Great question - I just wish there were an easy answer!
A little background:I have 4 little ones and have been primarily working from throughout the pandemic. My oldest two will start 1st grade and PreK in a couple weeks. My youngest is about to turn 1. When the pandemic hit, my oldest was in kindergarten and our school sent home some packets with various learning activities. The nice thing was the material was very basic reading/writing/math, so it was easy to help her with it.
A little advice:
When it comes to helping kids navigate remote learning while you are working from home, a lot is going to depend on you and your kids' personalities and learning/communication/working preferences.
There are times when you need to just close the door and focus on a work assignment. I am naturally a night owl, so lately I have been getting a portion of my work done at night, after kids go to bed. I have also been trying to plan my workload so that I can save the things that require more focus for the times when I know I will have less interruptions. For me, that mean tackling paperwork, project managing tasks, and coordinating with team members during the day, while leaving more technical work for the night.
Depending on what your workday looks like, you can plan times for sitting down to work on school assignments. Last spring, my daughter usually had a writing/reading and a math assignment, so I would give them to her in the morning after breakfast. My desk is in the bedroom, so sometimes I would get out a lap desk and let her sit on my bed so that we could "work together." That way, I was nearby to answer questions, but I could still get some of my work done.
Sometimes I also engaged our younger children in my daughter's school activities. For example, one of the art lessons was a scavenger hunt to find objects in different colors and to use them to create a color wheel. My 2-year old enjoyed joining in the hunt.
One great thing about remote learning is you can maybe make the learning process more hands-on. I would love to hear about some of the projects and/or learning activities that other engineer-parents have come up with! I was tickled with some of the STEM activities our school sent home last spring. One was to build a tower as tall as you. My daughter ended up with a little lesson in structural stability from me!
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Kelly Farabee P.E., P.T.O.E., M.ASCE
President, ASCE Savannah Branch
Savannah, GA
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Original Message:
Sent: 07-21-2020 02:57 PM
From: Chad Morrison
Subject: Working and Parenting full-time during the pandemic: how do you do it?
My wife is a teacher and she recommends Learning without Tears :https://www.lwtears.com/
They offer preK-5 curriculums. Parents can do so much on-the-fly learning, but something as simple as a workbook can help provide structure and match classroom lessons.
Remember that it is summer vacation and kids do deserve a break from classroom time (virtual or otherwise). Solo activities that can be done socially distance or virtual are the best options now. We have enrolled our little one in martial arts. Camping and hiking are great outlets too!
Working full time and parenting is a challenge! Rely on your village, even if it has shrunk during the pandemic. Make sure management is aware of any scheduling challenges and be honest about logging in after hours if needed.
Let kids know what you are working on! Teach them the basics! My little one is already a master at drawing ladders and stairs. Kids are really good at thinking outside of the box, so make sure you listen to their ideas!
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Chad Morrison P.E., M.ASCE
Professional Engineer
Greenville RI
Original Message:
Sent: 07-19-2020 09:49 PM
From: Tung Nguyen
Subject: Working and Parenting full-time during the pandemic: how do you do it?
Hello everyone,
Now that many counties/states have ordered all schools to go fully online this academic year, I'd like to start a thread so all parents can share their experience, tips and tricks to help their kids effectively follow school programs while fulfilling their duties at work. Any dos and don'ts? Any useful online resource that you think might be helpful?
Looking forward to hearing about your experience
Cheers!
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Tung Nguyen, PhD
Washington State University
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