Now that we’re well into the 2020 school season, many families have had to adapt to distance learning for their kids. Some schools are in session in a traditional way, such as kids going to school five days a week but with social distancing and mask requirements. Some kids are going to school in-person part-time with other days being distance learning. Then there are other school districts that have gone to distance learning full time.
The varying ways that children across the world are getting their education can make it hard on families. Working parents may be at the brunt of this situation. You have to get to work so that you earn the money necessary to pay the bills, but you also have to monitor your kids while they’re home with their distance learning schedule.
As we continue to hear families all over complain about distance learning and asking how to make distance learning easier on families, we decided to come up with some tips to help all families thrive during these current times.
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Handle the Food
You’ve probably figured out that the kids being home more means that your food supplies go down faster. This could be that your kids are eating more because they’re getting into snacks or that the kids typically enjoyed school lunches, so you didn’t need to feed them midday five days a week. Whatever the reasons are, we know that food is disappearing too quickly with distance learning kids.
Our pro tip to making the food part of distance learning easier on families is to pack lunches and breakfast ahead of time. Lock up or hide any additional food that your kids shouldn’t touch during the day. Set out a few snacks and limit what they have access to. This will help reduce overeating and encourage your kids to learn good portion control while they’re home all day.
Get up and Get Active
While some distance learning sessions include a physical education class, that short period isn’t nearly enough physical activity for your kids. Make a plan to include daily activities for your kids. This could be an hour of walking around doing chores, taking the pet for a walk, or just running around the yard. Make sure you have at least half an hour up to an hour of get up and get active time.
Sitting in a chair and staring at a computer screen for distance learning is extremely unhealthy in long doses. That’s why our pro tip to make life easier with distance learning is to get up and get active. Not only does this help keep your kids healthier, but it can wear out their extra energy from having to sit for long hours during distance learning sessions.
Prioritize Tasks
Lastly, you’ll want to make sure that you’re balancing fun and learning with distance learning sessions. While most kids have a schedule for school that they must abide by during distance learning sessions, you can alter the time they complete the assigned work. This helps you prioritize things that are important to your family, such as family bonding time, outdoor activities, and friend gatherings. Whatever is important in your family unit, must remain and become a priority even during the days of distance learning at home.
Figure out what matters most to your family beyond school and build a schedule that your kids can count on. This will help keep the entire family focused on other things beyond school and work. You’ll be excited to have family Friday night with pizza and games. Or you’ll have a movie marathon night with the family to look forward to.
The point is that you need some activity each day or week that the whole family looks forward to so you can survive with distance learning.