We had such a good response to our last post sharing ideas for remote and hybrid learning! This week we have some new ideas from parents. Learning at home can be a big adjustment, but we hope these ideas will help you as much as they've helped the families who submitted them. 

Personal Classroom

One mom of three students learning from home repurposed some old tri-fold presentation boards into personal "school-bicles" for her kids to use around the kitchen table. She covered the boards in packing paper and then let each child decorate their own. She made sure they each included a space for a Password Pal and their own schedule. We think this is a great idea for families with multiple students learning from home (and maybe a parent or two as well!).  Each school-bicle can help to reduce distractions and keep things moving smoothly by keeping important information in plain sight. These can also be useful if students are working in separate spaces to create a separate school space that can be stored away easily when not in use. Visual cues like this can also help students with special needs differentiate between school time and play time, even if they're in the same space.

Map Out the Day

Parents and teachers of younger students have reported specific challenges to the hybrid and distance learning model. Young children have difficulty understanding time, and without the consistency of being in the classroom every day, transitions can become a source of stress. Every-other-day schedules can be extra confusing for younger students because they don't differentiate between weekdays and weekends. Support these students by creating a time map that depicts their activities for the day. The pictured map is for a four-year-old. There are different maps for days they go to school and days they learn at home. Parents change the map that appears on the fridge each day and its portability means they can discuss the next day's map before bedtime. 

Saved by the Bell

Use your personal assistant speakers to mimic the school bell. Set up an Alexa routine to remind everyone when it's time for lunch and when the school day is officially over. Plan something you can all do as a family to get in some gross motor movement and something to mark the end of the day. Some suggestions we've heard are; lunchtime porch picnics, family walks in place of school pickup/bus rides home, after school trips to the park, or listening to stories as a family to wind down at the end of the day. 

Have you tried any of these ideas? We'd love to hear about how you've done it. Drop us a comment or tag us in your social media posts (@tales2go everywhere) and you might see your idea here next week!