Three Tips for Engaging Your Student’s Brain During Quarantine
“Summer slide.” Teachers and parents know exactly what I’m talking about. As parents, we enter the summer with grand plans of daily schedules, workbooks, and museum trips. As teachers, we send out activities like reading logs and math games. But in the end most of us fall short, and fall test scores take a dive.
Well, friends, our summer–which is normally a solid 9 weeks–just doubled. Teachers and admin alike are doing a phenomenal job adjusting to this unprecedented situation, and they are to be applauded! But let’s face it–our kids are not getting the same amount of academic exposure at home during quarantine as they would at school.
Let’s talk numbers. Assuming school runs 8:00am-3:00pm daily, students are on campus for 7 hours. Let’s conservatively estimate a 45 minute lunch period and approximately 60 minutes of transition time. And let’s factor in another 60 minutes of off-task time for good measure. That leaves us with 4 hours 15 minutes PER DAY of course work on a normal school day.
I don’t know about the rest of you, but my kids aren’t getting that much time in “school” during quarantine. This reduced exposure to academic content is bound to have a major impact our children’s progress.
But it’s not all bad news. Here are three simple things your child can do to increase brain engagement and help offset that Quarantine Slide.
1. READ. Studies (here’s one) show that reading for pleasure is correlated with increased academic success. I don’t think I can emphasize this enough. READ!!! For 20+ minutes daily. If your child is a resistant reader, or if you just want to get creative, here are some helpful tips:
~Read to your child while he/she follows along
~Use audio books or YouTube videos of someone reading the book (make sure your child has the text in front of him/her)
~Break the 20 minutes into 5-minute chunks throughout the day (mealtimes and bedtime should cover it)
~”Trick” them into reading by encouraging students to check their email, read the cereal box, get onto educational websites, read sports articles, help you with a recipe, read you the directions on a DIY project, etc.
~Turn on the subtitles/closed captions on all TV media. I wouldn’t really count this as reading time, but it does increase your child’s exposure to text.
~Start a book club with friends. Determine how many pages to read weekly, and then have a Zoom party to discuss the book each week.
2. Write something every day. It doesn’t need to be a dissertation, but make sure your child does some sort of writing. Need ideas?
~Keep a journal of their daily goings-on during quarantine. This could be a hard-copy journal, a blog, a social media post, a scrapbook, etc.
~Keep a gratitude journal. This study posits that journaling is correlated with improved mental health. Write down one thing each day they are grateful for. See above for formatting ideas.
~Write letters to friends and family. This is a great way to keep in touch, and people love to get mail. It also gives students a chance to learn how to postmark a letter, which even most teens don’t know how to do.
~Trading stories. Each member of your family writes one sentence to begin their story. The next day everyone trades stories and writes the next sentence. Continue for as long as you like. Then post the stories on social media so the rest of us can be entertained by your silliness.
3. Go outside. Make sure your child goes outside, without their phone, for 30 minutes+ daily.
~Sit in the sun (with sunscreen) and think. Experiences in nature may have cognitive benefits.
~Play games with siblings.
~Go for a walk and count your steps.
~Play with sidewalk chalk, jump ropes, kites, bubbles, beach balls, and any other outside toy you can think of. Even teens can enjoy these activities.
~Plant a garden or pull some weeds. Teens could be bribed compensated for their efforts.
~Plan a “staycation.”
BONUS tip: Give yourself a break, and call me. None of us are perfect; do your best each day and know that sometimes you will fall short. And when you do, give me a call. No charge. Even if your child is not enrolled, I’m always happy to brainstorm with and encourage parents in supporting their children.
WE GOT THIS!
–Stephanie
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