Five Things Kids Need in Order to Learn and Thrive During this Pandemic Year.
Thoughts from an Educator-Mom Who Studies What Kids Need to Be Ready for a Changing World.
My boys are home with me this year. We chose to homeschool in spite of a strong belief in the power of a public education, and our love for our school principal, the boys’ teachers, and friends. We had our reasons, both health and personal. We were fortunate to have the resources and ability to make it work. We made the choice based on what we thought was best for our kids, and possible with our life circumstances.
My husband and I both have jobs we can do from home. My mom has lived with us since the pandemic started. I’m a former teacher who used to run a school. We have a unique situation, which enabled us to imagine something totally different for this year.
While I’m not an advocate for parents pulling their kids out of school, I am an advocate for kids being in whatever learning environment is most healthy, safe, and vibrant.
If your kids are home like mine, back at school, or something in between, there are some basic conditions for learning that you should be expecting and planning for. These five pre-conditions are the priorities I have at home, and they are key for kids being able to thrive this year.
Kids need to be and feel safe. No matter where your child is learning, they should be and feel safe — both physically and emotionally. This past year has been more than a global health pandemic. It has been a year full of racial violence, hate, and nationalism. If your child is especially anxious or worried, help them develop a personal safety plan, including an exit strategy — even if it’s an exit strategy to simply shut-off Zoom or the computer.
Kids need to know what’s going on. Last spring was extra hard because no one knew what would happen next. Although we still don’t know how long all of this will last, many of us can do a better job helping our kids understand what is happening and what to expect. With so much out of their control, kids need predictability and structure wherever they can find it. Being able to count on what things will look like, and the order they will happen in, will help kids stay calm, focus, and learn.
Kids need to feel socially and emotionally connected. Over the summer, pediatricians called for kids to return to school. This is because schools are often the best place for kids to be. But not every school district’s reopening plan centered around the social and emotional well-being of students (or teachers, for that matter). Many districts prioritized compliance over connections. Many confusing reopening plans and procedures focused on what kids couldn’t do, rather than what they could. Children need rich and varied opportunities to engage in healthy relationships with each other, and with the caring adults in their lives — even if that has to happen in a socially distant or virtual way.
Kids need the time, space, and supports to learn and create. Every kid needs something different to learn and be creative. Some children require a great deal of support, while others prefer to work alone. Your child deserves whatever supports they need to stay engaged, do their work, and keep moving forward. That might be time to decompress offline, or space to connect one-on-one with a teacher; it could be options to complete assignments at night, or being able to keep the camera off during virtual learning. For kids with IEPs or 504 plans, this means continuing to receive the right accommodations to address physical or learning limitations. This pandemic cannot be a reason for schools and districts to forego differentiated learning opportunities and critical supports.
Kids need to feel loved and know they belong. As the world rapidly changes, your child needs to be surrounded by people who know and love them, just as they are. Your child deserves to feel welcome and loved in their learning environment. This is not a benefit reserved for some. It is a necessary condition for healthy learning and development. Today, more than ever, we see how schools work for some kids, but not others. Given everything happening, this isn’t a problem we will fix this year. Because of that, love and belonging need to occur at the individual and group level — between your child and teacher (whether that’s a classroom teacher, or you; in-person or online); between your child and friends; and in the everyday interactions that happen at home.
Nothing about school this year is easy. Nothing about raising kids in a pandemic is easy. All of this is hard and unexpected. Even so, kids still deserve every chance to learn and thrive.
