During this new experience, one of the things people are facing is having to school their children at home. Besides following the instructions provided by your children’s school district and teachers, there are many things you can do for your child’s education.
Folding Electric Bikes are really popular with commuters right now and Wisper do a great one – to see it click here, teaching your kids how to ride a bike is a great idea.
One thing you can do, is work in the kitchen. Cooking involves math and science, plus tasty food.
It works for most ages too, younger children can learn about math by measuring, your pre-teens can work on the science of baking, and a teenager can flat out learn how to cook healthy meals.
You can even film the preparation of a meal and upload the video, which helps a child of any age learn about the digital world we live and how visible the things we do online are now.
Keeping with the internet, many locations offer videos that allow for walkthroughs or a webcam view of a great variety of things.
Georgia Aquarium offers live webcam viewing of a variety of sea animals. Visit georgiaaquarium.org to view.
The Smithsonian Museums have virtual tours of a variety of exhibits, including the prehistoric exhibit. Visit https://naturalhistory.si.edu/visit/virtual-tour for their options.
A few other options are:
—https://www.farmfood360.ca/ is a Canadian site that takes you on a tour of farms and ranches. These involve things from mink fur farming to egg collecting. Use caution when allowing younger children to watch.
–For more historical and artistic education visit https://www.louvre.fr/en/visites-en-ligne for a tour of the Louvre in Paris, France.
–View the surface of Mars via https://accessmars.withgoogle.com/
–Check out YouTube Education for channels such as Crash Course, which colleges use for online education, and many more.
Of course, Sunshine is good for everyone and helps with immunity.
So, after spending time with virtual education, head outside for sunshine with fun learning activities.
Gardening can be anything from cacti and succulents to annual flowers to delicious veggies, fruits and berries.
The options with gardening are unlimited.
Hiking is great; you get fresh air, and can identify different plants and animals you see while you hike.
Libraries are an amazing source of information with many offering online capabilities:
—Fairfield Library has online books to be read.
—Houston Library allows anyone who lives in Texas to have a membership to access their online books as well.
–Teague Library has links available online on https://www.teaguelibrary.org/eshelf-research for research and reading.
–Gibbs Memorial Library has links available https://www.gibbslibrarymexia.org/copy_of_eshelf-research
For fun, you can use YouTube to visit many places from theme parks and zoos to national forest and exciting places around the world.
‘Game Schooling’ is an option, a few suggestions are:
–Monopoly for Math and Economics
–Twister for P.E.
–Scrabble teaches Spelling
–Clue, Battleship, Checkers and Chess helps with logic
–Pictionary and/or Telestrations for art
–Trivial Pursuit for a variety of subjects
Work on an arts and crafts project that can become a family memento of all the time you have spent together.
Take this time to teach valuable life skills:
–Change a tire and proper car maintence
–Manage a checking/savings account
–How a credit card and/or a loan works
–The proper way to apply for a job and interview, ask for a raise, how to properly quit, etc…
–Basic home repair and maintenance
–Budgeting
–How health care works
–Self-Defense
–First Aid
–Time Management
–The laws of your city, state and country
While the experience of educating at home is new for many of us, it gives family a wonderful chance to reconnect with each other and spend time together.
So, while the circumstances are not perfect, do not lose hope, and enjoy the silver linings.
