Newfound Respect
So the schools have been closed and parents are now expected to home-school their children.
With a newfound respect for teachers, I realised pretty quickly that this was going to be extremely difficult. Keeping a child's attention for only a few minutes is an accomplishment, so to expect a child to concentrate on learning for anything longer than that is a losing battle.
Apparently, the art of teaching is to make the child think that they are playing rather than learning. I can understand the logic behind it but how do you make a child write down words or read the text without it being anything other than an exercise rather than a fun activity?
Sure, there are plenty of apps that can be downloaded but, for whatever reason, our daughter is not engaged or entertained for more than 10 minutes. After that, she would prefer to play with toys or watch her favourite shows on TV. I can imagine that a teacher would cringe at my methods but I can only do my best.
Setting Time Aside
Having been made redundant, I have the ability to set time aside for my daughter at any time of the day. My thoughts go out to those parents that are working from home, doing the daily chores and expected to do the homeschooling as well. I really couldn't say if I would be able to cope being a single parent and still working, however, we are resilient and when we are given no option we have to step up. I can imagine there are a lot of exhausted single parents begging for this whole episode to be over and the schools to reopen.
My wife and I have realised that the best course of action is to ensure that our daughter is entertained. If that means going to the park most days, letting her watch more tv or giving her the freedom to make a mess, then so be it. If we are able to introduce learning during these times then we will count that as a win.
Staying Positive
With five people under the same roof, all stuck with limited options, there have been times when tensions and frustrations have run a little high. It is to be expected and we are slowly teaching ourselves to think before reacting. If arguments become a daily occurrence then it can only be expected that my daughter will start to absorb and react to the negativity which would not make for a healthy environment. It is difficult enough that she is denied seeing and playing with her friends.
Given the situation, and with no end date, I have been looking for ways to stay positive and diffuse any moments of tension in the house. One method that has been working for me is to list all the things I am grateful for. It isn't what I would regard as meditation but it does ground me and make me realise just how fortunate I am.
Has anyone come up with some inventive ways of homeschooling a 5-year-old?
What time of the day do you find is best to teach your child(ren) to achieve the best attention span?
Stay strong!
