Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, many schools around the world are closed. Some schools haven’t released any further updates or announcements for reopening, which means that parents should be expecting their children home for quite some time. While some parents are panicking when it comes to ensuring their children’s educational needs aren’t being neglected during this time, there are many options to keep kids interested in their education. This pandemic allows parents to try out different teaching styles while spending more time with their children.
When thinking about academics, the average person might envision a clock ticking on the wall and a bunch of children seated at their desk, staring at a whiteboard. Learning doesn’t have to be so linear, nor does it have to be done in a stationary environment. The following are just a few tricks parents can use to keep their kids interested in education during the pandemic:
Physical Activity
Physical education is just as important as any other subject. It is even more imperative during the quarantine. Instead of allowing the children to spend most of their time being sedentary, parents should keep them physically engaged. These are a few ways children can remain interested in their physical education:
Wii Sports – Wii Sports is a console with a variety of sports games such as volleyball, soccer, and bowling. Children will have so much fun using their Wii stick to play a variety of different games while not even noticing that they are getting their daily dose of physical fitness.
Dance – Dancing with the children is not only a great way to keep them active, but parents are also helping to create amazing memories for their children.
Yoga – For relaxation and physical exercise, yoga is an excellent activity for children to do at home. There are many resources online that offer yoga poses and meditational exercises. For example, Moovlee is a YouTube channel that shows a cartoon monkey teaching children how to perform certain yoga poses, stances, and breathing exercises.
Reading
Reading helps to keep a child’s brain engaged and stimulated. Instead of video games, parents can give their children books to read on subjects their children love. If a child isn’t interested in the reading material, this can lead to boredom or frustration. Parents can also give their children books that are 1 or 2-grade levels above their child’s standard reading level. This allows children to learn new words and have more of a challenge.
Math & Cooking
If parents have children who are learning algebra, cooking can be an excellent means to do so. Children can learn a lot about fractions through baking and also make meals for their family. Cooking allows one to learn many skills simultaneously. For example, children can learn about fractions through measurements, and they can learn science as well.