5 Tips For Preparing Your Kids For Online School

Wednesday, August 12th, 2020

This coming academic year, Rocklin Unified School District will be offering a partial reopening learning option for those families who choose to send their kids back to school for in-person learning. The details of this plan can be found on the RUSD website. However, Rocklin will also be offering a fully online version of instruction titled Rocklin Virtual Campus (RVC) for those families who choose to continue their education from home. RVC will instruct through a mix of digital, independent, and teacher-led learning, all from the safety of your home!

Online School

If your family chooses online learning this fall, your students might feel discouraged. They might miss their friends and the environment they were so used to. However this is the opportunity for you super parents to step in and make online learning more of a positive. Even during such an unknown time, there can be things to look forward to and be excited about. In order to prepare your children for school this coming fall, here are our tips to make sure they are focused, excited, and engaged with their online learning. 

Create a Workstation / Workflow

Workstation

Find the space in your home that is appropriate for your child’s at-home school. Depending on your student’s grade or productivity, having them closer to your home office or tucked away in their room will really be dependent on the learner you have. For students that require extra assistance and practice, a closer workstation would be ideal. For your child that does their best in a quiet, isolated environment, consider a bedroom workstation. Create a station that feels inspiring and comfortable. Add colored pens, photographs, and a fluffy blanket to their workstation, and they will be excited to log on for each school day. 

As for the workflow, communicate the daily schedule with your kids. Know their schedule so you know when they’ll be roaming around the house (and when to avoid important business calls). Discuss how breaks and study time will come into play, and establish a wakeup time that starts the day off right!

Elevate Lunchtime

Lunchtime

Students in online school this fall brings an opportunity to make lunch something to look forward to. Gone are the days of your teens waking up at noon for “breakfast,” so let’s make lunch fun! Either have your kids help meal prep the night before or create easy meals to make on lunch break. Grab the ingredients for sandwiches and create an at-home Subway. Create a taco bar or a pizza-making station. Use this time to pick some fresh vegetables from your garden (remember last week’s blog post?) and make a vegetable pasta dish. Make lunchtime fun and school time will feel even more enjoyable!

Encourage More Outdoor Time

Outdoors

This one is pretty self-explanatory, but get the kids outside! Whether this is for breakfast, a 15-minute stretch break, or directly after school gets out, the mind will grow sharper and the days will feel more rounded with some outdoor activities. Walking is linked to improved creativity and overall concentration, making exercise an important part of a well-rounded education (psychologytoday.com). Get outdoors, so your students can focus indoors!

Incentivize Hard Work

Incentives

Online school will take a level of self-motivation and determination that can be hard during these times, and one way to encourage hard work is to create incentives for good grades and focused studies. Incentives don’t have to be huge to be impactful, and can create motivation in your student throughout the week. Consider using these:

  • Getting pizza delivered!
  • Taking your young scholar on a college tour (once it’s safe)!
  • Pick up their favorite snack from the grocery store.
  • Family camping trip!
  • Ice cream sundae party. 
  • Getting a credit card and learning how to use it responsibly.
  • Movie night with popcorn and candy.

Try out one of these or find the appropriate incentive for your hard-working student.

Create Extracurriculars at Home

Extracurriculars

As parents and former students, we know that extracurricular activities are most likely your child’s favorite part of school. Sports, music, dance, fine art, theater, business clubs, technology clubs, and community service organizations enrich their education. These clubs and organizations can teach them life lessons they can’t learn in the classroom. 

During this time of online instruction, creating a sense of extracurriculars at home will be instrumental during this time. Suggest your child spend time on art projects, choreographing a dance routine, refining their athletic skills, songwriting, or practicing their instrument of choice. Extracurriculars can serve as creative outlets, reduce stress or anxiety, and help create similar pre-quarantine daily routines.

What else does your back-to-online-school plan entail? If you think that the Rocklin Virtual Campus is right for your family, you can register now through July 12, 2020 here. If you enroll after July 12, you will be added to a waitlist and enrolled based on the number of available spaces. We wish all of our Whitney Ranch students an amazing and safe start to the semester, in whichever way they choose to return. Go get ‘em!



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