School from home: Distance Education in children from 3 to 12 years old from Covid-19

At present, the confinement generated by Covid-19 in many countries of the world has caused the attention of educational institutions to be carried out virtually through study guides, tele-classes, video-conferences or some other educational means in order to continue with the teaching and learning process of children and adolescents at all educational levels

This is distance education, a mode of study that dates back to the beginning of the Christian era with St. Paul's letters to different groups, in order to teach the life and work of Jesus Christ to those communities that he could not attend in person. Over the centuries and with the advancement of technology, traditional mail-order English teaching programs were created through books or study guides. With the invention of the Internet, and especially with the so-called "era 2.0", distance education has become more popular with the creation of online programs for learning in synchronous and asynchronous time, aimed at housewives and people who, because of their work or some other condition, could not attend training centers.

With the pandemic, distance education has gained a significant boom, since it has allowed the world not to stop, but to transform, by continuing with academic training from home. Now, has it been easy to work from home with preschool and elementary school children? In this situation there are three main agents: the teacher, who defines the contents and activities to be worked on; the children, who must learn the contents; and the families, who act as facilitators of the teaching and learning process and end up being mediators of this process.

Against this background, it is important to note that the traditional school was not prepared for the qualitative-quantitative leap from face-to-face education to distance education, therefore there is no manual or booklet that specifically establishes how we guarantee that the teaching and learning process will be efficient. Seen from this perspective, we are learning from experience, there was no time for rehearsals.

What is ideal in distance education for children from 3 to 12 years of age? In principle, the school day at home should be carried out on a specific schedule, structuring a routine that allows the child to understand that academic training is part of his or her daily activities, on a set timetable.

In addition, it is important that the activities are simple and pleasant, that they allow the child to enjoy the process and clearly understand the content, and that they enable the development of both cerebral hemispheres according to the theory of the triune brain: creative and logical, encouraging reasoning and creation through drawings, colors, paints, plasticine, among others.

Another important aspect is to relate the contents to be learned with elements of everyday life at home, using objects and spaces present in the home and relating them to the different areas of knowledge. We cannot forget that meaningful learning is based on the linking of experience and previous knowledge with new knowledge.

What is the role of families in distance education? Definitely, as facilitators of the teaching and learning process. It is required that mom, dad, grandparents or whoever represents the child gets involved in a responsible and committed way with school activities, respecting the routine, guiding the child without doing the homework for him/her. The idea is to patiently and lovingly explain the content so that the child, by him/herself, is the one who carries out the assignments. In this way, the values of responsibility, honesty and commitment are taught through actions.

There are some flaws in distance education for children; the main one, from the writer's point of view, is represented by the excess of homework that in many cases is assigned to the little ones, making them spend the whole day writing, drawing, coloring and learning content, which results in school activities being seen as torture. It is the teacher's responsibility to synthesize them and diversify the way they are presented in order to prevent children from becoming saturated and bored.

Starting from this situation, the family ends up pressuring the children to do the activities and advance quickly, many times inappropriately (yelling or punishing the child). In other cases, they end up doing some tasks for the children to try to "help" them, which in reality makes them become dependent.

Given this scenario, the best option is for the family to communicate with the teacher and raise the weaknesses that may be present and that affect the quality of the teaching and learning process in order to improve the quality of the process. The best school is one that applies evaluation in a bidirectional manner, so that it is not only the child who must be evaluated, but also the school itself that directs the child's education in order to enhance quality.

If you are a teacher, I suggest that you self-evaluate. Remember that during the course of university studies we were trained to work in a face-to-face manner, therefore, the practice of distance education in preschool and primary education still has many blank pages of which you can be the author based on ongoing research from your own practice. 

However, in many cases, moms end up being the ones who take on the responsibility of supporting their children in school activities, which sometimes ends up being exhausting and overwhelming. Here are some tips that will help improve education at home:

• Make a diagnosis of your child: for this activity it is very important to know what basic knowledge the child should have according to his age. Then, invite them to do some simple activities to identify their knowledge: point out the vowels or the alphabet, colors and numbers, draw and draw some lines if they are in preschool age. If the child is between 6 and 12 years old, it is important that he/she reads a short story, explains in his/her own words what he/she understood and performs some basic operations to verify how his/her numerical skills are. To identify your child's strengths and weaknesses and thus enhance what is necessary. You can talk to the teacher about what you observed so that he/she can guide you about some didactic activities that will allow your child to advance.

• Establish a routine with defined schedules for homework: this step is very important because it allows the child to structure school learning as a daily responsibility. It is important to define a specific timetable, where there can be some flexibility, trying to respect it. In some cases, homework can be long and excessive. If this happens to you, discuss it with the teacher in a respectful manner. Remember that in this process we are all learning and a good teacher has the ability to rectify and readjust.

• Delegate responsibilities to the child: when it is time for school activities, the child should organize the materials to be used: look for colors, pencils, notebooks, books, turn on the computer, clean the table, among other actions. When finished, the child should organize the space and put the materials away. This will allow the child to generate, through actions, the value of responsibility.

•  Take some time to review the assigned homework before starting the school routine: this way you will know the work to be done, if it is long, short or if you need to research on the Internet or other means to support your child.

• Teach your child that homework is his/her responsibility: it doesn't matter if he/she doesn't have the most beautiful handwriting or doesn't make incredible drawings or extraordinary models, what is really valuable is that "it's his/her job". This way you avoid overloading yourself and teach your child to be independent, an essential value for life.

• Avoid distracting agents when doing school activities: the TV should be turned off and if your child has a cell phone or Tablet it can only be used during homework time to do research.

• Teach your children to work with other children: if you have several children, they may be distracted by each other. In this case, it is necessary for you to be present to define the guidelines so that they can work at the same table without being distracted. With patience it is possible. Remember that at school there are several children in the classroom.

• Congratulate your child for each achievement: this motivates our little ones to learn more every day. Give them a round of applause, share it with other members of the family, prepare a meal that pleases them. If, on the other hand, they have not been able to consolidate some learning, do not scold them, motivate them with phrases such as: "I am sure you can do it" "tomorrow we will continue working and you will do it better". 

• Within the routine, set aside time for a snack and rest. You can sing with your child or play a simple game. Take a deep breath, count to ten and start again: there will be happy days and gray days. Remember that you are contributing to one of the most valuable gifts you will give your child: his or her education. You are not a teacher, and if you are, the Bible says that "no one is a prophet in his own land," so you are doing your best. During the day, take some time for yourself, no matter how small, enjoy a cup of coffee. The music you like or a program, you deserve it.

Since the confinement generated by the Covid-19 pandemic, children's education did not stop, it was only transformed from face-to-face to distance education, which, although it is very old, had been used in the university context, online courses, among others, but not in Basic Education. Given this scenario, all the actors in the educational process are learning in practice, there was no time for rehearsals.