Stressed about home-schooling? Worried that your kids aren’t learning properly at home during COVID-19?

On Thursday, Dr. Sejal Patel, associate professor in Early Childhood Studies at Ryerson University and researcher at the Greater Equity in Early Education and Care research team (GEEC) answered reader questions around parenting and home-schooling during the pandemic.

As an educator and a mother of two young children, she shared her expertise with Star readers on how to keep kids focused, learning, and engaged during the pandemic.

Question from Priya: What is your advice for improving focus in younger elementary students who aren’t used to online learning when trying to work through daily assignments sent by teachers?

A: We need to consider our child’s age, well-being, temperament, ability, personality and life circumstances in our expectations for ‘focus’ in younger elementary students. There are many ways to support focus. First and foremost, we need to support our children in getting adequate sleep, nutrition and in staying hydrated. We can plan time for breaks, monitor our children’s screen time, and support opportunities to engage in physical activity. We can promote focus by reducing distractions in the home environment insomuch is possible, and breaking the learning up into smaller blocks of time, if that helps. Setting short term goals and creating a (flexible) schedule may work for some families also. Above all, allowing children to have fun and play will help children to improve focus when they are online learning.

Question from Sarah: I sometimes worry about my 2-year-old being in isolation with no opportunities for socialization with children her own age. She is an only child at this point. Mum and Dad are home and doing our best to provide a balance between new and fun activities each day, with the routine she used to, but I know she really misses her friends from daycare (she asks where they are everyday). A child of this age can only understand so much about the pandemic situation. Any suggestions? I don’t think online “play dates” are that beneficial at this age, and they are very different from the real thing. She is not very interested in engaging with people over video chat ...but she is super social in person and loves imaginative play. Should we worry about long term impacts if this goes on for much longer?

A: Your child is benefiting from socialization opportunities with you — her thoughtful parents. I would not worry at this time about long-term impacts since from your post it is clear that you are doing your best to keep your daughter happy and engaged. If you feel your daughter misses her friends from child care, perhaps arranging a video chat with them might be worthwhile (with no expectations for interaction). Remember, you know your child best.

Question from Instagram: How can I convince my four-year-old to do online learning?

A: My main concern is not how to convince my four-year-old to do online learning, it is how to minimize the stresses around the children and any negative impact of the pandemic and social distancing. Ann Douglas (author of Happy Parents Happy Kids, 2019) talks about “parenting in an age of anxiety” and how anxiety can affect our parenting. Difficult circumstances, like the ones that we are in now, can impact the quality of our parenting and create more pressure in our homes, negatively impacting our home environments.

In these unusual and difficult times, I feel strongly that we need to first and foremost be concerned with children’s social and emotional well-being. Children will remember the moments and memories created during this time of social distancing. Insomuch as we can during these difficult times, we can try to be loving, playful and silly and invite children into this playful and silly spirit. We can cuddle with our children and help them to feel safe.

If children are interested in online learning and we are able to support this given our own individual circumstances, then that is great. If participating in online learning causes more stress, anxiety and disharmony in our homes, I might try to find other ways to facilitate learning — through hands on play, learning through practicing life skills, through involving children in spreading cheer to others, when we are able.

Question from Ryan via email: How do teachers and educators properly grade and assess children’s learning during this time and provide proper feedback when everyone is learning online?

A: We need to exercise compassion for our children’s individual experiences and environments, while reflecting on what will help our students at this time. Perhaps we need to focus less on summative assessment and more on formative feedback that may support children’s learning and engagement. The formative feedback could be shared online or via telephone, if possible.

Question from Sabrina: How much time should a 4-year-old (still in daycare) be spending learning or doing some kind of “homework” each day, if any?

A: Children are learning and exploring their environments through play, through their daily interactions, daily life activities and through observation. Your child might spend five to 20 minutes for new or more challenging tasks, and perhaps more time for activities that they enjoy. This of course also depends on your child’s well-being, temperament, personality, ability and life circumstances. The province’s news release discussing learning at home shares some suggested timeframes for older (school-aged) children, but this may not work in the same way for all families.

Question via Instagram: How to ensure kids with dyslexia or autism benefit from online teaching as much as others?

A: In a learning from home model, children with disabilities no longer have access in the same way to their regular classroom routines, educational assistants (if any) and teachers. All children are adjusting to big changes. While we can work hard to provide at home support for children and families, we cannot ‘ensure’ that all children will benefit from online teaching in the same way. It may be hard for parents to provide support from home depending on their circumstances, and certain students will require additional and differentiated support and accommodations. Our expectations have to be reasonable and consider individual children’s life circumstances.

Educators and our education system will continue to be there to support families struggling with learning from home in getting back on track after this period of social distancing. Parents should do what they can from home, without creating undue stress for their families. Online learning may increase inequities for children and families. We will have to pay attention to this and work together to support our children, families, educators and communities moving forward.

Question from Instagram: How can we help infants who are missing out on being able to socialize with other babies?

A: Infants can get the socialization that they need through interactions with their parents/guardians, siblings (if any) and other family members. Socialization opportunities for infants (with other infants) are often more helpful for parents, through the opportunity to network with others in similar situations, and to share in social support. Generally speaking, children in infancy tend to engage mostly in parallel play (Parten, 1932), where they play independently alongside one another. Responsive and sensitive parenting is important and can support children’s socialization. Parents may also want to think about how they might maintain their social support networks in their circumstances, while maintaining social distancing.

Question from Instagram: How can teachers educate students on new concepts without live classes?

A: The answer to this question depends on what is being taught and for whom it is being taught.

Educators are working hard to create valuable learning opportunities for our students through various online techniques (posting videotaped/written instructions, doing live classroom video/chats), using different software, while trying to juggle differentiated instruction and creating alternative assignments for students who require accommodation, among other approaches. In many cases, they are also working to support their own families and households.

Families at home are also working hard trying to support their children’s learning while juggling working tirelessly in the frontlines, dealing with job and working from home stresses, or even experiencing social isolation. We need to be mindful that online learning can require a unique and perhaps high level of family involvement, and that some families may not have the ability to provide this level and type of engagement at this time.

We have to first reflect on what we know about our classroom community and the relationships that we have built with children and families, while doing outreach to different groups and asking families what they want (Patel, Corter, & Pelletier, 2008). Hearing from families about their experiences can help better tailor the approaches taken in online learning. Trying to embed learning into children’s daily lives, with a practical life focus may help to teach new concepts, as might having children apply what they learn to the real world, where possible.

Boards of Education are working to consider whether families have access to technology and internet. We need to think about our children who are English language learners, who have disabilities, who might have working parents (versus stay at home parents), and/or who might be struggling to make ends meet (living in a shelter, for example), among other considerations.

Online learning while maintaining social distancing may increase inequities for children and families. We will have to pay attention to this as a society. We will need to work together to help build on our strengths, support one another in the ways that we can given the circumstances, and monitor progress once we have made it through this period of social distancing.