews, Focus on the Family. 
The best resource we have found for determining age-appropriateness of movies, games, applications and some websites is Common Sense Media, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/. 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. Coronavirus Closed Schools: 27 Activities to Keep Kids Busy During School Closures. You will need to research your options in your area if this is a deciding factor for you. Here are a few options, as examples: CDC. If you are unsure, Common Sense Media is a great place to start. Lets face it, we are all in survival mode right now, and trying to claim anything else would be misleading. Looking at these from a more positive lens, as opposed to negatively identifying them as dysfunctions, the list of what teams need to thrive include: The foundation of working together as a group, especially in a stressful, unclear, unpredictable situation like remote learning during a global pandemic, is trust. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html, STEAMsational. Digital Passport. We have never parented (or helped our kids with remote learning) during a global pandemic. On a sports team, each team member (player, coach, manager) has to understand their role in the teams success to be committed to being the best in that role that they possibly can, thus maximizing their contribution to the team and the teams progress toward that goal. What is Montessori Education? 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. Ultimately, only you can decide what is best for you and your children. (n.d.). Are you comfortable sending your children to school in the fall, as long as CDC guidelines for schools are followed (CDC, 2020)? School and schoolwork does not have to be an all-or-nothing situation. 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. ), As you think through the answers to these questions and others, I would like to share about our personal experience with the transition from homeschool to public school in Connecticut only a few years ago. 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. (n.d.). (n.d.). I present to you the conference call activity challenge for today (03/17/2020): Conference Call Bingo (with your kiddos)! Here are a few suggestions of where we might start: 1) Develop (and ensure everyone knows and understands) clearly defined goals. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/policy-issues/current-policy/, Digital Learning Collaborative. You will need to determine, based on the number and ages of children, your work schedule, and any other constraints, what subjects you want to teach and can manage to do so with minimal stress. These extreme stances come with equally strong language, which can be misleading to the new or uninformed, so it is important to make sure you fully understand the true requirements before making decisions, finalizing your plans, and submitting any notices or documentation. Educators need to be able to express concerns to parents and administrators when things arent working for them, their class, or even particular students. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from, Zao-Sanders, Marc. A great list of them compiled by STEAMsational is accessible here: https://www.steamsational.com/free-printable-homeschool-planners/. ), So, with this conflicting guidance and information, what should you do? What Are the Non-Core Subjects?. The first consideration is the age levels you are teaching. It is important to understand the risks and the comfort level you have with those risks, and, depending on the approach taken, the health risks for your children and for you (and for everyone in your household). (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post/611770255064350720/remote-learning-with-khan-academy-during-school, Scholastic. Write a list of the equipment you used to make your fort. You can ask the school about options for continuing distance learning (if they dont already include that as an option in their fall plans). 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. 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!!! Khan Academy Schedules for School Closures. How We Rate and Review. 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. Greater Good Magazine. Current Homeschool Laws. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/state-virtual-schools, HSLDA. Make a fort out of anything you like (Amazon boxes, sheets, blankets, etc.). Organizing any extra items needed (for science experiments, for example) over the weekend for the entire week will also help make your work/homeschool days flow much smoother. How might this impact your childs motivation to do their schoolwork? Homeschool Laws By State. In work environments, especially when working on projects, everyone has clearly defined roles and responsibilities which are laid out on a project plan. Free Printable Homeschool Planners. Considerations for Schools. Commitment is built on a foundation of trust and constructive conflict. 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. (2018). There are many misconceptions about homeschooling, in general, but especially with working and homeschooling. In my previous post, I noted that some schools and some districts are providing work for their students, which is great! 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. 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. Your child or children will be perfectly fine with a couple or a few hours of school-related work and other fun, educational activities while you focus on 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. (2020). (n.d.). These are accessible here: https://awakeandmindful.com/best-kids-yoga-videos-on-youtube/. (This is the option rated as highest risk by the CDC) (CDC, 2020). This includes finding appropriate websites, movies, games, and applications, teaching your children about online safety and digital citizenship, and knowing how to distinguish between free, safe content and free, unsafe content. 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. (Remember to make the award something you can make, give or do with them at home, and that they can have or do after your conference call is over.). Everything else is a bonus. Trust that everyone is doing their best (whatever their best looks like on a given day) and trust that everyone has the childrens best interest at heart are a couple of others. Without clearly defined roles and goals, it is difficult to hold team members accountable for their contributions to the team and to the teams success. 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. 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. 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. 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. We ended up placing them in lower grades than the work they were working on as homeschoolers, both because of their ages and because we knew the work would be easy for them, allowing them to focus on the major personal and social transition with less stress. ), 2) Do you (and your student) want the ability or option to participate in after school activities? 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.). The fourth consideration is the schedule of the subjects you have selected to teach. (2020). Our toddler also participated, at an age-appropriate level, in virtual field trips, science experiments, and other educational activities with her sister. Retrieved March 16, 2020 from, Center for Disease Control (CDC). Below, I will provide a few options and considerations for finding content for your children that is age-appropriate and safe for them, as well as being safe for you and your computer. Another point to consider is that you have every right to make the time spent educating your children as high a priority as any other meeting, so schedule it. We cannot control what this pandemic has become or is about to become or the ripple effects it may cause. In my classroom, I start my classes off by having my students volunteer to Tell me something good. The good things could literally be anything, and they have ranged from I had a good breakfast this morning, to My football team won last night. If you want to add variety or switch things up a bit, the Bestow Team created a list of 30 gratitude games and activities for kids, accessible here: https://hellobestow.com/blog/gratitude-games/. 3) Identify the delivery mode you want to use for each subject and each child. 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. 3) Clear out, setup and organize your dedicated storage area for your schoolwork and related supplies. (Parents, dont be jealousyou can make forts, tooand even take your conference call from inside your fort, if you want to.). SheKnows.com. No year, and no day, to be honest, looked the same for us, even when I tried to plan it to be the same, and my kids turned out just fine. (2020). The truth is that our kids (or any of us, for that matter) have never learned or gone to school (in person, hybrid or online) during a global pandemic. The second option is for grades 6-8, called Digital Compass, which is accessible here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-compass. 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. However, with everything clearly defined and with trust, constructive conflict and commitment, holding each other accountable for their respective parts becomes much easier, and does not need to involve finger pointing or other negative non-constructive behaviors. (This is a big deciding factor that can save or cost you a lot of time and stress. There are so many options available to teach every subject, and many are free. Its challenging to ensure everyone is on the same page during a normal school year, but even more challenging during a global pandemic. (These are usually set at the state-level and enforced at the district or school-level. 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. 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. Almost three years later, I can tell you that it was the right choice for both of them, without a doubt. 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.
Best of luck with this years educational adventures. As part of a successful, high-performing and well-functioning team, we have to work together as a team toward common goals, just like a sports team or a project team in an organization. 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. 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. 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. In sports psychology, life coaching and other venues recently, youve likely heard the term locus of control or phrases like control the controllables. Situations like the pandemic we are currently experiencing bring to light the true meaning of these phrases, as there is so much that is truly out of our control. 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. If your student is overloaded with work, have them work with their teachers and administrators to request extensions or accommodations where needed. The state regulations say that families MAY submit a Notice of Intent to homeschool and participate in portfolio reviews. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-passport, Common Sense Media. Accountability involves all levels, including our children consistently being held responsible for their work. 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. We homeschooled in many different locations, including a multifamily house where we had a full room dedicated to homeschooling, my parents house where we had an area in the basement, our family members kitchen counters, and even an RV, when we traveled around the US. State Virtual Schools. One combined list of these is accessible on EarthCam.com, here: https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.earthcam.com/events/animalcams/, National University Library. https://medium.com/taskworld-blog/lencionis-5-dysfunctions-of-a-team-330d58b2cd81. Harvard Business Review. These are all considerations when building a foundation of trust in a remote or distance learning team with all parties involved. These are legally optional. If your remote/distance learning/homeschooling is only planned to be temporary, keeping as close to the curriculum their classmates are learning in school will make for the smoothest transition when the time comes for them to go to school and join their classmates again. Retrieved March 25, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/lists/kid-safe-browsers-and-search-sites, Common Sense Media. (n.d.). When I started homeschooling and working from home, we had one preschooler and one toddler. No one knows what the right answer is to any question or problem right now, BUT, we can all try things, fail, get back up, and try something else. Parents need to be able to bring concerns to educators and administrators when things arent working for them and their children. However, we can control our reaction to it by staying safe, keeping our family safe, and following the Center for Disease Control (CDC) (2020) guidelines posted here: In my experience homeschooling and working full time (from various locations and time zones), the biggest lesson I learned was that I needed to be organized, but also flexible. Florida is more strict, but does have umbrella schools that allow for smoother navigation of the requirements. Resources for Families During the Coronavirus Pandemic. A visual representation of the five dysfunctions Lencioni identifies is shown below. 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. 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). To this day, we stand by that rule and have had very few issues. (2020). For states who are planning in-person school options, many are still providing distance learning as an option, and homeschooling is always an additional option. Although Im not fully convinced that this is the best approach to managing your time, the concept of Timeboxing is similar to the approach Ive recommended above. 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. Digital Compass. (n.d.). There are many options for finding safe content online for kids. It is also an opportunity for us to find ways for our kids to help around the house and to teach them new life skills that are no longer taught in schools. (Dont forget to include what you used to keep your fort together tape, staples, clothes pins, etc. Common Sense Media provides two different options for digital citizenship education. 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. What if schools open in a blended format, where schedules are alternating day to day or am/pm? Stay home and stay safe. 1) Draw out a rough daily schedule (or weekly, if your daily work schedules vary), allocating specific times for work and for schoolwork. 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. How might it impact their learning? 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. (Also, in Connecticut, if your children were never enrolled in a public or private school, no notice of any kind needs to be filed. Retrieved April 19, 2020, from https://www.commonsensemedia.org/game-reviews, Focus on the Family. The best resource we have found for determining age-appropriateness of movies, games, applications and some websites is Common Sense Media, accessible here: https://www.commonsensemedia.org/. 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. Coronavirus Closed Schools: 27 Activities to Keep Kids Busy During School Closures. You will need to research your options in your area if this is a deciding factor for you. Here are a few options, as examples: CDC. If you are unsure, Common Sense Media is a great place to start. Lets face it, we are all in survival mode right now, and trying to claim anything else would be misleading. Looking at these from a more positive lens, as opposed to negatively identifying them as dysfunctions, the list of what teams need to thrive include: The foundation of working together as a group, especially in a stressful, unclear, unpredictable situation like remote learning during a global pandemic, is trust. Retrieved March 19, 2020, from https://classroommagazines.scholastic.com/support/learnathome.html, STEAMsational. Digital Passport. We have never parented (or helped our kids with remote learning) during a global pandemic. On a sports team, each team member (player, coach, manager) has to understand their role in the teams success to be committed to being the best in that role that they possibly can, thus maximizing their contribution to the team and the teams progress toward that goal. What is Montessori Education? 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. Ultimately, only you can decide what is best for you and your children. (n.d.). Are you comfortable sending your children to school in the fall, as long as CDC guidelines for schools are followed (CDC, 2020)? School and schoolwork does not have to be an all-or-nothing situation. 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. ), As you think through the answers to these questions and others, I would like to share about our personal experience with the transition from homeschool to public school in Connecticut only a few years ago. 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. (n.d.). (n.d.). I present to you the conference call activity challenge for today (03/17/2020): Conference Call Bingo (with your kiddos)! Here are a few suggestions of where we might start: 1) Develop (and ensure everyone knows and understands) clearly defined goals. (n.d.). Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://responsiblehomeschooling.org/policy-issues/current-policy/, Digital Learning Collaborative. You will need to determine, based on the number and ages of children, your work schedule, and any other constraints, what subjects you want to teach and can manage to do so with minimal stress. These extreme stances come with equally strong language, which can be misleading to the new or uninformed, so it is important to make sure you fully understand the true requirements before making decisions, finalizing your plans, and submitting any notices or documentation. Educators need to be able to express concerns to parents and administrators when things arent working for them, their class, or even particular students. Retrieved March 16, 2020, from, Zao-Sanders, Marc. A great list of them compiled by STEAMsational is accessible here: https://www.steamsational.com/free-printable-homeschool-planners/. ), So, with this conflicting guidance and information, what should you do? What Are the Non-Core Subjects?. The first consideration is the age levels you are teaching. It is important to understand the risks and the comfort level you have with those risks, and, depending on the approach taken, the health risks for your children and for you (and for everyone in your household). (n.d.). Retrieved March 18, 2020, from https://www.khanacademy.org/about/blog/post/611770255064350720/remote-learning-with-khan-academy-during-school, Scholastic. Write a list of the equipment you used to make your fort. You can ask the school about options for continuing distance learning (if they dont already include that as an option in their fall plans). 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. 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!!! Khan Academy Schedules for School Closures. How We Rate and Review. 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. Greater Good Magazine. Current Homeschool Laws. Retrieved June 24, 2020, from https://www.digitallearningcollab.com/state-virtual-schools, HSLDA. Make a fort out of anything you like (Amazon boxes, sheets, blankets, etc.). Organizing any extra items needed (for science experiments, for example) over the weekend for the entire week will also help make your work/homeschool days flow much smoother. How might this impact your childs motivation to do their schoolwork? Homeschool Laws By State. In work environments, especially when working on projects, everyone has clearly defined roles and responsibilities which are laid out on a project plan. Free Printable Homeschool Planners. Considerations for Schools. Commitment is built on a foundation of trust and constructive conflict. 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. (2018). There are many misconceptions about homeschooling, in general, but especially with working and homeschooling. In my previous post, I noted that some schools and some districts are providing work for their students, which is great! 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. 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. Your child or children will be perfectly fine with a couple or a few hours of school-related work and other fun, educational activities while you focus on 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. (2020). (n.d.). These are accessible here: https://awakeandmindful.com/best-kids-yoga-videos-on-youtube/. (This is the option rated as highest risk by the CDC) (CDC, 2020). This includes finding appropriate websites, movies, games, and applications, teaching your children about online safety and digital citizenship, and knowing how to distinguish between free, safe content and free, unsafe content. 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. (Remember to make the award something you can make, give or do with them at home, and that they can have or do after your conference call is over.). Everything else is a bonus. Trust that everyone is doing their best (whatever their best looks like on a given day) and trust that everyone has the childrens best interest at heart are a couple of others. Without clearly defined roles and goals, it is difficult to hold team members accountable for their contributions to the team and to the teams success. 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. 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. 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. 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. We ended up placing them in lower grades than the work they were working on as homeschoolers, both because of their ages and because we knew the work would be easy for them, allowing them to focus on the major personal and social transition with less stress. ), 2) Do you (and your student) want the ability or option to participate in after school activities? 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.). The fourth consideration is the schedule of the subjects you have selected to teach. (2020). Our toddler also participated, at an age-appropriate level, in virtual field trips, science experiments, and other educational activities with her sister. Retrieved March 16, 2020 from, Center for Disease Control (CDC). Below, I will provide a few options and considerations for finding content for your children that is age-appropriate and safe for them, as well as being safe for you and your computer. Another point to consider is that you have every right to make the time spent educating your children as high a priority as any other meeting, so schedule it. We cannot control what this pandemic has become or is about to become or the ripple effects it may cause. In my classroom, I start my classes off by having my students volunteer to Tell me something good. The good things could literally be anything, and they have ranged from I had a good breakfast this morning, to My football team won last night. If you want to add variety or switch things up a bit, the Bestow Team created a list of 30 gratitude games and activities for kids, accessible here: https://hellobestow.com/blog/gratitude-games/. 3) Identify the delivery mode you want to use for each subject and each child. 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. 3) Clear out, setup and organize your dedicated storage area for your schoolwork and related supplies. (Parents, dont be jealousyou can make forts, tooand even take your conference call from inside your fort, if you want to.). SheKnows.com. No year, and no day, to be honest, looked the same for us, even when I tried to plan it to be the same, and my kids turned out just fine. (2020). The truth is that our kids (or any of us, for that matter) have never learned or gone to school (in person, hybrid or online) during a global pandemic. The second option is for grades 6-8, called Digital Compass, which is accessible here: https://www.commonsense.org/education/digital-compass. 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. However, with everything clearly defined and with trust, constructive conflict and commitment, holding each other accountable for their respective parts becomes much easier, and does not need to involve finger pointing or other negative non-constructive behaviors. (This is a big deciding factor that can save or cost you a lot of time and stress. There are so many options available to teach every subject, and many are free. Its challenging to ensure everyone is on the same page during a normal school year, but even more challenging during a global pandemic. (These are usually set at the state-level and enforced at the district or school-level. 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. 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. Almost three years later, I can tell you that it was the right choice for both of them, without a doubt. 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.