![]() Facilitating distance learning is a new reality for families, and one that doesn’t come with a guidebook. While staying healthy and safe to help curb the spread of COVID-19 is necessary, it doesn’t make this new chapter of school easy. Our kids are used to a physical school, a classroom with a trained educator leading the way, and peers to engage and collaborate with. Switching over to distance-based lessons where families are now tasked with keeping their children engaged when they’re surrounded by the distractions of home is hard! Teaching your own children is not easy, power struggles are sure to arise, and it feels impossible to motivate a kiddo to work on math surrounded by the distractions of home. As parents, how are we supposed to make this work? We have a few resources that can help support the learning that’s happening at home by providing hands on manipulatives and structured breaks similar to those provided in the classroom. Brain Breaks Adding in some movement and exercise throughout the day can help your child burn off energy, as well as light up their brain! Go Noodle is a free website created by child development experts. There are short and fun interactive videos that help teachers and parents to get kids up and moving through brain breaks. Desk-side movement helps kids achieve more by keeping them engaged and motivated throughout the day. Cosmic Yoga is another free resource to promote mindfulness and relaxation for kids. There are interactive adventures which build strength, balance and confidence - and get kids into yoga and mindfulness early. Manipulatives In the typical classroom, you child is likely used to having hands-on manipulatives and visual aids to help them understand and engage with their daily lessons. It can be hard for kids to be expected to engage in the same content without the same materials! Many items that you have around your house can double as great math manipulatives. For example, coins, blocks, silverware (or any item you have an excess of!) can be great counters. Lima beans can be painted different colors on each side and used as double-sided counters. An egg carton can be trimmed down to become a 10 frame. Get creative, household trash could become a learning treasure! Including Choice When there’s endless distractions in the home, adding choice into your child’s day can help to lessen the inevitable power struggle about getting school work completed. Allowing your child to determine what subject they work on first, what writing utensil they get to use, and where in the house they can do schoolwork can be a small win for everyone. Creating a choice board can also be an easy way to put decisions about learning into your child’s hands. It doesn’t have to be pretty – but a structured board can help eliminate the endless negotiating that may occur because the choices are already pre-determined. Distance learning is a tricky new territory for both schools and families to navigate. Having some intentional, meaningful tools in your home can really help bridge the gap so this reality doesn’t feel quite as overwhelming. If you need some extra help during this time, please reach out, we would be happy to chat and discuss how we can help your family!
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![]() Due to the Coronavirus Pandemic, nearly all colleges are currently closed to students and visitors. This is a frustrating situation for high school seniors and their families who would like to tour the schools they have been admitted to, as well as juniors and sophomores who would typically visit various college campuses to get a sense of student life at the schools they are thinking of applying to. But not this year. Since you cannot visit colleges and universities in person, here is a list of virtual tours so that you can 'visit' from the safety of your own home. YouTube.com Many colleges have their own YouTube channel. Just search for the school you are interested in. YouVisit.com Virtual walking tours of 600+ colleges with a tour guide in the lower right corner narrating your virtual visit. YouniversityTV.com The largest producer of professional college video tours. “Go Beyond the Brochure” YouTube channel 15.000+ walking tours and videos of campus and dorm life recorded by students from the school. As we are currently deep in the middle of the Coronavirus Pandemic, students across the country are either learning remotely or sitting idle while their schools are closed. Total Tutoring Services has some great suggestions for how to use this time productively and turn this crisis into an opportunity for personal growth. Our recommendations are as follows -
FILL IN KNOWLEDGE GAPS: In normal circumstances, there is a lot of pressure to complete assignments and study for tests. Normal life is busy and does not leave much time to work on crucial knowledge gaps. In a subject like math, which builds on itself, learning higher level topics can be exceedingly difficult when more fundamental topics are not well-understood. Students can use this idle time to dive into areas of weakness and make themselves into a stronger student and better learner. Our tutors are experts at identifying where your child needs the most work and helping you drill through exercises that will improve their knowledge and ability in any subject. STAY SHARP: When students don’t see academic material for a prolonged period, they can suffer from “brain drain”. This happens to many students during summer break. Meeting with a tutor a couple of days per week is a great way to keep your child’s brain sharp while school is closed. Our tutors can help to keep your child on track, both keeping up with online schooling as well as to provide enrichment. SAT/ACT PREP: This is a perfect opportunity to study for the SAT or ACT if your child is a sophomore or junior. While the tests have been cancelled this month and next month, they are currently scheduled to resume in June. Use this time to work through some SAT/ACT concepts and strategies to help boost your child’s score on the test. Our tutors can help students master essential concepts and testing strategies. It is much easier to study for these tests when no other homework or classwork is due. Give us a call today to learn more about our program. We are here to help you with anything you need. Just give us a call to discuss how we can help! |
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