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Sue Covey (formerly Sue Wooldridge)
Sue Covey (formerly Sue Wooldridge)
School Counselor
School Counselor
Contact Me
Contact Me
503-353-5644 (my direct line - voicemail is confidential)
Monday - Friday, 7:00 am - 3:00 pm
Family Basics During Distance Learning
Family Basics During Distance Learning
We're all still trying to figure out distance learning. Making sure you have some basics in place can help make things go smoothly.
We're all still trying to figure out distance learning. Making sure you have some basics in place can help make things go smoothly.
Set bedtimes and wake up times. You might choose not to keep the same bedtimes and wake up hours that your kids had when they were coming to school, but find a regular schedule that works for your family. Having kids go to bed and get up at close to the same time every day can build healthy sleep habits and ensure they're getting enough sleep, which is important for being ready to learn.
Create a daily routine. Find a consistent routine for what happens throughout a "school" day. Make sure the kids know when they're expected to work on their school assignments, but also build in time for brain breaks, exercise, and free time. Having a consistent structure for how each day will go can give kids an opportunity to be more independent in their work and decrease arguments about getting things done. Many of your teachers have sample schedules on their websites. Feel free to adjust them to what works best for your family.
Teach kids ways to stay healthy. Make sure your kids know how to wash their hands effectively, how to keep a safe distance from people not living in their home, and about wearing masks in public.
Help kids stay in touch with friends. A big part of going to school is the fun and support kids get from their friends. This is an especially important time for kids to maintain their connections to other kids. Help them find times and ways to contact other kids, whether through phone calls, video chats, online gaming (only with people they know in person), texts, etc.
Stay in touch with View Acres! Let someone at school know if you have any questions, concerns, or needs. Feel free to contact your children's teachers; our principal, Ms. Manspeaker; or me at any time.
Kids Health (kidshealth.org) offers a video about how to keep kids busy while we all stay at home.
Life Skills You Can Teach Kids During COVID-19
Life Skills You Can Teach Kids During COVID-19
Right now, during this very stressful time, many people have much more time with their kids. It's possible to use this time and even the stress to teach kids some very important skills that will benefit them throughout their lives.
Living with uncertainty. Your kids might be asking when the pandemic will be over. No one has a solid answer to that question and you can't give kids answers that you don't have. It's OK to say that you don't know but that grownups are doing their best to find ways to keep people as safe as possible. With older kids, you might ask them what they know about what's happening and then fill in the gaps (at an age-appropriate level). As kids grow up, there will be plenty of times that answers will be hard to find, and being able to handle that uncertainty will be a good skill for them to have.
Being resilient. It's OK for any of us to be stressed or fearful, and kids feel supported when their feelings are acknowledged by adults. Even more helpful is for you to model for them how you cope with those feelings. Do you exercise? Take slow, deep breaths? Check in with friends? Journal or draw? It's a real strength for kids to know what activities can be soothing or at least serve as a break in times of stress or fear.
Discovering new interests and hobbies. Most kids have a lot of time right now to explore new interests or hobbies. They may discover they have skills that they never recognized or creativity that they've never expressed. Maybe your family can stretch their usual way of doing things to include new activities, such as acting out favorite stories or having silly dance parties together.
Seeing themselves as important contributors to the family. Kids have different abilities than adults do, but it's not too early to teach them that they are a vital part of the family team. You can ask them to do things like cook together, help you with laundry, or sweep the floor. Older kids can learn independence skills, like using an alarm to wake up in the morning, making some simple meals for themselves, or keeping their things put away.
Trying any of the above suggestions has another benefit for kids. By using this time to build skills, relationships, and self-awareness, kids can learn that even in tough situations, if they look hard enough, they may be able to find some positive outcomes along the way.
- Summarized from an article by Catherine Pearson (2020)
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