Editor’s Note: This story recently appeared in a special Spotlight section of North Country This Week.

As students and parents prepare for school to start up again in its various forms, St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES Instructional Resources Department had developed a website, Learning at a Distance to provide resources for parents as they navigate remote learning for their students.

The department is continuously adding more resources for parents as students prepare to return to school with a fully remote or hybrid learning model. The site can be found at https://bit.ly/2Eta9Di.

The site features topics such as: Supporting at Home Learning; National PTA Podcast link; Recommendations for Middle/High School learning; Setting up a Learning Space at Home; Scheduling Resources; Tech instruction links for Google Classroom and Zoom; links to NYS Arts Go Online; and fun activities links through the Parent Newsletters.

Supporting at Home Learning takes seven guiding principles for parents from Edutopia.org. The article goes in depth of the seven points of:

• Establish a flexible learning space

• Check in every morning and throughout the day

• Allow frequent “Brain Breaks”

• Establish a daily schedule and routine

• Consolidate Learning

• Encourage Productive Struggle

• Consider Passions and Play

These points help parents “understand the ‘why’ behind teaching practices that can help them create meaningful and effective at-home learning opportunities during the pandemic,” according to Edutopia.org

The link to the National PTA podcast includes the daily podcast “Notes from the Backpack.”

According to the site, this podcast includes everything from “navigating new forms of technology to keeping track of kids’ assignments, online learning challenges.

The site also includes written transcripts of the podcasts if time is lacking to listen to the interviews.

St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES also posts links to upcoming online meeting sessions with the North Country Regional Partnership Center. The RPC assists special needs students and families with education and services such as specially designed instruction, behavior issues, literacy, and cultural instruction programs.

The SLL BOCES site also includes scheduling resources recommended by Miller Creek Elementary School. While this district is in located in California, the schedule is a good general guideline for any family to follow.

It outlines detail times of getting ready for school as if a child would do any regular day. It suggests a time for eating breakfast, getting dressed, and then turning on their computer for a day that would be scheduled for at home learning.

It suggests when breaks might be taken, checking for special announcements from the school, and then lunch and physical activities.Following the second online sessions there is time for summation and reward for a day well done.

“Learning in the cloud is just as challenging and rigorous as a day of learning in the classroom,” the information details. “Learning just happens in a different place. Like in school, your daily schedule might be a bit different on each day of the week.”

And beyond this general schedule, the BOCES site also has links to others with more detailed information for in-home learning specifically for middle, high school and even college students.

These tips come from the Collegiate Parent website including: Establish structure; creating a dedicated study space, joining an online study group/or form one with friends, and exercising good time management skills.