School at Home? 3 Daily Actions to Inspire Learning and Build Relationships

Are you lucky enough to be home with your family, either full-time or part-time, for a few weeks or longer?  Wondering what you can do to focus on education, but also foster better relationships, between you and your children or your children with each other?  
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Here are three simple actions you can take each day to create a positive, healthy learning environment in your home.  They will work with all ages, at all developmental levels.  

1-Study One Thing Together 
Simply observe a leaf, a bug, or a cloud.  Read a short book, or a chapter or two, or a poem.  Investigate microwaves or the internet or another culture.  

After  closely observing, or reading  or investigating, follow up with research in books or on the internet. This could take 5 minutes or 5 hours, depending on interest level, resources, and rabbit trails.  YouTube, online encyclopedias, and online sites specific to your subject are great places to look.

2-Talk About It With Each Other
We all want to talk about what we are learning.  Discussion is great for all ages! Focus on why and how--and let the kids come up with ideas of their own.  Questions spark creativity and imagination.  
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Why is the bug green?  How does the food cook in the microwave?  Why does this culture celebrate in this way?  How did the artist get it to look like that? Questions like these demand answers, which can be found with a little research. 

3-Apply With a Fun Activity
Once you have studied and discussed, go one step beyond and apply your learning in a fun way.  

Create your own bug, on paper, as a sketch, coloring page, or watercolor--or with craft supplies.  

Prepare a meal or a snack in the microwave.  Or compare microwave cooking to the oven or stove, or to natural cooking, over a fire or with the sun.  

Recreate a cultural celebration in your own home.  Create decorations, food, clothing, and activities to enjoy and appreciate diversity.  

Try your hand at sculpting, sketching, or painting to explore an artistic work.  Learn more about the artist.

Fun Study Ideas:

• Nature--trees, clouds, stars, animals, gardens, flowers, sunrise/sunset, moon, sun, grass, water, insects, soil, weather, etc.
• Technology--planes, trains, cars, hang gliders, balloons, appliances, devices, electricity, plumbing, inventions, etc.
• Art--music, painting, sculpture, crafts, sketching, design, architecture, color, etc.
• Math--cooking, charts/graphs, measurement, percentages, angles, lines, shapes, balance, ratio, etc.
• Literature--reading, writing, analysis, discussion, poetry, journalism, novels, biography, etc.

Bonus Daily Action--Read aloud with the whole family.  
Gather everyone together once a day to read from a book that everyone might enjoy.  Again, this may last ten minutes or much longer, depending on attention span and interest.  If you choose the right book, you might captivate them all for an hour or more. If you can't take that much time, leave them hanging after one chapter--they will be excited for the next reading time!  

Reading Ideas:

• Classics--Pollyanna, Swiss Family Robinson, Anne of Green Gables, Call of the Wild, Where the Red Fern Grows, Little Britches, Peter Pan, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, Heidi, Bambi, Pinocchio, Charlotte's  Web, Tom Sawyer, Summer of the Monkeys, The Phantom Tollbooth, and many more. 
• Poetry--Robert Louis Stevenson, Emily Dickinson, Jack Prelutsky, Shel Silverstein, 
• Picture books--Dr. Seuss, Maurice Sendak, Margaret Wise Brown, Beatrix Potter, Beverly Cleary, Eric Carle, Jan Brett, Mo Willems, Tomie de Paola, Robert McCloskey, Chris Van Allsburg, etc.
• Current bestsellers
• Core books, such as religious or philosophical classics for you and your family

None of these Action Steps require elaborate preparation or long periods of time.  Find topics that interest you and your children and START!  

While we have the chance to be with our families, let's make the most of our time together by strengthening relationships, focusing on the positive, and fostering curiosity, creativity, and imagination.  Happy Learning!