How to cope with online schooling?

If you are one of those parents considering continuing with online schooling for your child even after physical schools start here are a few useful tips for you and your child to cope up with online schooling. As you may already have found out the younger the child the more time you, your partner or a guardian needs to dedicate to ensure your child gets the most of the online learning experience. Online schooling can be an ideal option for many children; however, it requires effort not only from the school but also from the parents to ensure the child is learning optimally.

Student Effort is directly proportional to Student Success

Well, this one is a no brainer. The harder the student works the better the results. We have seen that students who are self-motivated or have parents who monitor their progress regularly fair better than others in the online learning model. In physical schools, parents only intervene after being intimated by teachers. However, with sophisticated Learning Management Systems that online schools use – one can monitor the child’s progress in real time, get updates on non-submission of homework and so on and so forth. This gives you access to invaluable insights about your child’s progress and helps you lay down rules.

With time we see most students pursuing online schooling become more independent, structured and productive over time as they begin to take ownership of their work. (The above inference comes from analysing data of over 10 lac students that have attended our partner schools – K12 School, The Keystone School and NISAI)

Outdoor Play

With online schooling your child saves a lot of time for other activities to supplement his learning. We strongly recommend emphasising outdoor play and minimizing indoor games like video games. One of the disadvantages of online schools is its lack of ability to support outdoor play – this is an essential feature of a child’s growth. Most of our students have access to gardens, parks, sporting clubs in their neighbourhood – whether you enrol your child for sports training or send them for free play – adding this to their routine is a must.

Two of our 21K School + K12 students actually chose online schooling because they were training to be professional ballet dancers. With their hectic schedule, a physical school was becoming an hindrance to their progress. Yes, online school is great but certain life style changes are required to be introduced so make sure you encourage outdoor play if you find your child is only spending time indoors.

Vacations

One incredible benefit of online schooling is that you don’t have to take a vacation during the summers, when the prices are high and places are packed! While not recommended many parents do take vacations with their children while the school is on – as long as you have access to good internet and a quiet place – vacations don’t hamper learning. We also encourage parents to meet other parents and students while travelling, especially if there is someone from your child’s class. These interactions real help in improve bonding plus also adds to your travel experience as you get insights from a local!

Not all online Schools are equal

Firstly, comparing speciality online schools to traditional schools that moved online for the pandemic isn’t fair. Most of these schools turned online overnight and built-in temporary structures to manage online learning – from using WhatsApp to share homework to maintaining google drives for files that weren’t structured. Their teachers too had to go through a tremendous learning curve with many if not all never being live on camera before March 22, 2020!

Most online only school have these things covered – with their faculty training and Learning Management Systems in place. Yet even though they all might look the same they aren’t just like traditional schools. Pedigree matters. At 21K School, even though we are only a year or so old we partnered with K12 (Stride Inc) and Nisai Group who have a proven track record of over 20 years! With these partnerships we had access to data of over 10 lac students to structure the program and build our Learning Management System. In fact, our IGCSE program is taught entirely by international faculty that have been teaching students of NISAI for years.

Ask Questions

You are not alone – taking a decision to move your child to an online school is tough and you are bound to have several questions. Before you make the decision ask as many questions as you may have – all online schools will be happy to answer them for you and walk you through the process. At 21K School we have built a frequently asked question bank for our parents to which we constantly keep adding new questions that we get asked.

This is the only way to get convinced and be sure of your decision.

Reach Out

Know someone attending an online school? Reach out to them and talk to them about their experience. 21K School parents often receive messages like these and are happy to help out others. By asking questions and reaching out to other parents even before you enrol you will be a lot better prepared to cope up with online schooling.

Invest in a Study

Remember online school essentially means that the school has come home. So you must try and build a school for your child in the comfort of your home. Before you say, are you serious? Let us rephrase – you must provide your child with a dedicated space for learning – if you house allows a separate room then nothing like it but even if there is space constrain you should invest in a comfortable study table and desk and place it in a part of the house that has the least disturbance and distractions. This is absolutely critical – sitting on the bed or sofa and attending the class is not good for your child’s posture or concentration.

Online schooling surely comes with it’s challenges but when you take care of the minor hurdles it can be an extremely rewarding experience. If you have any questions about online schooling feel free to reach out to us on info@21kschool.com or message us on our social media platforms and we will be happy to help.

To find out if online schooling is right for you click here.