Crash course for parents

The Ohio Department of Education has a few tricks for teaching as the school year begins

By Katie Emmons

As the COVID-19 pandemic continues, many parents across Central Ohio are unwittingly becoming teachers, in addition to the other job titles they hold. As school districts have turned to virtual learning, parents are faced with preparing their children to start the school year in their living room rather than the classroom.

Since most parents signed up to be, well, parents, not teachers, they may have questions or concerns about how to help their children succeed in an environment that has turned parent-child to teacher-student.

The Ohio Department of Education has gathered resources for parents facing school from home on its page for parent and caregiver resources. It rounded up websites for a variety of school subjects and broke down the intended age groups. Some of these websites include games, videos, virtual tours, and more to help facilitate and engage students’ learning.

Additionally, here are a few tips from the ODE that may help save your sanity:

Communicate with your children’s teachers and schools frequently about expectations.
Support learning at home through creating consistency. Treat your home like a school through creating routines, such as a weekly calendar for both students and parents or caregivers to have it all in one place.
Monitor your student’s behavior. This isn’t the school year children were anticipating either, which may cause them more stress and anxiety. Keep an eye out for how your children act throughout the day to know when they may need a break or when they may be working on a difficult subject. Setting behavior expectations is key; you can also create a positive behavior chart and use positive praise.To support parents, the Ohio Department of Education gave tips on how to support children’s social, emotional and behavioral health while attending school virtually.
Before school begins, research your school’s approach to remote learning. Some districts may be entirely virtual, while others may require students to pick up materials for their assignments.

Aside from the Ohio Department of Education, there are a number of online resources such as BrainPOP and Khan Academy. And for some fun from a local favorite, COSI recently launched COSI Connects to make learning about science fun from home through activities and videos.

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