2020-2021 - An Unprecedented Academic Year

Chances are you’ve seen and heard plenty of back to school advice this summer, but are you sure that you are prepared?

As a parent, how can you best prepare your children to learn this academic year?

As the school year approaches, we can benefit our children (and ourselves) by persuading them to focus on the following four concepts.

1-Control

The most important and powerful practice in life is differentiating between what we can influence and what we cannot, in other words, what we can control and we cannot control. If we can help our children understand what aspects of the school year are up to them and which are not, our children can focus their attention and efforts properly.

It may seem frightening to explain to a child that they don’t control whether they’ll be able to physically go to school this year, or if there’ll be a football season, but this balances out when we explain that they can control their attitude and how they choose to respond.

As states and school districts unveil their learning plans for the fall, from the parents/family perspective they are almost certain to be disliked. Complaining, arguing, or simply giving up are choices that are likely to waste time and energy. To see the whole situation as a challenge and to make the best of it is also a choice, one that is up to us.

2 - Be proactive

Either we can say, “This year is another goner” or we can say “We are going to make this work.” Proactive people do not blame their circumstances. Author Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) reiterates that behavior is a result of conscious effort, rather than letting emotions take the best out of us.

As Naval Ravikant said, “Free education is abundant, all over the Internet. It’s the desire to learn that’s scarce.” With that being said, vLearn.live offers plentiful options in helping your children(s).

3 - Choose “alive time” over “dead time”

Social distancing can lead to extraordinary amounts of free time. Given the choice between leading busy, involved lifestyles with different activities and friend groups and, say, learning from home every day, most children would probably choose the former. But time spent at home does not need to be “dead time.”

Bestselling author Robert Greene has written of the concept of alive time vs. dead time. Dead time is time spent sitting around waiting, refreshing our social media feeds, watching TV, or applying judgements to things we don’t control. Alive time is when we are actively learning, researching, and creating.

As summer turns to fall, we can help our children to appreciate that they live in a time where learning opportunities are nearly limitless, and what a shame it would be to waste time in sadness or anger. Sign up for a free trial on vLearn.live, and see for yourself.

4 - Focus on effort, not outcomes

Previously, school officials deployed testing and grading systems that had been crafted and adjusted for many years. While still imperfect, these systems were largely agreeable and determined to be fair.

What about now? Well, as a school counselor, I can tell you firsthand that I’m reinventing everything this year. As I write this, I’m in the process of scheduling my Zoom Calls, and portfolio structures. How will teachers assess student learning? How can teachers have students take a test and know they’re not cheating? How long can teachers expect students to listen to a lecture on a Zoom call before they start browsing their TikTok feeds? I don’t have good answers to these questions, and I assume most teachers don’t either.

It’s entirely possible that our children do everything right like listen carefully to instruction, complete the assignment diligently, submit it properly and yet still receive negative results. It’s possible that some teachers will be overly demanding. vLearn.live can assist in this area by helping children develop systems of effort instead of goals always being grades. Circling back to the beginning of this writing, our children directly control the amount of effort they put into a given assignment. Once it is submitted, the outcome is out of their control.

As we prepare for the new school year, we can borrow from Author Stephen Covey (The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People) and remind the students that while they don’t control state and district-level decisions, they do have a responsibility, that is “response-ability” to choose how they respond. This alone gives them plenty to work with.

Contact vLearn.live to schedule your free Session today!