Help for Parents in the New Normal of Homeschooling During the Coronavirus Pandemic

Could COVID-19 spark a homeschooling revolution?

Thirty-three states have closed schools, and children could be home until school resumes in the fall.

In school districts that haven’t set up online learning, parents will have to make do with home instruction. Parents with kids in government schools are about to learn what homeschooling parents already know. All parents will now have more resources during the pandemic.

Lindsey M. Burke, an education policy researcher at the Heritage Foundation, wrote in the Daily Signal about those resources:

A rapidly flourishing market of online resources is beginning to meet the content needs of millions of students across the country.

Numerous companies such as Zearn and STMath are providing their materials online for free during the coronavirus outbreak. Existing options such as Khan Academy offer a wealth of educational resources for families navigating homeschooling for perhaps the first time. Prenda microschool is offering its coursework to families for just $100 for the remainder of the year.

Here is a fantastic list of online learning resources that every family should bookmark on their computers during this pandemic.

Burke suggests that on district and state levels, government schools should add online learning resources to their web sites, temporarily lift certifications for teachers so these individuals can do online tutoring, and put in place a structure to allow parents to have education savings accounts for special-needs children to continue their learning and therapy plans if schools close.

Burke added that federal lawmakers “should immediately but temporarily make funding authorized under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act both student-centered and portable, allowing children with special needs to access learning services to which they’re entitled under federal law. These IDEA funds could be used to pay for in-home tutors and behavioral therapies, among numerous other allowable uses, to help children with special needs continue to have access to service providers that are so critical in their lives.”

The federal government should also waive annual assessments for all states.

Photo credit: Gage Skidmore (Creative Commons) – Some rights reserved