REMOTE OR HOME SCHOOLING FOR KIDS

October 16, 2020.

I probably shouldn't be pontificating on this subject since it's been many years since I had young kids and I was a stay-at-home mom. So you can disregard the following as coming from a crotchety old lady who's out of touch with the times. But if I had kids at home now, and even if I was a working mother, my choice would be to home-school. I must also recognize that there are many different variations among parents and kids: single parent families, essential worker parents, families with special-needs kids, multiple generation families and many other configurations. But here goes: 

I'll admit that caring for a child or children under the age of three --- my two were less than a year and a half apart in age --- is not exactly a full-time job if you count the actual minutes you spend tending to the children, but it may seem like the kids need something every five minutes or so. Unless they are asleep, there are no long stretches of uninterrupted time. 

By the time children are about three, they can be taught to amuse themselves for longer and longer  periods of time. One trick is to set up an activity or "project" first thing in the morning. The kids will be intrigued, and although their interest in that specific activity may not last a long time, it will lead them on to more organized and self-directed play. Three is also the age when you can begin to negotiate with a child. "If you don't bother me until the timer rings (say in 30 minutes), I'll read a story to you." Be sure to honor this agreement --- don't overstay your time limit and don't let your child beg for another story. 

By the age of five, children can follow directions, help with simple house-hold chores and take on simple resposibilities. Once they can read and write, you have another tool: written notes for instruction and encouragement. 

Expecting any child to sit in front of a screen for several hours, even with breaks, seems unreasonable. I'd be in favor of short videos, accessable at any time, on subjects the parents don't feel up to supervising. The only reason for requiring a kid (of any age) to sit in front of a screen all day is to keep them out of their parents' hair. 

There are frantic appeals for more free or low-cost child-care facitilities. Instead of subsidizing out-sourced child care, what about paying parents to care for their own chldren? Maybe the parents could then cut back on the number of hours they work at their "real" jobs. I know, I know, that would impact career ambitions. What's more important, career or children?

Many parents think their young children need to be socialized by interacting with other children. That's true to an extent, but my two never went to day-care or pre-school, and for some of their pre-school days, we lived in a neighborhood without other children. They turned out to be caring, considerate, engaged people. Maybe it helped that they had each other. 

Forming a pod of two or three families, all of whom are committed to rigorously following the Covid-19 hygeine recommendations, makes a lot of sense. A group of five or six chldren is enough for good social interaction and older kids can help younger kids. When I was seven years old, our second grade teacher sent me out of the classroom into the hall with one of the little boys who was having trouble reading. My job was simply to listen to him read and help him with words he had trouble with. Any child who can read can also entertain young pre-readers by reading stories to them (for example, as a reward for doing a task by themselves.) A pod also allows one parent at a time to supervise the entire group while the other parents get their own work done. 

My comments assume that the parents are good planners, are disciplined, and have control over their own time. That may not always be the case. But perhaps a few of these suggestions will help.