Looking for distance learning resources? These are seven tools and tips guaranteed to make your distance learning experience easier!

Thank you to YouTube Kids for sponsoring this post.

As fall starts, we’re all getting back to school in some form.  I’m guessing that for this school year, a lot of us will be doing distance learning for part or all of it.  It may be for short stints of time for some of us, and for others? It may be for the full academic year.

Distance learning is unique because it involves curriculum that will be prescribed by a classroom teacher, and usually a portion will be delivered on some form of an online platform live.  So we’re looking at a LOT of online screen time, and then some activities to be applied with the help of parents.

There’s a lot of balance to be found.  Time.  Work.  Stress.  Behavior.  And it’s hard.  I’m here to tell you that I understand.  This is not what any of us expected.  And we’re all getting through it the best we can.  I did share some home learning tips last year….but I wanted to add a few more.  These tools and resources are specific to distance learning, potentially for a longer period of time.

Distance Learning Resources: 7 Make Your Life Easier Tools and Tips

1. Airplay: As simple as it sounds, don’t forget that you can airplay most devices to a smart TV if you have one.  That means instead of staring at a phone or computer screen, your child can watch videos or even live interactions on the television.  It’s a nice change of pace, a larger screen, and perfect for multiple children.
2. Cool For School Prep and How to Let Your Child Add Their Style to Their Space:  As simple as it sounds, let your child have some ownership over their school space.  Hang their art up, let them make couple of cool craft projects for the area (I love these Cool For School craft projects on YouTube Kids….Lydia and I made one of the pencil cases).   The Cool For School series is a GREAT resource, perfect for ongoing craft projects that will add a little enrichment and fun!
3. Meditation and Well Being: Routine and meditation are huge supports for kids struggling with anxiety and stress (which is pretty much all of us right now).  YouTube Kids has some REALLY fun meditation options for kids including a Barbie and Headspace collaboration video and a cool video from Sesame Street about managing “big feelings”.
4. Common Core Standards in Plain Language: Ok, let’s take teacher talk and make it a little easier to understand.  The common core standards are the basic skills that children need to learn at each grade level.  They vary slightly in some states but overall are pretty similar.  Now, if you read the actual standards, they can be a little hard to understand.  These? The same standards in plain language.  They’re written from the perspective of what a child can actually DO once they’ve mastered one (for instance, “I can read a CVC word.”).  If you’re trying to figure out what your child ACTUALLY needs to learn this year or to even just grasp what they’re working on, these will help a lot.
5. Quiet Time: I know, I know I’ve talked about Quiet Time a lot.  But it will make a HUGE difference.  It’s important that children learn to play independently and it’s important that everyone has time alone each day to decompress.  Quiet time is a way to teach children to have some time on their own each day and the system we used to introduce it? WORKS.
6. Positive Behavior Reinforcement Support and Suggestions: Now let’s talk behavior.  This is hard, and kids are going to have some behavior issues as a result.  Yes, even though we did it last year.  The goal? The reinforce positive behavior as much as we can.  Reward charts are a great option, let your child earn something they want (remember rewards can be an item or an activity).
7. Offline Time vs Online Time: last tip? Try to balance offline and online time.  We all get a little wonky after too many hours on a computer.  If your child has scheduled live classes, try to balance those with offline activities after.  Ideally, you can alternate between the two!

Looking for MORE resources? The Learn At Home section of YouTube Kids has a TON of resources to support families during this time!

I hope that these distance learning resources, tips and tricks are helpful!