Home Schooling During Coronavirus? How Parents Can Keep Kids Busy (And Learning) In Lockdown

How are you keeping your children busy during the coronavirus quarantine? Most parents are having a herculean task concentrating on work while the children are around.

The proposed self quarantine does not represent a time for an extra holiday. Instead, we should keep working and studying from home. However, keeping kids busy and caught up on their schoolwork is not easy.

How do you keep high energy kids occupied and learning during the coronavirus quarantine? For starters, the best way to keep the kids occupied is to limit their screen time to encourage physical activity and creativity in children.

In this article, we look at how you keep your kids busy and learning through home-schooling during coronavirus quarantine.

What Is Home Schooling?home schooling during coronavirus quarantine

Home-schooling presents several challenges for parent and guardians. First off, they are not trained teachers, and second, there is the familiarity with the children that could reduce the quality of learning. Here are the top 5 tips for proper home schooling during coronavirus quarantine:

1.     Set Up A Learning Space

Start by setting up a designated learning area in the house for your children. This is to put them in the same mindset they are in when going to school. However, setting up a learning space is not easy, even schools have trouble setting up learning spaces.

You ought to focus on creating an environment where the child can learn without distractions. This means turning off the TV and any app notifications that might distract them from the 1 to 20 tables task.

2.     What Technology Do You Need?

For the best outcome with home-schooling, you need to assess the best program to open and access the work sent by the teachers in school. For example, you will need Adobe Acrobat Reader to open any PDFs and the latest version of Adobe Flashplayer to play videos.

You will also need teleconferencing facilities such as Skype or Zoom since teachers are using them to conduct classes. The most important thing is to ensure that you get the original versions to avoid downloading programs with malware.

3.     Create A Timetable

Most children see the coronavirus quarantine as an extended holiday period, and you must make them see that it is normal school time, but from home. For this reason, you need to create a timetable that is not that different from what they were used to at school.

The best way is to aim for time frames provided by the schools and then be flexible depending on your child’s age and academic level. However, communication is key, and you should keep checking with them to assess their progress.

4.     Understand What Your Child Should Know

Most schools have moved to online learning and as a parent or guardian, you are expected to be a teacher’s aide as compared to a replacement teacher. For this reason, the school will provide you with the necessary learning materials.

You need to review the learning materials to know what the child should know by the end of the self quarantine period. All the work sent by the school will be based on the appropriate academic level to ensure that they maintain the proper progression.

5.     5. Be on Hand to Help but Do Not Get in The Way

The chances are that your child’s school online portal has put up supporting information for parents to be the teacher’s aide at home. The information will help you help the child when they are faced with a difficult task.

However, the goal is to help them by making suggestions while leaving them to do the work. If you do not know the answers, work with the child to find the answers. For example, you could download multiplication games for kids during coronavirus quarantine.

If you are not getting much headway, many online resources will help you give the proper homeschooling to your child.

Top 5 Multiplication Games for Kids During Coronavirus Quarantine

Most students struggle with math and they need regular and consistent practice. If you are like most parents who have not brushed up on their multiplication tables, you can download multiplication games for kids during coronavirus quarantine.

Here are the top five sites to help your kids learn the 1 to 20 tables:

1.     1 to 20 Tables

1 to 20 Tables is the leading website that offers the best way for kids to learn tables 1 to 20. It has structured the multiplication tables elegantly. This makes navigation easy for people with different technological know-how.

Navigate to the Interactive Math Learning section and you will find a variety of multiplication 1 to 20 tables games. They include the Robot Math Games, the Zoologist Online Learning Game, and the Printable Educational Colouring Books which are part of over 300 fun online multiplication games.

Using 1 to 20 Tables website to help kids learn tables 1 to 20, here are the benefits of using the website:

  • Elegant arrangement of times tables 1 to 20
  • Easy access to a variety of multiplication games

2.     Lakeshore Learning

Lakeshore Learning is another of the best resources you need for homeschooling during coronavirus. Whether you have a preschooler who is starting on their ABCs or a teenager who needs a math boost, they have the appropriate games.

They have different workbooks that incorporate multiplication times table 1 to 20 games for children of all ages and academic levels. Here is why you need to use Lakeshore Learning:

  • Variety of free resources for kids of all ages and academic levels
  • Easy navigation
  • Customisable templates

3.     Ascend Math

Ascend Math is a free online resource that offers adaptive math instruction to all study plans and for kids of different ages and academic levels. During the COVID-19 self quarantine, you can use the resource to assign a variety of math exercises.

With this resource, you can help the kids learn 1 to 20 tables in different math problems. However, you need to hurry and get the introductory free subscription that ends by April 2020.

4.     Bedtime Math

Most students struggle with the times table 1 to 20 multiplication and they might be less interested to learn them. However, Bedtime Math has made its mission to make math fun for homeschooling during coronavirus quarantine.

They have free apps, printable activity pages, and books. This platform is specially targeted towards children older than 2 years and those in elementary school.

  1. Coolmath4Kids

Coolmath4Kids is targeted towards kids in kindergarten through to the sixth grade. You can improve the quality of homeschooling during coronavirus by assigning extra math problems to help them learn their 1 to 20 tables, division, addition, subtraction, and fractions.

They make math fun through online math games, manipulatives, quizzes and more. The content is especially useful for kids that are 13 years and older. You can also get more of multiplication games for kids during coronavirus quarantine on their sister website coolmath.com.

How To Get The Kids To Focus?

The coronavirus quarantine has provided a time for families to bond, but this is a crucial time that students should take to catch up on their studies. However, since the home is a comfortable environment, you need to ensure that you psych your kid to study.

Here are some tips to get your kid focused on learning:

1.     Learn in Short Bursts

Home-schooling your child during the coronavirus lockdown is plagued by many distractions, and this means that the kids may have a very short attention span. According to Julia Hainer-Violand, and elementary school teacher and curriculum consultant, the attention span of children is between one and two minutes depending on the age of the child.

Today most teachers use a mini-lesson concept, where they try to get the children focused for between five and ten minutes before giving them a break. Consequently, you need to assess your kid’s attention span to know how much studying needs to be done before taking a break.

The bottom line is that you need to start by giving them work that does not need to go on for hours. After you have figured out the best time for home-schooling during coronavirus, you can increase the time gradually.

2.     Do Not Overdo It

When kids get frustrated, learning will become a challenge. Ensure that you allow them a break and return to the activity later. You could give them a TV or a social media break. This will allow them to replenish their energies and creativity for solving problems when practicing 1 to 20 tables and other math problems.

Besides, you need to maintain balance, not only for the kids but for yourself. This will allow you to catch up on your work duties and home responsibilities.

3.     Plan with The End in Mind

To get the most out of your homeschooling during coronavirus, you need to structure the lessons with the end goal in mind. Before you go to bed each night, ensure that you write down the learning experiences gained during the day instead of doing them at the beginning of the following day.

This will allow you to know what worked today and how you can tweak what did not work for better results. As you will come to find out, your kids will naturally do more on certain days. For example, your kid will want to practice the times table 1 to 20 one day, and a different subject on the other.

How To Make Math Fun During Self Isolation?

Math can be a challenging subject and each student uses different approaches to get the concepts. Instead of using guesswork to know the best way to teach your kids 1 to 20 tables, you can use some of the proven ways of making math fun.

1.     Multiplication Table 1 to 20

Home-schooling during coronavirus quarantine can be a challenge and you might want you and the kids to clock in similar hours that they used to keep before the outbreak. Instead of cramming your child’s learning into an 8-hour day, give them a few tasks to help them learn the multiplication table from 1 to 20.

Not only will this help them learn the 1 to 120 tables by heart, but you will also get enough time to get your office work done.

2.     Use Gamification Resources

In an earlier section, we had looked at the various resources you can use to make math instruction when homeschooling during coronavirus easier. Most of the resources use the gamification approach, which is a leaning approach that incorporates games into the learning.

With that said, you do not have to incur huge costs of buying times table 1 to 20 games. You can create them at home with available resources. For example, you can use their favourite snacks to teach the 1 to 20 tables.

3.     Reward the Kids After Studying

After hours of studying and the kids have started getting better at the 1 to 20 tables, you need to reward their efforts. This could be anything from an extra 30 minutes of TV or their favourite video game. However, you need to ensure that they deserve the rewards.

The chances are that even stubborn kids will start taking more interest in math to get the reward. After a while, they will start to understand the routine and will work hard to get the reward. However, you need to follow a strict timetable to ensure that you reach the goals of the day.

Conclusion

Home-schooling during coronavirus quarantine can be a baffling experience for most parents and guardians. However, you do not have to panic or pay for expensive online tuition, with the tips above, you can embark on helping your kids learn their times table 1 to 20 and other subjects required by their school.

However, you need to ensure that you remind your children about preventing the spread of coronavirus. This includes:

  • Sanitizing and washing hands with soap and water regularly
  • Wearing a mask when going outside
  • Avoid touching their mouths, ears and eyes
  • Abide with the social distancing rules

While we hope that the coronavirus will be over in a few years, we must follow the government guidelines on self quarantine to curb the COVID-19 menace.

At 1 to 20 Tables, we will provide you with all the material necessary to make learning math fun, especially the multiplication table 1 to 20 and beyond. However, ensure that you maintain a balance between study time and relaxation time.

 

One Reply to “Home Schooling During Coronavirus? How Parents Can Keep Kids Busy (And Learning) In Lockdown”

  1. Thank you for reading – Home Schooling During Coronavirus? How Parents Can Keep Kids Busy (And Learning) In Lockdown.

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