Virtual School Tips : One Lesson Per Day

Virtual Schooling, What???  

To all of my fellow parents who have are joining me in the realm of schooling at home, welcome to the adventure.  You didn’t ask for this, but the schools might stay closed in the fall! Now what?

It is one thing to have the kids home for a short period of time, to do a little school at home for a week or two.  When schools do open in the fall, many may be virtual only! What will your child’s schedule look like?  How many days a week will your child attend?

Schools, teachers, parents, children, and governments were not prepared for this challenge.  Administrators scrambled, and parents were confused.  We were expected to jump into a teacher role with no training and no effective curriculum. 

What Now?

If you never imagined yourself being homeschooling parent, this can be an absolutely overwhelming time.  How are you supposed to take over the education of your child when you don’t have the tools and the skills to teach them ? What if your high school student is taking Physics, and your science knowledge tops out at middle school biology?  What if your elementary student is struggling to master their first grade sight words and you are scared they won’t be able to get to a second grade reading level?  What if your middle schooler says they’ve done school, but when you take a look, you find out she hasn’t done anything all day? What if your toddler is bored, your kindergartner would rather play with blocks, and your husband is on video conference calls all day?

Breathe my friend, breathe.  

I have been where you are, and I know it is hard.  

It will be ok, but you need to take a breath, and focus on the basics.

Relax….

Here’s a little secret from homeschoolers everywhere: math and reading can happen at any time.  So, it doesn’t really matter if you start math at 9 or 11. 

Yes, but my student has Zoom classes all day, what do I do then???

Question: Does your child truly need to attend those???

Maybe… Maybe not…

It is possible that your child’s school will have virtual or online classes which are offered at a particular time.  Notate those, and then make sure that they are on a shared calendar.  If it is important your child attend those classes live, then arrange your schedule accordingly.  

If your child can’t go live, then watch the recording!

There may be some cases where a few hours of learning are best consumed live and at a particular time.  But, this should not be the gold standard for virtual school.  School at home doesn’t need to perfectly replicate the brick and mortar environment.  If we try to do that at home, there is a high likelihood we will be frustrated, and so will our students.  We don’t need to have bells and passing periods and regimented days. 

Ideally, a virtual school environment will offer live learning opportunities as well as self paced options.  

So, how do we ensure learning is taking place, if we don’t implement a rigid schedule down to the minute?

The concept is simple:

One lesson, per subject, per day.

That’s it.  Very simple.

Your child’s goal should be to complete one lesson, per subject, per day.  There may be some subjects which don’t need a 5 day a week schedule, especially in the elementary years.  But once your child hits middle school, each subject needs work each day.

Teachers do this in their classrooms.  They design lesson plans which will elaborate on one concept or two in any given day.  The next day they will review what was learned the previous day and then add on.  

A good home learning curriculum will set that up for your student and provide that structure for you.  Subjects will be delineated clearly, and each day’s learning should already be organized into a lesson which can be completed by the student.  

If you are responsible for delivering a curriculum designed by your student’s school, take a look at the organization you have been given.  Do you have specific assignments for specific days?  The school and teachers will have likely organized your child’s learning by daily goals and also with weekly objectives.

Your job at home is to have your child do one lesson a day in each assigned subject.  When that is done, check it off and move on.  On one day, math may only take 20 minutes.  Thats ok.  If your student has done the lesson and mastered it, then go to another subject.  You do not need to fill an hour full of math if your child has already done all the work.  Just move on and do something else.  

To stay organized it, is helpful to have a white board with your student’s lessons for the day written on it.  Or, you could just use a piece of paper with the subjects listed.  When your student finishes a lesson, they check it off.  When all the lessons are checked off, school is done. 

Yes, when the lessons are done, school is done.  It could be 10AM, or 9PM.  In my twelve years of homeschooling we have had a mix of both of those extremes.  

The key to success is consistently expecting one lesson a day in each subject to be completed.  

Consistently holding your child to those standard will ensure that gradual, continual progress is made over the course of a school year.  You can do this!  Just take it one day at a time.