BEP072 – Families as Experts Series: The Learning Environment

Malika Ali joins us in this series about parents supporting their distant learners; a resource for parents on how to set their child up to be able to learn at home. 

In this episode, we talk about how to set up the learning environment, and develop routines and procedures at home that allow the student ultimately to be self-directed.

03:10 This series is essentially meant to support the student to be self-directed, and the parent to manage the process… But ultimately it’s about working with students to really own the process so that we can be their cheerleaders and not so much their coaches, not so much their tutors. 

06:36 Creating a dedicated space for learning to help the child to have structure, have some predictability, and feel organized. 

09:53 The key to setting up the learning environment, very similar to setting up a classroom as a teacher, is to make the resources student-friendly and accessible to eliminate the need for questions.

10:08 Have a dedicated space for breaks. 

13:00 It’s helpful to have kids understand that they can proactively schedule those breaks, but they also, and they should, use it when they need it. 

13:37 The key is about also giving students, giving your children, some choice [on their schedule].

20:09 When you build new routines in a classroom or with your kids at home, there’s definitely a learning curve. 

22:07 Constantly use reinforcing language that’s really positive to kids.

23:16 If I was brand new to this, what is one small step I can take? 

23:28 Coming up with your own schedule, and modeling that with your kid, showing them how you set up your schedule in the day where you have flexibility, where you don’t, and how you use the time where you do have flexibility, how you manage that, really just narrating your own process for whatever thinking you want your child to do as well.