2020 has been a wild ride from the very start. Everyone has had to adapt and make sacrifices. We as a company shut down for over a month and are just now getting to a point where our masks no longer bother us. At the onset of the pandemic, Parents had to help their children finish out the school year. Overall, Communication and relationships, in general, have completely shifted in 2020. A virtual option is now more important than ever.
Throughout summer, school officials met virtually to make the tough decision of how they were going to handle Fall 2020. Were they going to go 100% back? 100% online? Some type of hybrid? In Cincinnati, the majority of the schools seem to be doing some sort of hybrid. Parents are now having to convert their offices and dining rooms into makeshift classrooms. For parents or caretakers with only one kid, this task may not be that tricky, with those with multiple children, especially ones in multiple grades, and those who are working from home simultaneously, this switch may be significantly overwhelming and even downright impossible.
In hopes to help ease your stress, we’re here to help provide some DIY solutions that will not only help with that organizational shuffle but also be inexpensive to obtain and create. Bonus, they are available in multiple styles and can be a permanent home decor piece.
School Organization Station
If there is only one thing that teachers have that just makes them excel at their job it’s the ability to stay organized while multi-tasking. They juggle multiple students’ needs at once while simultaneously making sure their lessons are being taught while in school.
In order to ensure that your children’s space is the most functional for their learning, you have to make sure that their schedule is available for both them to see and the helping parties. The best way to do this?
Create a Schedule Board!
A schedule board will ensure that their daily school requirements are safe and visible. There are many ways you can make a school schedule board, but our favorite?
Frame It!
To be sure your schedule board is something that you can reuse once school is back to being in person, we recommend choosing a frame that fits your style and budget. Whether that is wood, metal, or poly we have options!
The Good
The most inexpensive way for you to create a framed schedule board for your home school space is to purchase either our foam core, or hardboard poster frames.
The foam core poster frame features four poly removable sides, a piece of styrene and a foam core backing with hanging clips. For a good inexpensive schedule board, you would stash the styrene and simply print out the different schedules and lists and anything else that needs to be on display and use push pins to adhere to the foam core.
The Hardboard poster frame is similar to the foam core line in that it comes with four poly removable sides and a piece of styrene however instead of the foam core backing it features a hard sturdy board as the backing, perfect for holding schedules and lists!
If you want something a little more fun, channel your inner teacher and use dollar store stickers, colored paper, markers, and other craft supplies to jazz them up.
The Better
If you want something with the ease of our foam core poster frame line with a little more pizzazz find your favorite frame from our wood or metal line then simply upgrade it to foam core! Simply click the ‘custom’ tab on the product page, type in your desired size, and check Foam Core!
If you are concerned that you will ultimately ruin the foamcore and you won’t be able to use it as a frame when this is all over we recommend purchasing a pack of adhesive sheet protectors. That way the backing will be free from holes and your items will be protected. We personally use this method to display the charity of the month that we are currently helping.
The Best
As much as we love the simplicity of checking a box and upgrading your frame to foam core, we know that you might want something a little more permanent. This next DIY will certainly fit the bill and last them well into adulthood. Purchase inexpensive cork sheets at craft stores and create your children their very own bulletin board. All of our wood and metal frames come available in 32 standard sizes including 12 x 12 that you will find will fit a cork sheet nicely. Our Pop Art or Colori series would be our recommendation of frames for your little ones.
Similarly, if you want to go an even more DIY route? take those corks you have lying around and repurpose them!
Practice Makes Perfect
If you have a little one that needs to practice their letters and you just hate to continually print out those silly lined papers this tip will save you time and the trees!
All you need to make this tip is one of our tabletop frames, a sheet of paper, and dry erase markers. to make your very own dry erase board! The possibilities are endless with this DIY as you can swap out sheets of paper to help practice, letters, multiplication tables, or even just simply create a fun board for them to draw on using scrapbook paper!
We suggest using small tabletop frames because they automatically come with an easel back and glass. Of course, If hanging your dry erase board in your makeshift classroom is more your style, order an 11×14 or 12×12 frame. These come standard with glass and a sawtooth hanger. Sawtooth hangers are available to purchase from our accessories page.
When In Doubt, Incentivize.
What kid doesn’t love when they have a whole bucket of tickets at an arcade and get to pick out their very own prize! Why can’t your makeshift classroom be any different? If you have already mastered the art of organization and teaching your kids is still stressing you out, instead of making your own schedule board, make your own prize board! Markdown tasks that you want them to accomplish and how many tickets they earn by accomplishing them and let the stress melt away. Actual tickets could be purchased from the store, but we’re here to help you out with a printable sheet!
The prizes don’t have to be some shiny new toy that costs an arm and a leg that you will end up cleaning off the floor, they can be purchased from the dollar store or our personal favorites ‘experience prizes’ such as a movie night complete with a blanket fort and snacks!
The Most Important Tip Yet!
Our final homeschooling tip for you parents and caretakers out there is to give yourself a break and don’t be too hard on yourself. This is a tough situation for anyone to be put in. When this pandemic is over and students are back in class, the teachers are going to care more about the mental and emotional well being of their students than what they did or did not learn while at home. A stressed you = a stressed kiddo. Support them the best that you can with the things you have available to you and you’ll sure to earn an A+ in their teacher’s book.
You Got This!
