Remote learning is a a mess! and top 5 easy enrichment activities for elementary kids

We at Chez Mariah are doing OK with remote learning. We live in a well-funded district, my kids attend a great charter, and I'm available to them during the day. And my kids are in late elementary and middle school, so fairly independent at this point.

But this isn't the way things are for many people. Medium had a pretty good article about this recently, how privatization of public utilities and lack of plan over the summer led us where we are. Add to this failure to figure out and fund childcare for those who need it, which is most of us. 

It has me wondering what I would be doing if I were in a worse situation, and whether principals of afterschooling could be useful to those families who are hurting so badly in the current situation. 

Absent fundamental systemic change, there's not much I can contribute to the problem of childcare for families without a parent at home during the day. The same is true of internet access. Those are problems beyond my scope. 

But as to keeping on top of your child's education without too much time or effort expended, here is my top 5 list of enrichment activities that don't take too much time or effort or hopefully money. All of these may not be necessary! But if you feel like your child might fall behind grade level this year, these are some ideas to immediately and relatively easily combat that, focusing on the subjects where falling behind a grade level can cause real problems down the road.

Top 5 ways to keep your kid at grade level:

1. 10-15 minutes a day of world language practice*. A second language is nearly impossible without daily practice, so if I had to suggest one thing, it would be supplementing your child's school language class with a small amount of online language practice or language recordings. It doesn't have to be 7 days a week. I aim for 5, and school classes count toward that number. I utilize weekends for 2 of those days. You can use free online resources like duolingo (if your child is reading) or check out what your library has in the way of recorded lessons for non-readers. (There are a number of online resources for younger/non-reading kids that utilize repetition in animations, such as Muzzy. These may also be an option for non-readers.)
2. 10-15 minutes of online language video time. To make world language learning practice more palatable, my kids earn video time (in their world language), which they enjoy, and which gives them a few minutes a day of listening to the language spoken by a native speaker. They watch media they've already seen in English, so that they know what's going on even without subtitles. To do this with Netflix: Select "Manage Profiles" > Select preferred profile > Select preferred audio language. We have a dedicated Spanish language profile so it's easy to get to.
3. Reading practice using Montessori Words and Phonics.** Right alongside language practice is reading practice. If your child is learning to read, this app is hands down my favorite. (Here's my review.)
1. If your child is beginning, turn on the "cheat," so they can find the answers without too much frustration.
2. Once they get acclimated, turn the cheat off and work on short sounds and from there to blends.
3. For kids who are further on in their reading, have them practice dipthongs and digraphs. The app doesn't necessarily present these in order, but once your child has mastered blends (e.g., fl- sl- or br-), they move through the green series ordered like this, which presents complex phonic concepts beginning with the easiest and moving through to hardest/rarest.
4. Math memory work. There are plenty of online math memorization games (Math Playground has a bunch of these), but I actually prefer a dedicated toy for the purpose, such as Learning Resources' electronic flashcards. This is a great option for the car or other places your child is waiting around, such as grocery shopping. I like that there aren't distractions, it's not a computer screen, and it's super portable. Finally, if you have time to work with your kids periodically, we really liked using a base 10 set (wonderful for place value) and a set of dice. Dice particularly feel like games for kids, and mine def. preferred practicing math facts by making up math games with dice. 
5. Math concepts are a thornier issue. For most parents, simply keeping up with the school year is aces. One of my kids is a math kid, but the other is not. The one who is not is also ADHD, so learning entirely from lecture was never an option. In our case, we focused on three ways to ensure learning: a) introducing each subject at home prior to class each week; b) rechecking the subject at the end of the week; and c) communicating with teachers to see if alternatives might work better than traditional class.
1. The TLDR: Get a weekly syllabus. Then, spend 20 or so minutes on the weekend introducing the concept to your child for the upcoming week (to achieve familiarity, not competence). Follow up at the end of the week with a few math questions to see whether the week's work was understood. If your child is far ahead or far behind, ask your teacher and district about possible alternatives. What this means:
2. Ask your teacher to send you a month or two of syllabus. That sounds like a lot, but you can simply ask for page numbers from the textbook to look at for each week's subject. Your child's teacher probably has the homework problems chosen, so even a list of dates and homework problems would do it.
3. Then, every weekend, spend 20 minutes or so introducing your child to the math concepts for the upcoming week. By providing a brief introduction to concepts, your child is more likely to pay attention in class, since she will have seen all of it before. She will understand her goal for problems and know where to look when her teacher is explaining. The goal is not that you teach the whole concept, only that you introduce it. 
4. Use online sources for introduction if you don't feel able to do it yourself. Khan Academy has short videos for almost any concept a kid is going to cover in elementary school. Listen for vocabulary words your child may not know, and check for understanding. Make a quizlet of definitions as you go along. Often math learning is hindered by lack of math vocabulary, so building a math vocabulary is as important as learning math concepts.
5. At the end of the week, ask your child to answer a couple of questions to check where she is in her learning, and then do 20 minutes of introduction to the following week's assignments. 
6. You will learn very quickly if your child is either not being challenged enough or is falling too far behind. If the weekly check-in goes too well or too poorly on a regular basis, you'll know what you're dealing with. In this case, talk to your child's teacher. Last year, my younger son, a bit of a math whiz, was able to stop attending math class and start working on problem sets at his level. We sent his math teacher print-outs of his weekly work to show work done and for grading purposes. There may also be help if your child is falling too far behind. Consult your district to see if you can organize pull-out sessions to reinforce concepts. 
7. The concept here is spending a little time each week (hopefully no more than 30 minutes) rather than playing catch-up when it's too late. Being a parent teacher is a lot less stressful when you are preparing your child rather than fixing a problem, for both parent and kid. 
6. OK I know I said TOP 5, but since you are no doubt reading to your child anyway, this one doesn't really count. Read to your kid! And if you want a little extra educational value for nothing, get well acquainted with the juvenile history, historical fiction, and science section of your library. Reading books that are information dense in a cozy setting is a great way to make learning enjoyable and flexible. One way to balance book choices is to trade; your child picks a book and then you pick a book. Or, you can grab five books that are information dense and have your child pick from among them. Picture books are fine! I'm actually a big fan of reading information-heavy books that are a bit easier than your equivalent fiction choices. Add comic books in too, there are some wonderful comic books that tell myths from all over the world, for example. Keep in mind fun or funny series like Magic Treehouse (with the factbooks if possible) or Horrible Histories. 

So why focus on these subjects? You'll notice a lack of ELA (other than reading), history, and science here. My reasoning is this: math, world language and reading are the elementary subjects that most build from year to year. Miss reading practice this year, and next year will be unbearable. Miss math concepts this year, and suffer for the upcoming decade! ELA is super important, but ELA tends to be taught with a "spiral" rather than "mastery" approach; that is, concepts this year will be retaught with greater depth next year. Science and history are often taught with very little connection between chapters and years, so missing a weather chapter this year will not greatly impact next year's life cycle chapter, e.g. 

Even without ELA, science, and history, this all sounds like a lot, but it doesn't have to be. If your kid excels in math, e.g., you probably don't need to spend any time on that. 

But even following all of these suggestions is doable. 

Here is an example.

Let's say I had a 2nd grader who was not yet fully reading. 

• Before school starts, instead of screen time, I might have her watch a Muzzy video for 10 minutes. Now she gets her earned 10 minutes of Spanish-language Netflix. Bam, 20 minutes of Spanish first thing in the morning. She might already get Spanish twice a week in school, so I might do this on Saturdays and Sundays and one weekday.
• I might drive my kid to the playground for some after-school exercise. On the way there, she might practice her addition and subtraction on her electronic flashcard toy. On the way back, perhaps she works on phonics on the phone or tablet. These little 5- or 10-minute errands can add up to all sorts of practice. If there's no driving happening, we might do an every-other-day thing, phonics for 10 minutes on Day 1, flashcards on Day 2, and so forth.
• For 15 minutes before bed, we read stories from history and mythology.
• On Saturday, we spend 10 minutes working on questions from this week's math class. Then we spend 20 minutes introducing next week's math class.

On most weekdays, that's going to be 10 minutes of math or reading practice and 15 minutes of being read to or reading together. On one weekday is an addition 20 minutes of Spanish. On the weekend, it will be 20 minutes of Spanish each day and one 30 minute session of math.

I would also add, keep a list of any subjects you feel your kid really missed. Summers provide much more flexible time to re-address weaknesses while also staving off the summer slide.

* On the 15-minutes-a-day approach to world languages: my older son was in immersion Chinese school through third grade and then switched to a school without Chinese. So he started Spanish four years after everyone else did, kids who had been doing it five times a week.  He's been at the new school for two years now, during which we've done 15 minutes Duolingo/15 minutes Spanish video time, twice a week during the school year, five times a week over one summer. He's not fully caught up yet, but he's nearly there, despite initially knowing no Spanish in classes entirely conducted in Spanish. 

** On the way to Chinese immersion daycare, my son used Montessori Words and Phonics on the trip to and from daycare. I did not help him. He learned to read basically any book he wanted in about 6-8 months. He continued to use it to practice for about a year afterward, because he wanted to. When my younger son was 3 1/2, he did the same thing. So obviously, I'm a fan. It was the single greatest $4 purchase I've ever made.