Message To Parents: In The '20-'21 School Year You Are Not Alone - Get Help Now With The Best Education Possible Homeschooling Master Class
Without outside support, online learning works best when parents are home, according to Debra West, a recently retired educator in Huntsville, Alabama, and founder of Best Education Possible.
"You really have to be there to supervise," she says and compares learning at home to being in a classroom where a teacher is constantly rotating around the room. Parents who have to work outside the home need more support. West saw this during the spring 2020 virtual learning when parents of her former students contacted her.
"They were really, really struggling and having a hard time," West says. In response, she created a course to help parents get started on the right foot.
"The main thing I'm trying to get across is that they have to start off correctly, and they have to start off with a routine," West explains. Go to bed, get up, get dressed, have a dedicated workspace, so the child knows where to work.
"You can't just leave it like it's going to be OK, because it's not," she says. "I just really feel like it's going to take a complete community effort."