Home-Based Learning Strategies

Encouraging students to remain focused on their learning at home can be difficult for any caregiver. We created a list of tips and ways of easing the stress of supporting your learner while they are working from home. Choosing which of these is right for you and your student is entirely up you, and we hope that these suggestions can help you all create ways to make your time at home productive and successful!

• Set Expectations: Communicate to help get everyone on the same page. Identify concerns, state expectations, and discuss the role that each family member has in helping the day to be successful. Encourage children to come up with their own goals for the day to increase buy in.

• Children and adults alike benefit from structure, predictability, and routines, especially during times of uncertainty. Use visuals such as the example daily schoolwork schedule for independent work. Involve your child in this schedule by letting them choose the subject order with you (e.g. math first, writing second, etc.), and to choose amongst an acceptable range of options for what their break activity will be after each session. (For a "Break Activities" menu, click here!)

  1. Review the schedule for the day with your child. (For a sample schedule, click here!)

  2. Keep the schedule in a visible place.

  3. Work out a plan for how often your child will check-in with you (e.g. maybe after each activity is completed, prior to their earned break, or, just prior to starting the next task?).

  4. Discuss a plan for what happens if your child is feeling frustrated, overwhelmed, if they have a question, etc.

• Managing emotions during the day:

  1. Trying our best to keep foundational needs met: adequate sleep (same bedtimes as during school), staying hydrated, nutrition (BRCPS offers free pick up lunches), exercise, and connection (e.g. video or telephone calls to family).

  2. Model calm affect and adult use of coping skills when upset.

  3. Build in sensory breaks or calming breaks PRIOR to moments of crises or overstimulation – Go Noodle videos, coloring, jumping jacks, etc. See page 3 for an example calming break menu to

  4. Take a look at our "When I am Feeling" page for more ideas

• If possible, do an end-of-day check-out – asking your child “how did the plan go?”, “what went well?”, or “is there anything we need to revise about the plan?” (Example: “I noticed it was hard for us to get off of video games today, what can we try differently tomorrow?”). Remember that it will not be possible to recreate school at home, and that teachers in school only have students work on the same task or on independent work for very short periods of time throughout a school day. Celebrate what went well, and remind all parties that every day is a new day to start fresh.