Parenting Stories
Parenting comes to life in the stories we share.
Whether it’s a moment of joy or a moment of distress, we can learn from each other.
How can we keep our kids interested in learning?
Teresa Wikkerink, Elmira, ON
Wow – such a different world that we live in from just a few weeks ago.
I imagine that those of you who have school-aged children are busy gathering information and figuring out how to do on-line school with your kiddos. I am sure many of you are asking “how can I keep my kids interested their learning?”
At Parenting Now, we thought it would be good to create a space to provide tips and strategies to keep our kids interested in learning.
Feel free to share some ways your kids are involved in on-line learning and how you are doing as a “home-school” parent. You can leave a comment on this page or reach out to us via our “click to connect” email button.
I’d like to share what is happening with our grandkiddos . . . .
Our daughter, Lydia, is presently home with her four children. Her older two are in JK and SK and she does want to keep them interested in learning. Life is very full and busy as they are not going anywhere or having any play dates. She has craft buckets available for days when they are stuck inside – crafts give natural opportunities for learning such as writing their names, counting, making stories, planning and retelling what is happening in their pictures.
When the weather allows, they go outside and do a lot of exploring. They love playing with sticks, water, mud and stones. 
On the weekend, their dad helped the older three make bird houses, taking one at a time to the shop. This was a great opportunity to have dad all to themselves and learn by using math for measuring, cutting, and fitting the pieces together. Their bird houses are each very unique as they are painted differently, and each bird house is perfectly “imperfect.”
Lydia and her husband Nick have always limited screen time with the kids, but during this time of isolation, this is a challenge. The kids have devices similar to iPads with educational games on them and are allowed to be on them for 30 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes in the afternoon.
Showing Grandpa our birdhouses…..
Parenting is a team effort, now more so than ever! Here are some great ideas from Hayley, one of our Experienced Parents…
Some Activities to Help Keep Our Kids Interested in Learning
Each day at 3pm the Cincinnati Zoo has live animal encounters! Just visit their FB page at 3pm – your older kiddos will love it.
Let an astronaut read the bedtime story from space! Click here
This is a great site for free home schooling resources. Even if you can’t print them out, you can take some of the ideas and re-create them yourself: Click here
Teach your kids the importance of handwashing with this fun experiment: Click here
Get some exercise and have fun with cosmic yoga – the kids love it! Click here
So, we ask ourselves. . . . is there a perfect or “right” way to do this? Are all kids the same? Are all parents able to “home-school’??
NOPE!
Each family needs to find a way that works for them; finding where their strengths are, finding opportunities where they can explore, create memories and enhance their relationships in their own unique ways.
AND….let’s remember to be kind to ourselves.
Reach out to us!
You can connect directly with Teresa or Hayley by checking out our team page. You can post a comment. You can email us.
Its different for everyone and it changes as the weeks go on. We are doing some of the school suggestions and some of our own stuff and some days independently learning ie baking walking making cards. It is important not to compare yourself to other families. Some people are doing a lot of school work and some are not doing any As long as this feels it’s a short part of your child’s education..
Thanks for sharing Teresa. We all need to find how we reschedule our life during this critical time.
We are almost a week into our new ‘normal’. I let them just enjoy March Break last week so this week we’ve been diving into school work and setting routines. So far we’ve been doing pretty good, but I too end up letting them have a bit more screen time than usual 🙁 Not ideal, but I try to balance it out by making them spend time outside and only if their room is clean (see article from a few years ago 😉 . We have 3 kids in school with 3 very different learning types and that’s been hard. On top of that, I am still classified as ‘working from home’ so on top of homeschooling (thankfully our kid’s teachers are doing all the planning!), keeping the house in order and the usual chores/responsibilities that go with that I need to squeeze in time to be available for work. Not an easy task!
One tip I thought I’d add, especially if your children are younger is to follow a ROUTINE and not a schedule (with set times)…and allow it the flexibility your family needs. Having an order to the day allows for structure but if the activity is going well, allow it to continue….that’s where the best learning happens! Just today I was planning to paint water colours with the kids after morning chores but they were all working so well together making a “pillow pile”. Once they came up at snack time, they were ready for a new activity and we could continue what I had planned.
Nadia – Wow – sounds like you and your family is really using this time to learn new things -wow!! Good for you for learning a new language! This is certainly a time of uncertainty and a stretch for parents to learn ways to support kids learning. Sally, I totally understand how trying to support a kid who doesn’t enjoy school work at the best of times is challenging and difficult! I must say, I am soooooo thankful that my guys are done high school – I feel I would be in the same situation you are in right now. Choosing your battles, asking for a bit of educational time, fresh air and household chores sounds like great options.
Wow! Great ideas to keep young ones busy. My children spent their March break just enjoying it. Plenty of games, screen and leisure time! This week we sat together and talked about having a routine since the March break is over. All three of us have downloaded Duolingo on our devices to practice French (I am learning Arabic). Fortunately, my youngest one had recently bought a whole series of 14 books (spending every single penny from his savings). These books should be sufficient until the libraries reopen. We are going to explore the resources on the WRDSB website today. Parents are expected to receive a phone call from their child’s teachers next week regarding children’s access to technology. I hope we could get the passwords to access their learning accounts to start where they had left.
It is a struggle not to have too much screen time and to keep them physically active when you live in an apartment.
Sounds like your daughter is doing a great job. Many of us are not coping as well. I’ve got children that are past the craft stage, don’t want to do schoolwork and are pretty happy with lots of screen time. I’m choosing my battles and rather than limiting screen time I’m asking for a bit of time for something educational, some fresh air/exercise and a household chore. Sometimes all we can do is just try our best…