Distance learning ideas: how to support your child

With no end in sight to the school closures in Toronto, the prospect of students of all ages doing their schooling at home has firmly entered into our collective vision. The idea of distance learning as the mainstream of education has moved swiftly from an idea we batted around in light debate to a very real and sobering reality.
The big question gripping many parents in Toronto right now is how best to support their children in these tough times. It’s not just educational support we’re talking about here, but also logistical and emotional support. Here are some distance learning ideas to support your kids of any age during these trying times:

1. Find online resources

If there was a time in history when we were going to be forced to conduct education at home, then it’s probably a good thing it happened in 2020. Via your smartphone, tablet or home computer you can help your child access a veritable treasure trove of online materials, many of them free. Is your child struggling in math? Get on YouTube and discover the small army of math problem explainer videos for help, all at no cost.

2. Find hobbies and interests you can do as a family

Isolating ourselves may keep us from school and work, but it doesn’t have to keep us from finding fun things to do together as a family unit. Many parents are noticing that their kids finish their schoolwork quickly, and have a lot of extra time to spare. You should try to fill that free time with productive activities that all of you can enjoy. It will help relieve boredom, while also teaching skills and bringing you all closer together.

3. Encourage independent learning projects

One more thing you can do to bolster learning is to encourage kids to take up their own research and writing projects. Why wait for teachers to tell them what to do? You can set your kids a task to produce something related to a particular hobby or interest that they have. Where school often crushes kids’ love of learning, this type of project might just reignite it.

4. Look into tutoring options

For many parents, supporting early childhood and elementary education is at least not overly hampered by parents’ lack of knowledge. When it comes to high school subjects like trigonometry and physics, however, it’s hard for parents to proffer academic support. Professional tutoring is the best solution to this, and is probably more affordable than you think.

5. Cooking!

The Internet and online tutors can help you easily take care of the academic side of things, but we mustn’t forget other aspects such as health. One of the best things you can do as a parent is to ensure your child has regular healthy and nutritious home-cooked meals and snacks. The shadow of covid-19 looms large over our society, and sitting down together for meals, and sharing fun snacks through the day is just the kind of morale booster that helps keep everyone sane.

In the end, it’s about keeping calm and carrying on

Finally, we would like to advise all parents that in these difficult times, it’s crucial that we as adults lead by example. That means remaining calm and level-headed, and reminding our kids about the dangers of misinformation, rumor and conspiracy theories. We all need to pull together and weather the storm.