Need an Anchor? – Have a little drift?

Have you heard of drift? It’s not a boat wobbling without an anchor just outside the harbor. Drift is moving away from what works. This happens to all of us. Our good intentions often slip somewhat as life gets in the way. In those cases, it is often helpful for a little reminder, a review. So, let’s remember a few practices that might be helpful for school at home. (This is for those of us who don’t have little darlings with angel wings on their shoulders, flapping excitedly when given a direction.) 

Set a place for your student(s) to work that is easily accessible to you. A kitchen table works great. This is especially important if you have more than one student in your one-room school.

Set a time for school and communicate the amount of time clearly with the students. The time should be appropriate for the age, grade, skill level of the student(s). It Includes break times. Break times can be either after so many minutes or after a completed task. Use a countdown timer if necessary. Many children have difficulty with sensing the passage of time. Ten minutes can feel like an hour.

Ensure you have all materials on hand.  For example, you will definitely need the following: paper, pencils, erasers, necessary books and worksheets. Think ahead. Many tasks will require specialized materials. Planning ahead will keep students on task and reduce frustrations overall.

Set expectations at the beginning of each class session. Here’s a few that may be helpful:  (a) work until completion or until break, (b) check your work, (c) work for neatness and accuracy, (d) complete the task, (e) ask if you have questions, (f) your work is completed when the parent has checked it.

Have a list for each child of what needs to be done so that they can check off their own progress as they proceed.

If students are working independently, be available. But try not to hover. All ages of students benefit from a little bit of monitoring. 

Use positive specific praise and reinforcement. For example, say something similar to,  “I liked how you paid attention to that podcast,” or “Great job getting that hard problem correct.” Make sure you comment on effort as well as on accuracy. Find things they are doing well. Educators call it, “Catch ‘em being good.”

Be as consistent as possible. Set up a schedule and keep to it as much as you can. The more you are consistent, the better students respond. But remember to be sensitive to your student(s) feelings. This is very hard work and can be discouraging.

Include some task or subject that holds special interest for the student in order to enhance what they are learning outside the ordinary daily grind. Find something that they enjoy that will extend their learning and include it in daily lessons. 

Use humor and patience. Learning from home with on-line resources is challenging for both you and your student. 

And finally, plan something fun each day for after class and communicate clearly, “First school, then _______ (fill in the blank).” Choices are always good.

The hard part is sticking to all of this in order to reduce that drift. 

I invite comments, suggestions, ideas. 

If you have questions that I might be able to answer generally, please email me. Please, keep in mind that this blog is for suggestions that may or may not work. Here is the disclaimer, professional advice requires much more in-depth information and contact and is beyond the scope of this blog.  email: gail.coulter@outlook.com.