Advice for Learning at Home

Especially during times of uncertainty, for students, distance learning can be challenging. Irregular schedules and a lack of social interaction and hands-on learning opportunities can sometimes lead to restlessness and even boredom. 

While we all work to overcome the difficulties brought about by COVID-19, the National Inventors Hall of Fame^® (NIHF) will continue to provide free at-home learning resources for parents and educators to share with children. Additionally, below are a few tips to help parents enhance their children’s learning experience outside the classroom. 

Creating a workstation

Sometimes, children have anxiety when it comes to the thought of sitting down and getting to work. One effective way to reduce some of this potential stress is to create a space for your child to complete their daily tasks. While it might seem like common sense to set up this workstation in a child’s room, for younger students, additional supervision could prove useful. Because of this, we instead recommend setting a workstation up in a family room or kitchen area. Having a space that is well stocked and organized is also key to supporting productivity. To learn more about creating the perfect workstation for your child, we invite you to read our blog.

Using the power of checklists 

Without the structure and routine that kids are accustomed to during the school year, transitioning to learning from home can be a disorienting process. To acclimate students to this new normal, creating a daily checklist of tasks is a great way to prepare your child for events and assignments throughout the day. Combining a checklist with a reward system is also an effective way to gamify and add a little fun throughout the day. Additionally, research has shown that checklists help children develop valuable metacognitive awareness that will benefit them throughout their lives.   

Engaging in hands-on activities 

While technology has allowed educators across the country to offer online lessons and assignments, unfortunately, what’s missing in this environment is the opportunity for hands-on activities. When exploring STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) subjects in particular, experiential learning, or learning by doing, is proven to be an effective way for children to understand the relevance of these fields. Crafted by our team of education experts, NIHF frequently creates brand new, hands-on STEM experiences for children and parents to try out at home. To check out a full list of our STEM activities, we invite you to visit our blog.     

Find more educational content

For more tips on helping to ensure that students are receiving the best distance learning possible while away from the classroom, we invite you to visit our blog and at-home learning resources page. Share your own experiences with us on our Camp Invention Facebook page.