The perfect solution for hybrid school-and-home learning

When I think about school this fall, I get a mix of emotions, from anger to sadness and anxiety. As a parent and teacher, I worry about my children’s progress in school and how our family will balance our at-home work life with a hybrid school-and-home schedule. Without the same in-class instruction time, I know my children are going to miss out on valuable learning opportunities this year, but as a working parent, I am not sure how to fill the gap.

One solution I found is to organize our daily schedule to include a mix of serious learning activities and creative fun (so we don’t go nuts doing the same things). Here are a few tips and ideas for building your own schedule.

1. Start the day with a positive attitude. Take time to create positive morning experiences that start your children off on the right foot. A few ideas could include:
   • Listening to fun music while getting dressed
   • Making animal-shaped pancakes or fruit smoothies (get your children involved in the process)
   • Start each day with a positive thought. Write down a favorite quote on a family whiteboard or just talk about one thing you are excited about or grateful for.
2. Transition from home to school. When your children go to school, they physically experience the transition from home life to school routine. Create your own transition activity to help minds and bodies enter into learning mode. Some activities could include:
   
   • Mindful meditations: Begin the day with 15 to 20 minutes of calming breathing and stretching exercises. Build positive statements into your routine such as:
     
     “I am excited to grow my mind today.”
     “I am a scholar.”
   • Create a short and simple 10- to 15-minute practice activity that reviews what your children are already studying. Create a simple word problem to solve on an individual whiteboard or create a picture for them to write about and describe.
   • Start a social and emotional morning journal: Have your children draw a picture or write a sentence or paragraph describing how they feel that day.
     
     “I feel happy when…”
     “I am good at…”
     “I wish I could…”
3. Mix up your day. Children learn best with a mix of learning activities, physical exercise, and creative time. If your schedule allows, create breaks throughout your academic day. Attention spans for children and grade levels are very different.
   
   Download a free daily schedule for your grade level here.
    
   
   Exercise is an essential part of your child’s day. Plan the best time to incorporate exercise into your daily schedule. Think about: Is this the time your child wants to be alone and just run around the backyard or jump on the trampoline? Or is this a social time when your child wants to engage with family members and exercise together? Finding out how to meet your child’s needs in this area will go a long way toward having a child who is ready to focus when it is time to sit down and work in a book.

Easy Learn-at-Home Options

If you are looking for a little extra to supplement your current curriculum, check out Evan-Moor’s Learning at Home Skill Sharpeners Bundles. These easy-to-use books fit neatly into our weekly at-home-learning routine, and the activity books are colorful and create fun learning experiences for children. The practice activities and lessons are easy to understand and help my children practice important skills in math, reading, language, and science! The bundles are for grades PreK–6 and include:

Four full-color Skill Sharpeners activity books:
Skill Sharpeners: Math

Skill Sharpeners: Reading

Skill Sharpeners: Grammar and Punctuation

A parent guide that gives tips and teaching support, including organizing a daily schedule, fun hands-on activity ideas, reading strategies, math models, and suggestions for helping children manage stress and share their feelings.

Assessment pages to give you feedback on your child’s learning.

The Skill Sharpeners books included in this bundle provide a home base for giving your child a strong academic foundation, even during school shutdowns. The lessons in each book provide an easy-to-follow guide for your child’s learning, and the downloadable parent guide provides additional teaching strategies and ideas to give you a positive learning experience at home.

My favorite part of this bundle is the fact that my children can work independently beside me while I work from home. The activities in each book provide great directions and examples for children to follow with minimal support from me.

Check out these additional at-home-learning resources from Evan-Moor:

Top Student grades PreK–6

Homeschool Curriculum Bundles grades 1–6

For more learning ideas and free activities sign up for our monthly e-newsletter today!

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Heather Foudy is a certified elementary teacher with over 7 years’ experience as an educator and volunteer in the classroom. She enjoys creating lessons that are meaningful and creative for students. She is currently working for Evan-Moor’s marketing and communications team and enjoys building learning opportunities that are both meaningful and creative for students and teachers alike.