‘Home climate’ webinar helping HUSD parents, students get through COVID-19
Unconventional classrooms include bedroom desk, kitchen table or even the couch

Ava Lee, a Glassford Hill Middle School eighth-grader, tunes into her remote learning lesson online from the privacy of her bedroom desk. (HUSD/Courtesy)

Ava Lee, a Glassford Hill Middle School eighth-grader, tunes into her remote learning lesson online from the privacy of her bedroom desk. (HUSD/Courtesy)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6LerX-eLyIk&feature=youtu.be

The climate in a typical school classroom is one of chaotic camaraderie that crescendos into curriculum conversations about counting to 10, Civil War characters, crafting collages and comprehending calculus.

It’s a climate crafted for the cerebral challenge and creative comfort of children.

It’s a climate COVID-19 has crashed.

The climate for the start of this 2020-21 school year is one reliant on computers in the confines of an unconventional classroom: a bedroom desk, a kitchen table or maybe the living room couch.

Humboldt Unified School District last week hosted a webinar for parents and educators alike focused on creating a suitable “home climate” for children of all ages.

Moderator Brad Snyder leaned on science and school climates as he focused on how families can create a positive learning environment for when children’s academic and social interactions are virtual.

He admitted this is a foreign experience for most parents and educators. It is certainly foreign for children who are social creatures.

Snyder focused on key skills: self-care that incorporates exercise and relaxation; compartmentalization that connects expectations with expected tasks; and active listening so as to empathize and validate the emotions connected with what is a forced brand of education that produces stress and anxiety in all.

He shared the importance of enforcing safety at home, including internet safety that prohibits cyberbullying or inappropriate online behavior; promoting positive relationships with everyone in the household that respect the new boundaries required with this brand of learning; fostering strong communication that is rooted in trust and respect; and assuring the children have the tools they require to absorb the material they are expected to learn.

At school, children don’t wear their PJs. They likely wear jeans and bring a backpack for their supplies. In class, they raise their hands to talk to a teacher or approach their desk if they need a quiet conversation.

Lunch is not just for nutrition; it’s a time to refuel and reconnect with friends.

The home climate needs to be such that children are able to have similar rituals, Snyder advised.

Dress in school clothes. Go to a place that is set up as one’s work space. Allow time and space for recess breaks and lunch. Respect school day hours and required homework time. Remove distractions.

As with school, Snyder suggested parents should reinforce that all learning matters.

“Apply their lessons to real world examples,” Snyder said.

Praise children for their creativity in these challenging times, Snyder said. Acknowledge stress and anxiety while still encouraging perseverance, he said. Offer chances to decompress, including playing board games that through fun reinforce their class lessons; Yahtze as a reinforcement of algebra, he said.

As for maintaining motivation, Snyder suggested that the youngest to the oldest children crave the ability to gain new information and develop new skills; he emphasized that is the philosophy behind the best video games.

“So it does work. Home learning can be that exciting,” Snyder said. “Figure out how the online classroom isn’t their only learning.”

If a child is learning about the Civil War, the family might want to watch a Civil War movie. If a child is studying volcanoes in science, maybe the family builds one together in the garage.

“You can heighten the value of learning when you connect it to games, movies (and other activities),” Snyder said.

The district’s Family and Community Engagement Coordinator Kelly Lee said she found the webinar to be useful as she talks to families about the challenges of creating a proper home climate. She knows it, too, as a parent of two HUSD students; Ava is an eighth-grader at Glassford Hill Middle School and Alexis is a junior at Bradshaw Mountain High School.

“We have people thinking outside the box on how to make a successful working place for kids,” Lee said.

In her household, Lee said work from home is not a foreign concept. Her husband, Rob, an IBM executive, has long relied on technology to do his job.

Still, it is a big adjustment for her daughters, she said.

“It’s not ideal – neither of them like this. They want to be back in school,” Lee admitted. Yet the expectation is for them to “be engaged and participate,” Lee said.

Each of the girls has a desk in their bedroom. The family maintains a posted schedule so everyone then knows who is doing what at what time.

All are intentional about respecting each other’s space, as well as taking time to turn off technology when they need a break, she said.

From the webinar, and her own experience, she said the biggest challenge is to stay patient, or at least acknowledge the effort to do so when everyone just wants to go back to a more normal pace.

“All of us are trying to be patient, but we want to know when we can get outside the box,” Lee said.

Follow Nanci Hutson on Twitter @HutsonNanci. Reach her at 928-445-3333 ext. 2041.


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