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How Parents Can Help Support Learning at Home blog: 

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How Parents Can Help Support Learning at Home blog: 

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Child and Family blog wrote out 6 different ways that parents can create an environment to support learning while at home. You can also find a few resources provided within the blog post for more online resources.

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With no advance notice, children and teachers were thrust into using online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that is far from over. Those who are self-isolating face the prospect of distance learning for the foreseeable future; for others, positive COVID-19 test results or COVID-19 symptoms combined with the absence of testing will mean significant periods of time away from school. And as we face a second wave of the disease, many schools could close for long periods yet again.

What do child development scientists have to say to parents who are tackling the issue of learning at home? We asked members of the Scientists' Alliance for Communicating Child Development Knowledge, who provided a wealth of insights.

Parents are the main influence on learning, but the pressures are great

Parents are the main influence on learning, writes Jennifer Lansford on the Child & Family Blog. "Demonstrate to your children the value of education - that's one of the most important ways a parent can encourage their learning." But, as Suniya Luthar writes on our blog, the pressures on children at home are great. "In our research, by far the most important factor predicting anxiety and depression in children was low quality of relationship with parents. Following this was lack of structure to the day (separating time for leisure or fun), and high levels of distraction or inability to focus on schoolwork."

Children learn through play and curiosity: an opportunity for parents

During the COVID-19 pandemic, parents may feel pressure to teach children in traditional school-based ways. Yet there is nothing wrong with learning in playful ways that keep children's interest and invite them to have fun at the same time. Numerous studies suggest that learning is a fundamental part of what occurs during play: Playing and learning are inextricably linked. For children, playing with adults is likely to be even more enriching.

Play helps children explore a wide variety of emotions, and not just pleasant ones like excitement and joy. These experiences help children grow emotionally and cognitively. What's more, children are aware that they are learning through play, and a study of 400 children showed that many of them thought the worlds of play and learning overlap in many ways.

Lockdown learning through play can help build on children's natural ways of learning by building on their curiosity and self-direction. Play with family members could also be essential for mitigating the loss of learning related to the pandemic, particularly for disadvantaged children.

At the same time, playing with children is important for reducing stress and improving mental health among parents and caregivers.

Top tips for parents on home learning

The Internet features great material advising parents what to do. Below is a guide to it all. Another good place to start is asking children what was good and bad about the lockdown from March to June because, as Roberta Golinkoff and Marcia Halperin explain, children have insights on the benefits and challenges of remote learning: Just ask them.

One of our favorite resources is Jelena Obradović's tip sheet for parents supporting online learning at home. The sheet covers the themes of learning spaces, daily schedules, routines, goals and progress, as well as managing frustrations and ensuring closeness and connection. We have reproduced this sheet here:

Find a space in your home that can be used every day for distance learning.

If the space is shared, create a cardboard or cloth separation to minimize noise and distractions.

Offer your child the chance to decorate this space to feel welcoming (draw a sign, bring a favorite pillow, etc.).

Make sure the space includes essential learning materials. Ask teachers for help.

Understand what teachers expect from your child. Email, call, or text to clarify.

Write a simple list of activities that your child needs to complete each day.

Include breaks for snacks, physical activity, wiggles or stretches, and free choice time. Younger children will need more breaks.

Encourage your child to decorate the schedule and post it in their space.

Revise to fit your family's needs. Be flexible.

Start early when your child is rested.

Review the daily schedule and make sure your child understands it (e.g., first you will..., then you can...).

Help your child build independence (e.g., learn to prepare their own snack, troubleshoot computer problems).

Let your child know when and how they can ask for help.

Keep regular sleep times.

Together with your child, set behavioral expectations and review them daily.

Set goals and timelines that your child can complete. It's about progress, not perfection.

Teach your child to use a timer to stay focused for a period of time. Start small!

Mark daily progress (even on not-so-good days) with stickers, pennies, pebbles, etc.

Use your child's favorite activities as rewards for showing effort and progress.

Managing Frustrations

Use simple calming strategies: counting to 10, taking deep breaths, a short break.

Help your child describe the problem and express their feelings (I feel..., when...).

Together, come up with a potential solution and connect it to previously set expectations.

Explain how the child's behavior is linked to consequences. Set gentle and firm limits.

Assume that everyone is trying their best. Be kind to yourself. Be patient with others.

Ask teachers and others for help.

Start each day with a brief joyful experience: a fun greeting, song, dance.

Create opportunities for your child to be helpful (e.g., household chores, cooking prep, reading to siblings).

Each day, try to connect with your child without any distractions. Highlight positive experiences. If you have time, do a fun activity together that the child selects.

Create opportunities for your child to share their worries, and provide reassurance.

You can download the tip sheet in English, Arabic, Cantonese, Filipino, Mandarin, Portuguese, Spanish, Urdu, and Vietnamese .
Another great on-line resource is from Mental Health America, How to cope with the stress of home schooling (for parents). This recommends three steps:

1. Adjust your mindset - get support from other parents and homeschool teachers, remind yourself why you're homeschooling in the first place, practice gratitude on a daily basis with your household, adjust your expectations on a day-to-day basis, and switch up your teaching style if your kids aren't interested.

2. Reduce stress with a routine - outline a rough schedule for each day, divide the day into large blocks instead of specific classes, give yourself more time than you actually need for lessons, multi-task if you're caring for more than one child, be flexible with your daily routine, and set aside time to unwind.

3. Plan for rough days - identify the root of your children's problems as they arise, write a list of calming activities for yourself and your children, calm your child down before disciplining them, practice mindfulness as you go through the week, ask friends and family for support if you need it.

Learning space
Our search found other good top tips on-line.
Schedule and routine
If possible, dedicate a specific device to learning. (NPR, How to turn your home into a school without losing your sanity)

Plan the day together, including when to do activities. Engaging children in creating a schedule helps build their self-awareness and motivation. (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

Have a good shake at the end of the day! (NPR, How To Turn Your Home Into A School Without Losing Your Sanity)
Managing frustrations
Be a good role model: Parents should stick to their own routine, too! (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

When children aren't motivated to learn, parents and caregivers can make it more fun by incorporating documentaries, or changing the topic and giving children the choice to return to the work later. (Catherine Tamis-Lemonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)
Working with teachers
It is important for parents to manage their own emotions because children can't learn in high-stress environments. In doing this, adults provide the conditions necessary to learn. (Catherine Tamis-Lemonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

Schedule time with teachers, both to clarify what is expected of your child and to make use of available teaching resources. (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

Consider if your child can join meetings with the teacher. This can help children feel more motivated and closer to the teacher. (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)
Doing things with your child
Be specific with questions when meeting with teachers. (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

Break down tasks into bite-sized pieces. (APA, Recommendations on starting school during the COVID-19 pandemic)

Friends and family can help with teaching, especially if parents don't feel comfortable with certain topics. (Catherine Tamis-Lemonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

When parents aren't sure about something, they can model problem solving with their children. By working out something together, they help improve children's practical problem-solving skills, which shapes the way they approach future challenges. (Catherine Tamis-Lemonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)
Learning style
Make learning meaningful. If children don't understand why they're learning something or why it's important or useful, they can easily disengage from the material. Other ways to make information applicable to students' lives are to include material relevant to students' race, culture, and ethnicity. (APA, Recommendations on Starting School during the COVID-19 pandemic)

Allow children to use a variety of approaches for completing tasks and solving problems. The strategies they have been taught may not be the only or best ways to answer a specific question or solve a particular problem. (APA, Recommendations on starting school during the COVID-19 pandemic)
Header photo: Nenad Stojkovic. Creative Commons.
By asking your child to teach you the content he or she has just learned, it will be easier to identify gaps. Parents can then work with teachers on these gaps. (Catherine Tamis-LeMonda & Erin Bogan, The science of learning and teaching at home during Covid-19)

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How parents can support children's learning at home

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With no advance notice, children and teachers were thrust into using online learning during the COVID-19 pandemic, a crisis that is far from over. Those who are self-isolating face the prospect of distance learning for the foreseeable future; for others, positive COVID-19 test results or COVID-19 symptoms combined with the absence of testing will mean significant periods of time away from school.

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Children benefit greatly when what they are learning at school is also translated over to their home life as well! It enhances many areas of their life and their education is one of those areas. Learning at home starts with the partnership that teachers and parents create through communication. Sometimes this may be hard for parents because of many reasons and barriers; lets take a look at some of those barriers that parents have shared.

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Here is an article to further explain the importance of parent-teacher partnerships. You can find an explanation as to why it is important and 3 components on partnership with teachers.

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Establishing healthy parent-teacher relationships for early learning success

By Susan M. Sheridan, Ph.D.
Principal Investigator, Early Learning Network Lead
Director, Nebraska Center for Research on Children, Youth, Families & Schools,
University of Nebraska-Lincoln

It's inevitable. Labor Day marks the transition between two seasons: the end of summer and the back-to-school season. The beginning of a new school year brings new teachers, new classmates, new opportunities and new relationships.

While the relationships your child forms with peers are important, you may be surprised that the most significant relationship, in terms of your child's school success and development, is the one you form with his or her teacher.

Your relationship with your child's teacher can be an important factor in how well he or she gets along at school and at home. For many children, the most significant adults in their lives on a day-to-day basis are immediate family members and caregivers (primarily parents), and their teacher. These are the adults with whom they spend the most time, who make most of the decisions regarding how they spend their time and who provide guidance and direction, through their actions and their words, on most aspects of their lives.

Isn't it logical that how these adults interact, relate and communicate, both with each other and with the student, impacts his or her experiences and learning? Let's explore this further.

Fortunately, we know a lot about the "why" and "how" of healthy relationships between parents and their children's teachers. Through the Early Learning Network, collaborating research teams across the U.S. are doing research to hone in on what types of parent engagement practices really matter for young children - not only at one point in time, such as kindergarten, but throughout their early school years, from preschool to third grade.

"Research shows that home support for early learning complements learning at school," said Christina Weiland, assistant professor at the University of Michigan and co-principal investigator on ELN's MDRC team studying Boston Public Schools' P-3 programs. "Playing math games, reading with children and asking children open-ended questions as they play are examples of fun, simple ways to build critical foundational skills both at home and school. The network is considering many factors important in the early years, including alignment of home and school learning opportunities."

Why are healthy parent-teacher relationships important?
Positive connections between parents and teachers have been shown to improve children's academic achievement, social competencies and emotional well-being. When parents and teachers work as partners, children do better in school and at home.
Research shows that when a partnership approach between parents and teachers is evident, children's work habits, attitudes about school and grades improve. They demonstrate better social skills, fewer behavioral problems and a greater ability to adapt to situations and get along. And parents and teachers benefit, too. When working together as partners, it's been found that parents and teachers communicate more effectively, develop stronger relationships with one another and develop skills to support children's behaviors and learning.

"Building partnerships between families and schools is an effective strategy to address opportunity gaps, especially for those who have been historically underserved," said Iheoma Iruka, co-principal investigator of ELN's University of Nebraska-Lincoln team and chief research innovation officer and director of the Center for Early Education Research & Evaluation at HighScope Educational Research Foundation. "Strong partnerships support children's learning and ability to develop lifelong skills and networks, while also strengthening parents' capacity to be engaged in their child's school experience."

The Three C's: How to form a constructive parent-teacher partnership
Partnerships are most powerful when they include three main components, represented as the "3 C's": communication, consistency and collaboration.
Communication

The first is communication between home and school. Like any relationship in life, communication between you and your child's teacher is key.

Communicate with your child's teacher early on and throughout the school year. Start by letting him/her know that you want to play your part in your child's education.

Discuss with your child's teacher the best ways to communicate. This can be as simple as sending notes to school with your child, leaving a voice message for the teacher, emailing important information or other methods unique to your situation.

The best kind of communication is open, clear, constructive and timely. Frequent, two-way communication is important to stay apprised of what is happening at school, and to let your teacher know important things about your child. Home-school notes are especially effective.

Attend meetings with questions and observations about your child's efforts and behaviors, not just their grades and achievements. Let your child's teacher know about your child's strengths and challenges, likes and dislikes, and what you hope he or she accomplishes during the school year.

Consistency
The second component of an effective partnership is consistency. This involves opportunities and experiences you provide at home to support your child's learning.

Ask about and suggest ways you can work with your child at home to encourage their learning for a successful school year. Creating routines for homework, such as establishing a time and quiet place, is important. Providing learning materials, reading with your child, and encouraging healthy habits for eating and physical activity all contribute to their success in school.

Talk about methods for ensuring that you and the teacher are "on the same page" when it comes to plans and expectations. This kind of partnership sends a consistent message to your child and lets him know that you and his teacher together support his learning.

Collaboration

The third component of partnering is collaboration. Collaboration will be easier if communication is frequent, and you consistently create opportunities for your child's learning. A collaborative, cooperative partnership focuses on specific, positive strategies to help your child achieve to the best of his or her potential. Planning and problem-solving are forms of collaboration, and will be especially important when your child needs extra support to reach a goal.

Make an effort to understand teachers' goals and expectations for your child, and let teachers know about your goals. Communicate about how you can be a partner to help your child achieve them. If you have concerns, respectfully ask about modifications that are aligned with your child's strengths and challenges.

Plan and problem-solve around issues that may arise. If the relationship and communication channels are developed early, it will be much easier to address challenges if they appear. Collaborative planning with your child's teacher involves acknowledging the need to work together to address a concern, staying focused on finding a solution (not placing blame), making plans that involve support and responsibility at both home and school, following through on plans and checking back to make sure progress is being made.

Reach out early and often

A new school year is the perfect time to reach out to your child's teacher and begin establishing a positive, collaborative relationship that will have a remarkable impact on your child's learning and development.

These evidence-based practices will go a long way in helping you work together to ensure your child has the support he or she needs to be successful at school, at home and in the future.

We look forward to sharing more research findings regarding parent-teacher relationships and other early learning topics as they emerge from the Early Learning Network's nationwide studies.

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Establishing healthy parent-teacher relationships for early learning success - Early Learning Network

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Building solid parent-teacher relationships is key to student success. The Early Learning Network's Susan Sheridan shares practical, research-based tips as families enter into a new school year.

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There are a variety of different type of barriers that parents often feel prevent them from partnering with what their child may be learning in the classroom. Here are some common ones:
- Lack of trust: some parents may often not have built trust with the teacher in the classroom. That is okay, because trust is built in any type of relationship. Communication is key to building trust and it is important for parents to ask questions to understand more of what goes in the classroom.
- They feel they are not welcomed by the teacher or school: Teachers are there to teach children, but they also know that families directly affect young children in their education not just at school but at home too. They know parents have dreams and goals for their children and the teachers want to partner with parents in those dreams and goals. With that, thoughts, ideas and concerns are welcomed by the teacher to partner together with each parent. Parents can simply start partnering with what the child is doing with their homework and work their way up to more involvement in the classroom to help see that they are welcomed in the classroom education with their child.
-  Parents feel they lack the knowledge and skills: Many parents may feel intimidated that they don't know what exactly their child is doing in class when they bring home assignments and homework simply because they don't remember it. Although, it is okay for parents to not understand their childs homework for them to still give support and encouragement in both homework and assignments. Parents can always reach out to their children for more information about the curriculum and lessons that their child is learning. Schools can also create engaging homework and assignments for parents and children to do together.

There are so many barriers and these are just a few very common ones. If parents feel that their is something that is keeping them from partnering with their childs school, it is normal and common. Some ways to help move the barriers is to always reach out to the teacher or even the school for help in creating a plan to better partner with teachers and children.

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An Activity to Do with your child at home:

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An Activity to Do with your child at home:

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Planting seeds fun!
For this activity, you and your child will learn about the process of planting seeds and the life cycle of a seed.
Materials needed:
-Seed of any kind
-Soil, if potting in a cup
-Potting cup or your  backyard/front yard. If there is no yard available, you can plant a seed at a park nearby!
- Shovel, if needed
- water
First you will get your seed ready. Second, if you are potting your seed(s) in a potting cup, you will need to pour in some potting soil. If you are not potting in a potting cup, you will need to use your shovel to dig a hole in the ground. Third you will place your seed in the soil or ground. After plotting the seed, you must cover it up with rest of the soil or dirt you dug up. Lastly, you will water the seed. If you planted in a potting cup, ensure that the cup is in a place where it can get sunlight.
As you do this activity together, explain what you are doing and why you are doing it. Like planting the seed inside the dirt or soil because it has nutrients that the seed needs to grow and watering it because water also helps it to grow.

Check back on the seed whenever you can to see if it has started to sprout and if it is growing. Explain to them when you see a little growth that it is sprouting. Show them the parts of the flower; the stem, the leaves, the roots.

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Second activity to do at home with your child: 

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Second activity to do at home with your child: 

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Don't crack the egg! Egg drop experiment.
This is a fun science experiment to learn about gravity as well as have their hand at engineering.
Materials needed:
- eggs
- various household materials to create a safe box for the egg. This can include: paper towels, toilet paper, shoe box, box of any kind, towel, clothing, tape, etc.
- high place to drop it from. Ladder, the roof, standing on the bed, anywhere you can get to the highest point (safely)

Many kids don't know about gravity and that it helps keep us standing on the ground and that it is the reason people and object fall to the ground. This can be a way to teach them the idea of gravity and visually show what it means. It also allows the kids to be creative and try engineering different ways to keep it safe from cracking.

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Here are many websites that give ideas on different activities you can do with your child to promote learning at home:
- https://www.verywellfamily.com/fun-learning-activities-kids-at-home-3128960
- https://blog.brookespublishing.com/24-at-home-learning-activities-to-share-with-parents-of-young-children/
-https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/parenting/g32627077/learning-activities-for-kids/

*I will provide printable handouts for the two activities planned out in this presentation.