school closures Archives

Manage Disruptions to Learning

Learning disruptions continue to frustrate parents, teachers and students across Canada and the United States. We all had high hopes that the Covid-19 pandemic would be entirely over by now, and education and life as we once knew it could continue as usual. Yet, we are entering the third year of the pandemic and are rattled with learning disruptions to this day. Maybe you have been trying to ride it out, but you’re now finding that these disruptions are causing your children to struggle intensely with their education. What are some things that you can do to manage disruptions to learning?

Concerns of ongoing and past learning disruptions linger everywhere.

Hundreds of students in Quebec, Canada, have been prohibited from attending school. According to CBC News, hundreds of students in Montreal are awaiting approval from Quebec to approve English eligibility. EMSB says they want to welcome all students but cannot without the ministry’s permission. As a result, hundreds of students are unable to attend school. How can these parents manage disruptions to learning?

Additionally, parents, teachers and students across the United States are struggling with recovering from pandemic learning and the trauma that unfolded at the end of the 2021-2022 school year in Uvalde, Texas. Many parents and students fear attending school after such a horrific event.

In New York City, many educators are highly concerned about the academic and emotional effects of the pandemic on their students as they enter the third school year since the beginning of the pandemic. A survey of 110 educators was conducted by the nonprofit Educators for Excellence and found that roughly 80% of respondents reported that their students are in worse academic and emotional shape than before the beginning of the pandemic.

As educators, parents, and students prepare for back to school in British Columbia, Canada, there remains a serious concern as to what the new school year will bring when it comes to the spread of communicable diseases, including COVID-19. Even if there are no school shutdowns, many students will be out of school from being sick which causes parents to scramble to manage disruptions to learning for their children.

In California, students wait months for mental health help while councillors share that they are being bombarded due to the pandemic and pandemic learning. There is no ‘quick fix’ for the trauma and interruption of education due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Parents in Ontario, Canada, are highly concerned with the decrease in health rules that will allow students testing positive to attend school. Furthermore, many parents are apprehensive about the impending doom of the potential education strike due to educational contracts set to expire across Ontario.

What can parents do to manage disruptions to learning?

It doesn’t matter where you are, learning disruptions are frustrating for parents everywhere. These learning disruptions are frustrating for parents, teachers and students alike. This is why it’s imperative for parents to learn to manage disruptions to learning to help their children excel despite the uncertainties. Here are some simple steps to keep your child’s learning stable.

1. Weigh your options.

For a child to learn, they need stability and consistency. This is why weighing your options is a good thing to do. Take a look at alternative learning options like homeschooling or online schooling and decide if these are right for your family. Keep in mind that homeschooling offers the consistency to education that children need. But you will need to decide if homeschooling is a learning avenue that works for your family first. Check out this blog on why so many parents are homeschooling to learn more.

2. Plan a routine with your child.

If you decide to homeschool, plan out a homeschool routine for each day. Alternatively, if you keep your child in public school despite learning disruptions, plan out ‘off-day routines’ for days that your child might be home. Having a curriculum at home for those ‘just-in-case’ times is a great idea. That way, your child will continue to learn even if there are school closures due to strikes or illness.

3. Keep conversations open with your child.

We are now seeing the effects of the COVID-19 pandemic and school closures on children’s mental health. Because as stated above, children need consistency and stability to learn and grow. When their lives are constantly turned upside down, it can cause a flurry of emotional responses. Keeping conversations open with your child is so important. Please encourage your child to ask questions and express their feelings to you. It’s essential that you don’t minimize, avoid or dismiss their concerns. Truly acknowledge their feelings and assure them that it’s normal and natural to feel frustrated and scared about uncertainties. And check out this excellent resource for kids to learn to manage how they think and feel.

4. Take time with learning.

Whether you are keeping your child in school and working on some extra curriculum at home, or you have decided to exclusively homeschool your child with the help of an excellent homeschooling curriculum and digital aids. If you aim to do 45-minute learning sessions with your child, start with 10 or 15 minutes and build up from there. Keeping lessons light and enjoyable helps them adjust to their new or additional learning in a calming manner.

5. Stay in touch with your child’s school.

If you have decided to homeschool your child exclusively, remember to keep in touch with your child’s school. Ask the school questions for further guidance, and explain the situation to your child’s previous teacher.

6. Join a homeschool group or parenting group in your community.

The upside to choosing to homeschool is that homeschooling has become a popular alternative to traditional learning. This means that there are plenty of people homeschooling, and they all have unique situations and ways of homeschooling. When you connect with these groups, you can learn more about how to homeschool your child more effectively.

7. Subscribe to the Schoolio Blog.

We are a team committed to helping parents and students thrive in whatever learning avenue they are in. Our blog provides countless helpful tips to help you and your child excel.

8. Connect with homeschooling experts.

Many homeschooling families are willing and able to share their knowledge on how to get started.

Learning disruptions continue to be an unfortunate part of our lives today; rather than being upset or worried about it, you are taking the situation and looking for alternative learning methods to help your child excel in whatever situation you find yourself in.

We are here to remind you that you are doing an excellent job. Regardless of what learning avenue you choose for your child, you and your child will continue to do great! Because of the work you are putting in to help your child get through the learning bumps and manage disruptions to learning. Keep going; you’re doing great.

School Closures are Causing Parents to Consider Homeschooling, as COVID Cases are Breaking Record Highs

After two years of a global pandemic, I think we all had high hopes that this would be over by now. Yet, the number of active COVID cases are the highest they’ve ever been. Many parents are completely frustrated with the educational uncertainties that come with school closures and remote learning. Because COVID cases are breaking record highs, school closures are causing parents to consider homeschooling as an option in order to give their child some form of stability with their education.

COVID Cases are Breaking Record Highs, School Closures are causing Parents to Consider Homeschooling.

COVID cases have drastically increased in both Canada and the United States in the last two months. Currently in the United States there are 19,885,128 active COVID cases. (Statistics found on https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/). Canada has a current COVID case count of 402,237 active cases. (Statistics found on https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/canada/). Due to the drastic increase in COVID cases, many schools in North America have had no choice but to close their doors.

As a result, many parents are now feeling pressured to make momentous decisions about their children’s education. Continue with the instability of school closures and remote learning? Or remove their child from the education system and homeschool them? It’s not an easy decision to make, many parents are struggling with anxiety around how to homeschool and where to begin.

Should you homeschool or continue with education roulette?

If reading the question “Should you homeschool?” gives you instant dread, and you think, ‘nope that’s not for me!’ then homeschooling might not be your first or best choice. However, if you’re basing your ideas of homeschooling off of a bad venture with online learning, then you truly do not know what homeschooling is actually like. Homeschooling and online/remote learning are vastly different forms of home education. If you still think that homeschooling is a terrible option, and aren’t interested, then let’s review some other forms of learning aids to help you with remote learning temporarily (we will have more on that below, in issue 10).

Reasons to homeschool.

There are many amazing benefits of homeschooling. Some of which include:

Educational freedom
Schedule flexibility
Learning Stability
A safe learning space for your child
More one-on-one time
Relief from the ever changing educational system
High quality education opportunities
Interest-led learning opportunities
Unique education options for unique learners
The chance to learn with your child

These are just ten of many, many benefits of homeschooling. As school closures are causing parents to consider homeschooling, it’s important to gain all the facts before you dive into it.

Disadvantages of homeschooling.

While I’d love to just paint all rainbows and unicorns around homeschooling, it’s important to give you the facts on both sides. Homeschooling can be so amazing, giving your child flexibility and freedom with their education, along with stability and a safe space to learn. But, there are some disadvantages to note:

Homeschooling requires more organization
Not as many ‘educational’ events to look forward to
Homeschooling curriculum can be expensive
It will require you to be much more disciplined with your time
Fewer breaks for you, as the parent-teacher
Struggling with criticism from family, friends and even strangers.
Keeping the house clean becomes challenging
Parents can be placed under a large amount of stress
The need to keep track of their grades can overwhelm you
Maybe you just really don’t want to

This list isn’t meant to deter you from homeschooling, but rather to help you understand that while there are many amazing aspects to homeschooling, there are also some drawbacks. Let’s walk through the issues together, and see if there are any solutions to the problems that most new homeschooling parents face.

Issue 1: Organization

Homeschoolers have to be more organized than the average parent. Because you are responsible of keeping track of your child’s education. The idea of keeping track of more than just their report cards might overwhelm you. Additionally you might become overwhelmed when you are trying to figure out if you’d need a special learning space. Especially if you know you don’t have the room to do it. What can you do?

Remember that you aren’t the first person in the world to homeschool. There are many, many families that have gone before you. Ranging from veteran homeschoolers who have been homeschooling for years, to COVID homeschoolers, who started in the spring of 2020 as a response to the first wave. Each person, and each family, have their own unique way to homeschool and how to keep organized.

If the idea of how to get organized for homeschooling is completely derailing you. Then consider reaching out to a veteran homeschooler, or doing some quick Pinterest searches on homeschool organization options. You will find a bounty of amazing tips and tricks on how to keep your homeschool organized and your home flowing in a healthy rhythm.

Issue 2: Less educational events to look forward to.

The school play, the epic basketball games, the fun track and field days. These are all things that you might be concerned that your child will miss, should you decide to homeschool. Let’s look at some facts before we let this issue actually become an issue. While your child will be missing the opportunity to be a part of these school related activities, if you connect with a local homeschooling group – many amazing opportunities will appear.

Our local homeschool group has so many opportunities for our children to choose from. There’s homeschool gymnastics classes at a local gymnastics club. Weekly track and field days with friends. Swimming and horse back riding lessons. Soccer games and pottery classes. And the list continues. When you connect with an amazing homeschooling group your child will have countless opportunities to have fun, and even do things that traditional schooled children can’t because of their schedule.

If you don’t have a homeschool group in your area, consider creating one! Find a city near you that has an established homeschooling group, and tell them that you’d like help to create one where you are. One amazing thing about homeschooling parents, is that they are usually gracious, kind and so excited to help.

Issue 3: Homeschooling can be expensive.

Yes, that’s completely accurate. In fact, when I first started homeschooling I had a very difficult time trying to afford the curriculum. There aren’t many affordable, and wholesome curriculum options available. However, Schoolio Learning does offer the most affordable and easily accessible curriculum option on the market. With bundles including all 4 core subjects, Math, Science, Language Arts and Social Studies for affordable prices.

Do your research before you purchase a curriculum to compare what you’re getting and for what price, and be sure to read the reviews.

Issue 4: More disciplined with your time.

Time management is key when it comes to homeschooling. That doesn’t mean that you need to have a rigorous daily schedule that keeps everyone on their toes at all times. It just means that instead of letting the kids watch TV for hours, you are careful about turning it off and jumping into healthy learning time with them. It means, not allowing yourself to aimlessly scroll social media for hours, or watching your favourite TV series during school hours. You need to be disciplined with your time.

And, it’s totally possible! It doesn’t mean you can’t watch your favourite show, or scroll social media here and there. Because those things can be your reward for when you’ve completed what needs to be done for the day.

Issue 5: Fewer breaks for you.

It’s true, there are less breaks for you as the homeschooling parent. However, if you are doing remote learning with your child, you’ll know that there are barely any breaks for you either. The difference when it comes to breaks, and remote learning vs. homeschooling is that when you’re homeschooling you have the freedom to create the schedule. When you’re doing remote learning, you are stuck with the schedule that the school provides. Therefore, your life must run around the schedule. Alternatively, when you are homeschooling, the schedule must run around your life.

And, if you are scheduling the homeschool. You will have the ability to schedule in breaks in your daily routine that are just for you. It may not run smoothly at first, but once your family adjusts to this new routine, things will come together quickly and perfectly.

Issue 6: Struggling with criticism.

Homeschooling parents are highly criticized by, almost everyone! While that fact is steadily changing as homeschooling is quickly becoming a fan favourite among parents, (especially because school closures are causing parents to consider homeschooling more and more). You may still face some forms of criticism from people in your social circle.

If you find that you are being criticized for choosing to homeschool your children, just remind yourself that their opinions are theirs, not yours. And, it’s not up to you to change their opinions. It’s up to you to take care of your mental health and well-being, and your family. If homeschooling is something you think will benefit your family, then you don’t need to prove that to anyone.

Issue 7: Keeping the house clean.

Yes, keeping the house clean will be slightly more difficult. Because your children will be spending much more time in the home. They’ll be playing, experimenting, doing art projects, and workbooks. There will be snacks, and lessons in Independent cooking. You will likely be a little more exhausted than normal from caring for the kids and teaching, so you won’t be bouncing with exuberance when it comes to vacuuming and folding the laundry.

This doesn’t mean that you have to let your cleaning standards go. Teach your kids to do chores, to fold their laundry, to help with dishes, and take the trash out. There are many simple chores that your child can partake in, that will help them gain independence and learn important life lessons along the way. Some families even have a house cleaner come to their home every other week, just to do the basics. Like bathrooms, and cleaning the fridge. They’re relatively affordable, some at only $20 an hour. There are so many options available. So don’t worry too much about the way your house will look.

Pro-Tip: Teach your kids to clean up after themselves!

Issue 8: An increase in parental stress.

Unfortunately, homeschooling can cause parents to hold more stress than they did before. Because, with fewer breaks for you as the parent, you might feel burnt out. There’s also the added pressure of making sure that you’re helping your kids learn in the same way that they would if they were at school. Because you likely are afraid that they’ll somehow fall behind or not be accepted back to school once you stop homeschooling.

Just know this: You aren’t screwing your kids up because you are choosing to homeschool them. In fact, many homeschooled children have gone onto university and have led successful careers. Homeschooled children have the opportunity to learn independent learning which will serve them greatly in life. There will be the added pressure of making sure your child is learning, but that can be easily remedied when you add a curriculum that is open-and-go. It takes the lesson planning off your plate. Helping you feel confident that your child is learning exactly what they need to.

Issue 9: Keeping track of their grades.

This is one thing that many, many new homeschoolers worry about. Because they are so accustomed to traditional education, they don’t understand that when you’re homeschooling you will have a very, very good view of how your child is doing educationally. You will know what your child needs more help in, and what they’re excelling at. The same goes with their grades. When they’ve completed an assignment, you can look it over for mistakes. If they’ve made a mistake or two, you can simply guide them through it the next day. Helping them to correct, learn and move forward.

Keeping track of grades isn’t actually a big deal when you’re homeschooling. If you’re temporarily homeschooling to avoid school closures and remote learning, then most schools won’t even ask for grade reports when your child returns. They will simply put your child in the grade that they are supposed to be in. This should take a huge weight off your shoulders.

Issue 10: Maybe you just really don’t want to homeschool.

That’s okay! Homeschooling isn’t for everyone. Perhaps you’re okay with jumping from remote learning to in-person. Maybe your job just won’t allow you to work from home so you can be with your child. Or, you just genuinely don’t have any desire to homeschool, but you do want to help your child get more out of their education when it comes to remote learning.

If that’s the case, you can find some pretty amazing learning tools available for students from Kindergarten – Grade 8. If they need some extra help with math, you can pick up a Schoolio Math unit. Perhaps they’re struggling with Language, then you can grab a Schoolio Language Unit that corresponds with the area of Language that they are struggling. Maybe your child is doing just fine but they’re bored with remote learning? Then consider purchasing a Schoolio Novel Study, or Special Interest Unit to keep their minds active and engaged.

Wherever you find yourself, just know this:

You’re doing a great job. Parenting was already a tough gig long before the pandemic happened. Switching from remote learning, to in-person learning, to homeschooling and back again. That’s frustrating and overwhelming for both you and your children. Often times, when things aren’t going well for our child we tend to blame ourselves. Avoid doing that, because this situation is out of our hands! You’re doing the very best that you can despite the challenges that continue to arise. Give yourself some credit, and know that whatever you decide for your child’s education, it will be the right choice!

Did you find this article about school closures causing parents to consider homeschooling, helpful? Let us know in the comments!

Make Learning a Priority Despite School Closures.

Many parents are once again struggling with how to make learning a priority despite school closures. Chances are that you live in a location that has either just announced school closures again, or perhaps they are leaning that way due to the steady climb of Covid-19 cases, related to the new variant of concern.

You as a parent may find yourself stuck in the frustration of wanting to keep your child safe while also wanting to be sure they are getting the education that they need at this stage in their life. I don’t think any of us thought that the pandemic would continue for so long, or that school closures and lockdowns would continue to be the method used to combat it. Yet, here we are. So the question is, how can you help your child continue to thrive with their learning, or even catch up, despite the inevitable school closures?

This is a huge topic, yet there’s not a lot of information out there about it. Doing a quick Google search doesn’t really reveal anything substantial, or helpful. Which is ironic, because education truly is key. Yet, education is one thing that has continually been placed on the back burner during the duration of the pandemic thus far.

What can we as parents and caregivers do?

As I previously wrote, none of us thought that school closures and lockdowns would continue to take place, especially not after two years since the beginning of this pandemic. It really puts things into perspective when you think of how a Kindergartener in the spring of 2020 is now in grade 2, and struggling to read. Or how a grade 10 student in March of 2020 is now facing graduation, feeling completely unprepared for university.

The pandemic has caused all of us to suffer, but no one more than our children. So many life experiences and learning opportunities have been missed. Will life ever return to normal? What even is normal anymore? Is it normal for your child to be falling behind? Will they ever catch up? What can you as a parent or caregiver do to make learning a priority despite school closures and lockdowns?

The First Step: Just Be There.

I get it, you’re frustrated and overwhelmed. For many it’s not just education that is affected, but also finances and mental well-being. Your mind is likely wandering a mile a minute, as you try to come to some settlement of peace. So, take a deep breath. Focus on what really matters. Sure, life is a crazy mess. But right now, in this very moment, are you okay? Is your family safe? Are your kids okay? Really focus on being in the moment. Focus on the laughter of your children. Talk to them, help them, because they’re also struggling with big feelings too. Make being there for your children a priority.

The Second Step: Find Ways to Ease Stress.

We don’t often realize just how stressed our children can be. The sad reality is that the pandemic, school closures, chaos and financial uncertainties has also placed stress on our kids. We like to think of them as “just going to be okay” but often times they are silently watching as their world seems to be collapsing around them.

Which brings us to an important point. And that is: Children cannot properly learn when they’re under a large amount of stress. As you probably already know, virtual learning often causes children more stress than anything else. This results in a lack of wholesome learning because of the stress that your child is under when trying to learn. Which is why finding ways to calm that stress is imperative.

Some helpful stress relieving tips include:

Answer their questions honestly, and have conversations about their feelings.
Let them know that you recognize that they are feeling stressed, and that it’s okay to feel this way.
Contact loved ones, grandparents, family and friends. Let your child connect with them.
Demonstrate how to take care of your own feelings in a healthy way.
Help them with a mindfulness activity.
Offer plenty of hugs and cuddles.
Sign up for a Mindfulness Activity or purchase a Mindfulness workbook.
Teach your child about how to manage their thoughts and feelings.

The Third Step: Create a Healthy Routine

Having a healthy routine is extremely important. Especially if you are aiming to make learning a priority despite school closures. It can be so tempting to just let everything go and continue life like you’re on holidays. While somedays that may be okay, it’s important to snap out of it sooner rather than later. Children need routine, it helps them to feel safe, while also helping them to develop important life skills.

Your kids and yourself have absolutely no control over the pandemic, or school closures. So, help your child feel like they’re in a little more control with a routine. Let them add in parts of the routine that they think are important, and be sure to honour that.

Routines aren’t just good for kids, they also have huge benefits for you as the parent or care-giver. Having a healthy routine has been proven to help parents feel more organized while simultaneously reducing stress.

You can add structure to your child’s day by adding smaller routines to your larger daily routine.

Early Morning Routine: Wake up, get dressed, eat a healthy breakfast, brush teeth, and encourage active play for a bit before school work.

Late Morning – Early Afternoon Routine: This is when your child can work on their school work, whether that be virtual learning or workbooks. For many children their school board has scheduled times of the day around virtual learning. So, their routine might revolve around those time slots.

If you have decided to homeschool during the duration of another lockdown, you can use this time to work on two core subjects like Math and Science. Reserving this time for lesson time, work time and a learning activity.

Be sure to add in lunch, and snack times! And if your child is participating in virtual learning, then make lunch and break times a big deal! Have fun with lunch time, play some word games while you both eat sandwiches. Try your best to make it as positive as possible.

Afternoon/Evening Routine: Once education time is completed for the day, encourage them to play outside, or in their room while you get a tiny break. If they just want to be with you, then try to make a new recipe together for dinner. Having fun together is one of the best remedies for stress. At the dinner table, ask your child(ren) what their favourite part of the day was, then aim to include more of that in the next day.

Bedtime Routine: Now it’s time for brushing teeth and bath time. Once that’s complete, be sure to have some snuggles and reading time with your kids. It’s so important to continue to carve out time for reading with each other as it continues to strengthen your bond.

The Fourth Step: Evaluate the Learning Solutions.

Many parents hear the words “Virtual Learning” or “Online Learning” and instantly cringe. Because this form of education is anything but wonderful for both students and teachers. If you’ve recently learned that your child has to do online learning, and you know from experience that it will be a disaster. Then take some time to evaluate this form of learning by asking yourself these questions:

Is this helping my child or hurting them?
Are they still learning?
Is the stress from this even worth it?
Are there other options available for learning?

Once you’ve answered these questions you will have a more clear indication about whether or not this form of education is actually working for you and your child. If you’re still unsure, write out a list of pros and cons. What are the pros to virtual learning, and what are the cons? If you have no other learning choices, then find out what are some ways that you can work together with your child’s school to make it more bearable.

The Fifth Step: Research Alternative Learning Solutions.

If you’ve evaluated your child’s education method, and are finding that it’s causing more stress than learning. But you are determined to make learning a priority despite school closures, then you should look for alternative methods of education for your child. You could consider a home-learning option. Remember this doesn’t have to be permanent, this can be a temporary solution until circumstances level out.

Determining what type of in-home learning curriculum will best suit your family is really important. You can learn about how to choose in-home learning curriculum here.

Staying on track with their learning is essential, which is why finding a curriculum that follows their grade level standards, and is easy to follow/teach is really important. Be sure to look for a learning solution that reflects that.

The Sixth Step: Start Learning.

It’s imperative that you remind yourself that learning is always happening. There are so many life lessons to be learned during any given day. So, please don’t stress yourself thinking that learning must look a certain way, because it often doesn’t. That is one of the reasons why virtual learning can can cause so much stress for some students. Education can’t be crammed into a box. For many, learning is hands-on. Learning through a screen with twenty other children going on and off of mute, isn’t always going to give your child the whole learning experience that they need.

Read stories with your kids, dive into a Novel Study. Bake cookies, clean the house, do art work, watch an educational show together, and play learning games! Don’t stress about how learning should look, just let it happen naturally.

Figure out what areas your child needs the most help with and make that a priority. Being sure to add in the extra areas of their education here and there. Just be sure to never overwhelm your child with information, aim to keep lessons short, simple and to the point. Dragging out a lesson just because you feel like it needs to be longer, won’t help you or your student. If your child is struggling with a particular concept, then take a break and revisit it again later.

The Seventh Step: Let Go.

Life continues to not go according to plan. Holding onto your ideas of what it should look like, will only bring you more disappointment. Embrace the way life is, even if it’s messy. Because if you continue to hold onto this idea of what you wish life looked like, it will only make it worse for you and your child. Letting go of the original plan, and working together to come up with a new, brilliant plan will be extremely beneficial for your entire family.

Whether you choose to give virtual learning another go, or you feel like you need to dive head first into homeschooling. Just know that whatever choice you make, it will be a good one for your family. Yes, sometimes you will have bad days, sometimes things won’t go as planned. And yes, you will absolutely make some mistakes. But you’re trying your very best to make learning a priority despite school closures and that is truly what matters.

Take a deep breath, focus on what really matters, and move forward.