You just learned that your school is closing due to COVID-19. Your school district may be only kinda sorta prepared to support you. This is a practical guide for getting started with links to educational resources, online tutors, supplementary educational materials and more.

1. Quick Start Guide to
Homeschool
March 19, 2020

2. • This presentation was based on an article published on Medium on
March 15, 2020 just as school closures for COVID-19 were being
announced.
• You can find the original article and an up-to-date list of resources at
the link below.
• https://medium.com/@asinhey/11-tips-for-parents-starting-to-
homeschool-on-monday-e6562712efc3

3. Goals & Guidelines
• The goal of today’s session is to provide a simple baseline to get
started homeschooling in this COVID moment.
• Some schools have provided very directive, structured curriculum
resources. Undoubtedly, districts will differ.
• Many of us have differences in physical space or available resources.
• The goal of this session, therefore, is to supplement that guidance
with a flexible set of things that could work in many households.
• You, me, and all of our kids might not necessarily agree. We’ll try and
give multiple and productive perspectives.
• We’re valuing “experience” over “advice.”

4. Tip #1: Make a Place.
•Atmosphere Matters.
•Laying out a space that will be the “school”
in your home is useful for setting the mood
and helping everybody — kids and parents
— start to feel more like teachers and
learners.
•It does not need to be fancy or permanent.

5. Tip #2: Consider Starting with Exercise.
•Especially with younger kids, I like to start
the day with a little exercise.
•I’d have them relay race down the street, do
some burpees, or otherwise get the wiggles
out before we started the day.

6. Tip #3: Get into a Little Ritual.
•After exercise, we do 5-10 minutes of
meditation before we start class with a
common ritual each day.
•In the past, I’ve started with quick physical
activity, then meditation, then a review of
our agenda, and then we bust into the
learning.

7. Tip #4: Consider a Theme Week.
•When our kids were younger, they often
appreciated a week of learning around a
theme, like Holi, Spring, St. Patrick’s Day,
Easter, Johnny Appleseed, Fibonacci
Numbers, Crispus Attucks, Rejected
Princesses, you name it.

8. Tip #5: A Little Bit of Tech is Useful.
•We’re all wired a little differently. We find
tech in the right measure is a useful way to
engage kids where they are.
•For accommodating reading differences, we
use Dolphin Reader and Kindle.
•Bookshare provides free access to reading
materials for those with barriers to reading.

9. Tip #6: Tap into a Ton of Online Tutoring.
•Online Tutoring has been going through a
boom; it will now be going through the roof.
•Many teachers are now home and in need of
supplementary income.
•There are tutors on Zoom and Skype that can
support your children in reading, learning
Cantonese, history, algebra, you name it.

10. Tip #7: Nothing is Really Fire-and-Forget.
•Our experience is that all the online
resources, even tutors, also require your
patience and attention at least in the
background.

11. Tip #8: Make this an Equity Moment.
•It is probably not a surprise you that the
modern U.S. social studies curriculum has
made only incremental progress in
acknowledging the role the LGBTQ
community, indigenous people, African
American people, Latinx or, um, the
presence and contributions of women.

12. Tip #9: Many Paid Resources are Free during
the Pandemic.
•We rely on a lot of online curricula or
supplementary tools. Some of them charge a
fee and many are giving open access during
the pandemic.

13. Tip #10: Take an Online Class.
•Your school may be providing online learning
options during the pandemic. If not, there
are an overwhelming range of online and
traditional curriculum options. (We’ll post on
these later if there’s demand.) You may still
want to supplement with online classes
like Outschool.

14. Tip #11: Throw an Online Party
•Lastly, all this vital social distancing will soon
have us clamoring for some kind of company.
•Consider throwing an online Poetry Tea Party
with your fellow school-stranded parents
and friends.

15. Bonus: Homeschool Paloma
• 1 part tequila
• 4 parts grapefruit juice (a good one)
• Lime juice
• Rim with a Tanjin Classico mixed with a sprinkle of Emergency
• Serve over ice.

16. Now, take a deep breath.
•Please know this is all quite doable.
•Most cultures have been doing it for generations.
•Enslaved people in America did this in 1619 with
none of the resources we currently enjoy.
•Homeschooling worked for George Washington
Carver, Thomas Edison, Tim Tebow, Billie Eilish, and
Emma Watson (and, hey, she went to Oxford).

17. Homeschool Shopping List
•Small Whiteboard with Markers
•Monitor
•Headset
•Lined Paper
•Art Paper and Supplies
•Pencils
•Clipboards
•3-Ring Binders

18. Online Resources: Articles on Resources and
Homeschooling
• 15 Online Classes for Kids to Keep Them Learning on Days Off |
ParentMap
• The 12 best online tutoring services for 2020 — Care.com
Easy Educational Resources

19. Resources: Great Content and Tools (Media,
Lessons Plans, etc.)
• TED-Ed
• BrainPOP
• Life Long-Learning with CuriosityStream for K–12 Institutions
Khan Academy
• Learn computer science | Code.org
• Teaching Resources & Lesson Plans | Teachers Pay Teachers
• Studies Weekly: Educating Young Learners One Newspaper at a Time
• CuriosityStream — Thousands of Documentaries On-Demand
• Bookshare | An Accessible Online Library for people with print disabilities
• Dolphin EasyReader App | Bookshare
• Writer’s Almanac
• Big Life Journals Printable journals for building resilience in kids

20. Exercise for the Body and Mind
• Headspace Our favorite online meditation service, includes sessions
for kids (kindness, calm, etc.)
• GoNoodle Lots of activities to get kids dancing, moving and shaking.

21. Art & Writing Activities (Tutors, Science Kits,
etc.)
• Outschool: Take small-group classes, from anywhere.
• Brave Writer
• Poetry Teatime
• The 12 best online tutoring services for 2020 — Care.com
• Mark Kistler Online Drawing Lessons Kistler is doing a free online
drawing lessons during pandemic.

22. Science & All Things STEM
• Kiwi Crates Great science-related activities
• Elemental Science 80+ free science resources

23. Getting Started on Teaching Equity
• National Women’s History Museum
• Africa | The British Museum | Partner content | Khan Academy
• EJI — Listen
• Rejected Princesses
• Resources on History and Indigenous People

24. Simple Lesson Plans
• Monique Willms Blog Great one day lesson plans based on Frozen 2
• Monique Willms Blog Great one day lesson plan based on the book
Ish. For this lesson plan, Amazon prime video has an animated
reading of the book so your kids can watch the story and then do the
activities.

25. For ongoing updates…
https://medium.com/@asinhey/11-tips-for-parents-starting-to-
homeschool-on-monday-
e6562712efc3?source=friends_link&sk=0caf3faf4f482d36e75fd8e7c64
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