With schools closed across the country, there are now millions of children whose daily routines are in disarray. If you are like me, one of your first thoughts when school closures were announced was how to keep your kids learning during a school break. Most children have missed around 12 weeks of academic instruction because of school closures this year. That loss of in-class instruction makes it even more important that kids continue learning over the summer holidays.
I have four daughters, three of them school age (grade 4, grade 2, and SK). I’m also an elementary teacher, although I’m currently on maternity leave with my 11-month-old.
Normally I write finance posts for women but the current global pandemic has me wanting to share with you ways to keep your kids educated over a long break.
The coronavirus pandemic will subside, and our children will return to school in some shape or form. But for now, we parents have a big challenge ahead of us: managing our children’s education, possible time off work, and social isolation.
In this post you’ll read about how to keep your kids lives as normal as possible and how to home-school your child when school is closed.
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See Summer Learning Workbooks (Pre-K to Grade 9) on Amazon
stick to a school schedule
As we parents know, children thrive on structure. The predictable structure of a school day makes them feel comfortable and in control of their lives. Therefore, it is helpful to your child if you can create a similar school day routine at home.
Most public schools follow a daily routine like this:
sample school day schedule
| Period 1: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
| Period 2: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
| 1st Nutrition Break: 20 Minutes | 1st Lunch |
| Recess: 20 Minutes | 1st Recess |
| Period 3: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
| Period 4: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
| 2nd Nutrition Break: 20 Minutes | 2nd Lunch |
| Recess: 20 Minutes | 2nd Recess |
| Period 5: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
| Period 6: 50 Minutes | Learning Block |
Now, it’s probably not feasible to devote your and your child’s entire day to school related activities. You probably have to go to work or work from home, and your child might be in the care of grandparents or a babysitter.
Remember that a lot of your child’s learning time at school is spent on independent work, quiet reading, group activities, computer time, and physical education class.
Keep the “heavy” learning, such as studying new math concepts or writing assignments to the morning when kids are fresh.
We’ve created this Learn At Home Plan that will help guide you through how to structure your child’s day. It is the plan I am following with my kids while they continue their education at home. It is flexible, especially since parents’ routines are changing every day too. Plus, we’ve included our teacher-created list of the best FREE educational websites for kids that support the school curriculum.
Printing these off and posting them on the fridge will help you and your kids anticipate how your days are going to evolve. Control over the little things will bring peace of mind and help keep your kids busy, and learning, during the school break.
If you’d like a free, printable PDF copy of the Learn At Home Plan, fill in the quick form below and you’ll receive one in your inbox immediately.
fun learning activities that free up your time
Teachers rely on engaging, group learning activities to free up their time to work one-on-one with individual students or circulate the classroom. Try using the same ideas so you can accomplish the tasks you need to do.
Here are several tried and true teaching strategies to make learning more fun for your children and free up some time for you.
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Use Centers and Activity Stations
Most elementary school age children can only focus intently on a learning task for 20 to 30 minutes…less if your child has a learning disability or short attention span. Try to break-up learning into shorter blocks of time.
One way to do this is to set up different centers.
This is a learning practice that kids are used to following at school.
If you have more than one child, center-based learning gives you time to teach one child a new concept while the others are doing another activity.
For example, with my school-age girls, I’ll have one of them playing math games or reading books online on my computer while another is writing out her grade-level sight-words on cue cards. While they are occupied, I can teach my grade 2’er about mass and capacity. After 15 -20 minutes, they rotate.
Group Work
If your children are close in age, they may be able to work on the same reading assignment or math concept together, depending how well they get along. Oh, how behaviours are different at home than in the classroom!
I’m going to save group work for art, drama, and science activities because my kids are spread apart in age.
For example, they are currently decorating our living room for Easter using leftover streamers and ribbons.
As well, my 7-year-old daughter is leading a science experiment to see how pieces of bread the girls have touched and licked grow different types of mold.
Spring brings with it the opportunity to teach the grade 3 science units, Plants and Soils.
For dance or drama, have your kids come up with a play or dance routine to perform for you. They might love digging in to your closet and make-up for costume ideas.
Have Each child teach a class
If your children are old enough, have them take turns being the teacher. Perhaps they could teach a younger sibling how to subtract or read.
For social studies, one could research a new country and make a presentation for the others.
They could look into foods from another culture and prepare a meal for the family.
Older children can make a business plan for a summer job they want to start-up. Or teach themselves how to design a website.
Creating a resume is another project that teaches valuable life-skills.
Ask your child’s teacher what to teach during the school break
After the spring break is officially over, your child’s teacher should be available for communication.
Try contacting them through their work email address or teacher communication app (Remind) to ask what topics and units your child needs to learn.
I bet they will be more than happy to give you a list of suggestions about what to teach your child and what resources you can use.
For more details about which learning skills and topics are covered for every subject and grade level, visit the curriculum documents for your province.
Even if you don’t have time to get to teach you kids now, these ideas can be used as ways to keep your kids busy over the summer break.
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use curriculum based books and websites
There are loads of websites that offer free, printable worksheets on every school subject. All you need to do is conduct a Google Search. You can usually search by subject and grade level to find what you want.
I’d start by finding a workbook series created by educators to get an idea of what lessons and content are taught to your child in each subject. Then you can better pick printable worksheets to compliment the workbooks.
For our complete list of Canadian workbooks for kids, read Best Canadian Workbooks for Students.
workbooks & courses based on the school curriculum
Scholastic – is offering downloadable courses in all subject areas to help students continue to learn through the school closures.
Math Makes Sense – workbooks and textbooks follow the entire Canadian math curriculum. They also have a digital version of their books that students can use online.
Canadian Curriculum Press Series – workbooks from preschool through to secondary school grades that cover Canadian curriculum content for math, reading, and writing. They also have an entire series in French for French Immersion & Core French students.
Brighter Child Series – series of workbooks from preschool through to grade six covering subjects such as math, English, algebra, phonics, and reading.
Teacher Tip: The go-to website that teachers use to find every resource imaginable is teacherspayteachers.com. It has become the supplemental teaching resource we use along with the textbooks provided at school.
Teachers Pay Teachers
TeachersPayTeachers is filled with curriculum based resources for every school subject and grade level. You can find worksheets, tests, drama activities, math units, lesson plans, flash cards, book reports, novel studies, entire units of study on every topic…basically anything you could need.
The resources are created by teachers and chances are your child is already using them at school. Some are free and some cost a few dollars. But if your child ends up being away from school for awhile, any investment will be worth it.
online activites or websites:
Math
Language (english and french)
Tumblebooks (access provided through local public library website)
We’ve created a list of the best FREE Educational Websites for kids that support the elementary and secondary school curriculum over a wide range of school subjects. You’ll find online videos, e-books, games, lesson plans, printable worksheets, and tutorials that help make learning at home fun for kids. Fill out the quick form below and our list will arrive in your inbox. We don’t spam!
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include physical activity and quiet time
For everyone’s peace of mind, arrange an hour of quiet time. Your kids can read books, draw pictures, play in their rooms, play on their tablets, or have a nap.
Between recess and gym time, kids are used to at least 1 1/2 hours of physical activity per day. If the weather is nice, and you are able, send them outside to play.
If you have to stay indoors, try yoga, dance parties, or GoNoodle videos.
With many libraries closed during the Coronavirus pandemic, it’s okay to let your kids have some downtime in front of a screen.
Check out this list of The Best Streaming Films to Keep Your Kids Occupied During the COVID-19 School Break.
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arrange social time with friends
We don’t know yet how long exactly the current COVID-19 pandemic is going to last.
During spring break and summer vacation, your children are able to see their friends and participate in day camps. However, with social distancing, they are going to be craving some interaction and maybe worrying if their friends are okay.
Arrange some Facetime with grandparents, cousins, and friends so your kids can get that much needed social time.
I recently signed my two oldest daughters up for Kids Messenger and it was amazing the difference in their emotions. Just a couple of conversations a day with friends put an end to a lot of the sibling rivalry at our house.
If you aren’t housebound, and Health Canada restrictions allow, arrange to meet at a park with friends who are also able to get out.
This is going to be an unprecedented time when we all need to help each other out. If you have any questions for this teacher, please contact me by leaving a comment below or emailing me at bestmoneymom@gmail.com.
If you found this article, How To Keep Your Kids Learning During School Break, helpful please share with others. Thanks.
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