Tips for starting virtual school

Up until the holiday season, the Create Art team have been running a virtual learning group at the studio. For everyone starting out with virtual school today, here a few tips, based on our experiences:

1. Be kind to the teachers. The majority of them have had literally no training on how to effectively teach online. If they’re lucky, they have a friend who’s been doing virtual school that has given them some tips 😉

2. School this year is OPTIONAL. If you don’t think you/your kid can manage it this week, then let the teacher know that you’re taking the week off for family matters. Then you won’t get those annoying absence calls.

3. No one is getting an award for anything they do this week, though teachers probably should. If you’re a parent, keeping your kids alive and keeping your job are the priorities. Don’t worry about late assignments.

4. Kids love screens. But they love access to YouTube more. Their school accounts give them access to it. We suggest putting all of your kids in the same room, with headphones, and tell them to hold each other accountable. Left in their own rooms, they’ll be barely listening to the lessons while watching as much YouTube as possible.

5. Kids are more resilient than you are. Have an open mind to this and they will do fine.

It’s quite likely, after this week, that it will be very clear why we’ve been operating a virtual learning group program! Virtual learning is great, but it doesn’t work without the right support. Hopefully, we’ll be able to reopen our helpful service for parents and kids soon.