Dear Parents, Dear Guardians,
The current situation presents special challenges for school members and parents alike. We have put together a few tips from the Senate to help your family navigate through the difficult time of homeschooling, and to make this experience as positive as possible.
Please consider these aids. Each family must find their own way and there is no one right way.

  1. Set up your own workspace
    1. Having your own workspace is a great advantage for quiet and concentrated learning.
    2. The space should be free of distractions
    3. If several children are being looked after in one room, make sure that they are separated and quiet.
    4. The school can assist with loaned equipment.
    5. Clean up after each task! Children should carry their work materials to their room, never scatter them around the house.
  2. Create structure
    1. Getting up together on school days helps to establish a sensible daily rhythm.
    2. Make sure that your child does not go to bed too late so that the daily rhythm remains consistent.
    3. Draw up a daily and weekly schedule together based on the weekly schedules sent out by the class teams.
    4. Plan breaks and snacks!
    5. Plan family activities and hobbies. School is not always the most important thing.
    6. Avoid overtime! When the agreed time is up, it's time to call it a day.
    7. Praise your child as often as possible. We are all going through a difficult time. With less social contact and working/learning at home, many opportunities for self-affirmation have disappeared. It is therefore especially important for your children be encouraged.
  3. Parents as learning companion
    1. Rewards for diligence and good work can help to overcome the "inner pig dog".
    2. The child should learn - not the parents. Be happy to check that the tasks have been done. Teachers are responsible for providing professional feedback. Parents gain experience with didactic and pedagogical processes: you will be forced into a role that you are rather less used to. You are confronted with questions of didactics and professionalism and observe learning processes in terms of motivation, performance, and speed. This can be overwhelming. Step back and try to gain distance if it becomes too much. Independent learning should remain at the forefront.
    3. Not all children can cope with the high demands of independence. Offer your child regular support in small bites, which is often more effective than constant supervision.
    4. Continuous learning in small periods of time, adapted to the child, can be better than constant and strict supervision for many hours.
    5. If a task is too difficult or misleading, children can get in touch with each other or their teacher by mail or via Seesaw.
    6. Learning is the beginning - perfection is impossible at this stage. Learning at home replaces teaching.
  4. Maintain social contact
    1. Encourage your child to have social contacts as much as possible. Outdoor meetings, sports together, phone calls, face time, study groups ... anything is possible!
  5. Recognise conflicts
    1. In homeschooling, sometimes nerves are put to the test. It happens to everyone.
    2. Keep calm. Express each other's wishes and avoid reproaches or permanent criticism.
    3. If there is a threat of escalation, take a break and retreat to separate rooms.
    4. Seek help by talking to friends and parents of the class or contact the educators, we are listening to you. We also appreciate a personal conversation, which is more healing than an email.