Online Classes For Kids:How to Support As Parents

When my seven year old son started online classes little did I know the new reality I was embarking on. Full time online classes for kids were new but seemed manageable. The school contacted me with his new class time table and it looked pretty straight forward. Two hours – one in the morning at 9 AM and one in the noon at 2.30 PM.

Just two hours per day I thought? I heard of other schools going through four hours, that too without any break. Compared to that two hours seemed as my son put it – Easy peasy!

Turns out that navigating online education requires a lot more patience and discipline on the part of parents in addition to the participating students. This pandemic has put us all in a tight spot. Even parents have to upgrade their skills to navigate these new changes.

So what has changed?

The Covid-19 Pandemic

The safety reminders and wearing masks most of the time has made us all highly uncomfortable. There is a constant state of panic that is prevailing inside and outside our homes. The lives that we have known to be normal no longer exists. Instead it has been replaced by a ‘new normal’ through

• Emphasis on personal safety
• Wearing masks
• Social distancing
• Online classes
• Work from home

Also, cooking 7 meals a day with all the members demanding different things to eat at different times. (Work from home for husband and kids means non-stop work from the kitchen for mothers. But that’s a story for another day!)

Aside from the threat of virus itself, the constant circulation of myths about Covid-19 is even scarier. Read to know the Covid myths and facts.

With schools not able to re-open on time, parents and teachers have become highly dependent on technology to take care of the educational responsibilities of their children.

But both teachers and parents are struggling to get used to these online classes, because traditionally schools played a powerful part in naturally educating and enforcing discipline in children.

The Powerful Role of Schools

A school has a command and power over kids than any individual parent or teacher can wield.

Why do schools have such a power?

• Schools have high standards
• They enforce discipline
• Teach social skills
• Highly respected place
• Daily face-to-face interactions and feedbacks

Children learned to ‘behave’ appropriately in schools. Enforcing discipline at home in the absence of such a powerful place is highly challenging.

Traditionally schools did all the ‘supervising’ work and parents supported their children at home. Now parents have to set higher standards for their kids sitting at home all by themselves.

Online classes for kids

Being suddenly thrown into this online classes for kids can be confusing and a little intimidating for most parents. This is normal and most parents would have felt this at some point or other. Added to that, there are a lot of working challenges too.

Infrastructure

• If we have one laptop and two kids needing to use them for two different classes, what do we do?
• If both parents are working from home and one phone has to be used for online classes, how do you manage?

Conflicting work schedules

What if you get an urgent work call in the middle of the class that can take upto 15 minutes to sort out?

The constant shuttling of phone between work and classroom schedules could be highly frustrating for the parent.

Good internet connectivity

With so many people working from home, good internet connectivity is another common problem. With most classes happening via Google Meet or Zoom, this is a constant problem at home.

Limited resources due to Covid

When the teacher suddenly gives an assignment in a math note or four ruled note or asks to buy a globe or a map for geography class, the parents have no way of procuring it with in the correct time frame because of this lockdown. Shops are not open regularly. But the classes continue everyday!

So how do parents cope with these online classes for kids?

Online classes for kids – Parent Role

• Be involved. Become a facilitator. The teacher cannot do it alone.
• Spend time after classes with your kids going through the lesson
• Read upon related content, if you want to help your kids learn effectively.
• Inform your office about these classes and seek support.
• Create a routine for reading and writing outside class. This will ensure that your child can adapt easily to online teaching.
• Communicate with the teacher privately in case of queries.
• Follow online class etiquette

Etiquette for Online classes

Here are a few points to note when you are supporting your child’s online classes. Teach kids to

• Speak politely (Use please and thank you!)
• Respect the learning process – the class and the teacher.
• Use complete sentences while texting teachers.
• Wait for your turn to speak in a live class.
• Don’t send unrelated content to the study group
• Come prepared for class

Helpful guidelines for Parents

1. Don’t criticize teachers

None of us envisioned this kind of situation. We are taking baby steps in online education for kids. Don’t expect classes to happen like a corporate meeting.

It will not happen. Why?

• Most teachers are just getting to know about technology in detail. (They are equally lost without their beloved black boards!)
• We are dealing with kids who have lesser attention spans. (They look at their friends more than the actual teacher in a live session).

When a teacher scolds your child for poor performance or discipline issues, don’t criticize the teacher in turn. Questioning a teacher’s rightful intention dilutes the authority of both the teacher and you as a parent.

2. Don’t hover in the background

It is true that we have stopped dressing nicely because we do not step out often in this pandemic. But no need to display your new pajamas in the background.

I have often seen this happening!

When you hover near your kids, you are effectively diverting the attention of the rest of the kids to you and your outfit and negating the efforts of the teacher.

Sit near your kids without actually being visible on the videos. Help them when they seem to struggle. Otherwise silently observe the class. If you have older kids, they can handle the class by themselves. Talk to them about the class once the class is over.

3. Don’t give parallel instructions

Sitting near your child, if you constantly keep trying to teach them or advise them, they are not going to be involved in the learning process completely. The child is going to miss parts of the class and has only limited knowledge and confidence at the end of the lesson.

A classroom atmosphere is not just the teaching and learning part. It is the involved participation in the learning process. Of course you can teach your child, second grade Maths, but how will the child learn to wait for his/her turn in the classroom discussion? or to collaborate and work with others?

These are skills that cannot be taught in isolation.

4. Support Teachers

This Covid-19 situation is tough for teachers too. They could be facing their own challenges – their family, health or work issues. So many teachers have lost their jobs, still many are trying to make sense of this new technology enabled educational system to serve students better.

Inspite of all this, teachers are genuinely trying to connect with children online.

Teachers are your allies in raising your kids. Both of you are on the same team. This applies for both offline and online classes.

5. Set up a learning space

Set up a clear place for the learning to happen and stick to the place. Sitting on the couch one day, sprawling on the bed with the phone the next day and sitting cross legged on the dining chair the day after that, does not help learning at all.

Set up a learning space in an environment that is conducive to learning and practice sitting in the same place everyday.

Your learning space should be well lit and airy. It should contain

• A desk and a comfortable chair
• Laptop/ Smart Phone
• Writing materials
• Books
• Bottle of water

6. Treat online classes seriously

If you take the online classes seriously, your child will take it seriously too. When you undermine a class, you are also asking the child to put in less effort on the child’s part.

7. Create a routine

When you create a proper routine before and after the class, the child knows what to expect and when. It helps children focus better on their tasks. Get ready for class five minutes prior to the class time.

8. Revise the lessons

This format of learning being very new, your child could have difficulty understanding the concepts. There is only so much a teacher can do online when twenty kids are connected and participating in the class. For your part, extend your help in revising the subject.

This will boost the confidence in approaching both the subject and the learning process.

9. Limit screen time

On a normal day, children spending some time playing games or watching a kids video is considered alright. But when they already spend a few hours looking at their mobile or computer screens, it is best to keep kids away from the mobile phones as much as possible.

If your child can’t put that phone away, here are some tips to help you.

10. Connect with other parents

Remember, you are going through an experience that hundreds of other parents are facing. To make the process easier, connect with other parents and get to know how their children are doing. Discuss how to make this whole process easy on kids.

11. Connect with the teacher outside the class

In case you have some doubts regarding your child’s performance in class, ask the teacher over phone outside the class timing. Most teachers make time for parent queries too.

Do not resort to zoombombing! (Just like photo bombing!)

12. Social contact

Kids are used to spending so much time with their friends at school. So limiting their contact with friends to class time can be de-motivating for a child. Allow them occasional sessions where they can talk to their friends and share their feelings.

Conclusion

All these are proven tips to make online classes for kids highly effective.

Want your kids to read related content to make the process of learning interesting?

Here is DIKSHA, a learning initiative by NCERT.

Are you following any other tip to effective handle the ongoing online classes for kids? Share it in the comments below so that other parents can benefit too.