Hi everyone.
I'm Shelli Kurth and I'm here with
my colleague, Dr. Nicole Assisi.
Today we're going to talk to you about how to stay
sane in these times of unprecedented parenting.
Nicole and I had been teachers and
leaders and we're parents and coaches.
Like many of you, we are
homeschooling our kids right now.
So our goals for these series are to
provide you with some tools and tips,
and tricks to keep
your learner thriving and to keep you sane.
For more about today's episode that you can go to
our website and you'll find
some more resources there at thriveps.org.
It looks like there's a light at the end of the tunnel.
We've heard a lot of schools starting to plan to reopen.
Some of you have children
that are already back at school.
Vaccines are rolling out,
many of you are planning to
unwind and get your kid back to campus full-time.
But as you do that,
we thought it might be worthwhile to talk
about the things that we want to hold
onto from these past months
of quarantine and distance learning.
Now we absolutely do not want to make light of
the fact of how hard this time
has been for so many people.
Many of us have lost family members and loved ones.
So many have lost
their jobs and have just had a really hard time.
We honor that, and we want to hold onto that.
We also want to make some space and
time to hold onto the learnings
from these past eight months
to figure out what we want to carry into the future.
For me, one of the things
I want to hold onto is the connection that I
felt with my child's teacher never before have I
add such open communication and connection.
I really learned during this time that
having patience, seeking to understand,
asking questions about what the other needs,
what is going well in class has really been so impactful.
I want to make sure
that moving forward from this pandemic,
out of the five things will share about definitely in
the number one spot is
great communication with my kid's teacher,
Shelli, talk to us what's in the second spot.
I love the communication thing too,
and I think we're going to dive a little bit
further into that on our next episode.
I'm glad you mentioned it.
Definitely, my favorite thing about this time has
been watching my daughter
learn about things that she loves.
We'd had more time than usual,
of course, like everyone at home.
Certainly the school day has looked different.
So there's been space for her to really
explore some new things that she likes.
We were lucky at the beginning of the pandemic,
we had listed a few things that we might be
able to do as we hunkered down together.
We've been checking off things that she
was really passionate about or
wanted to learn on that list.
It's been so fun.
I don't want to lose that,
that spark that comes from learning
something new that you really, really love.
It's tough in school
because there's lots of kids and there's
curriculum to get through and standards
that teachers have to hit.
So sometimes those passion projects aren't there.
I would say I'm going to keep that.
How am I going to do that?
I'm going to ask, I'm going to ask her what
is you want to learn about?
If she can't figure it out,
I'm going to go back to that list or
maybe give her some ideas.
Then I'm going to prepare for that learning.
It might take some supplies,
it might take some library books,
maybe a family expert to help or a field trip somewhere.
Those have been so fun for me during the pandemic and I
hope I can hold on to at least a little bit more of that.
The thing I always have to remember
is I have to balance that
supports without micro-managing and
that is tough sometimes,
but letting her struggle,
sometimes letting her not get it right the first time,
and just really dig into the learning in
a really authentic way that's all hers supportively,
but without trying to tell her what to do.
So those are my hopes and
I can't wait to see what happens.
In our number 3 spot of things to hold
onto from the pandemic is definitely tech tools.
We have found some really great tools.
About four episodes ago,
we gave you our top list of tech tools.
In my house there's
a really great math program that's
let my son actually work.
A great level of head of way is,
and in reading he has
some supplemental tools that
help him catch up to where his peers are.
So our plan and what
we recommend you all do is make a list.
What are the things that you've enjoyed?
What can help you continue to
supplement and engage your kid.
Because ultimately, learning should be personalized.
Learning is not one size fits all.
Whatever you've been doing at home,
you've been doing because it works for your kid.
So figure out, are there some tools that you want to
keep around even when your kid is back on campus.
How might they fit into your time?
How might they fit into your budget?
If you're looking for some new tools,
check out our previous episode.
But for number 3 on my list, absolutely.
Keep some cool tech tools around.
I have loved seeing
all the tech tools and there's new ones.
It seems like it being created all the time.
But you know, the pandemic has
really fueled that industry.
I think we're going to see
even more fun and engaging online tools.
Love it or hate it because I do have
that mixed feeling about all that online time,
but those tech tools do seem to be here to stay.
But certainly the thing that I had been really
holding to is the amount of reading that
we have done in our house compared to before.
I always loved to read,
but I had to try to fit it in, in odd places.
But since the pandemic,
we have done a lot more reading not just as a family,
but just each individually and really
modeling that for our kids.
It has been such a healthy new habit
for us and I don't want to lose that.
Partially I think that came from my daughter has
a Kindle now and they have like
a kid's Kindle subscription which has been awesome.
We have Libby, which is
that online library access
and they even have Audible books.
We loved podcasts too which isn't exactly reading,
but it is a shared experience for
us that we've been just really,
really loving and we talk or read
about it as a family and then we can discuss it.
I love that and I don't want to give that up.
So as schools open and libraries open,
I want to hold onto that idea that
we're all readers and to carve out
little bits of time during the week that we're all
reading and sharing that reading together.
Number 5 for us,
of things that we don't want to let go of.
If we want to try to keep a part of
our daily routines is just getting out,
getting into community for learning,
exercise and doing things as a family.
In a lot of our episodes,
we've talked about ways to get your kids moving or
ways to even take learning
out into nature and into the community.
That's been a really joyful time for our family.
It's created a deeper relationship with
my son and something that we look forward to.
So I really want to make sure that as things
go back to whatever the new normal might be,
that I will remember to not
get so busy at work that I don't take
my family outside to learn that we
don't go for a walk around the block
or find ways that nature can surprise us.
Find the art in nature,
the science in nature and certainly
do the same amount of moving
and quality outdoor time that we currently have.
Now, those are our top fives.
We'd love to hear what yours are,
so pop them into the comments
and tell us what you've been doing.
What are the things that we've missed?
What is something that you have
learned that you want to keep doing with your family?
Again, we hope that you are safe.
We hope your family is safe and
fully acknowledging this has been
a hard time for so many.
But as we get rid of all the stuff that we don't want,
let's make sure to hold onto the things that work for us.
Hope to see you next time until then be well.
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