TORONTO -- As school boards across the country roll out their distance-learning programs, parents are trying to figure out the best at-home education approach for their kids amid a global pandemic.

Some provincial education ministries are recommending five to 10 hours of class time per week for students at the elementary level. This translates to one to two hours of guided learning per day, as opposed to the six to seven hours that kids would normally spend at school – leaving some parents wondering how to fill the rest of the day.

Gary Direnfeld, a social worker who has a private practice in Keswick, Ont., and offers counselling and conflict resolution services to families, said parents should know that this shift to at-home learning is inherently overwhelming and stressful. Before taking on the task of facilitating their child’s learning, he first wants parents to ask themselves whether they should do so at all.

“A good many parents will not be in the position to either know how, or to have the capacity with everything else going on, to provide for their children’s learning,” he told CTVNews.ca in a telephone interview.

He stressed that online learning is far from ideal for many families. For parents whose kids have learning differences stemming from ADHD, autism or mental health issues, sitting in front of a computer can present big challenges. “These parents should not be shamed or blamed but rather appreciated, understood and treated with compassion too,” he said.

Vidya Shah, an assistant professor at York University’s faculty of education, shared a similar perspective. In a news release from the university marking the one-month anniversary of Ontario's elementary school closures due to March Break and the COVID-19 pandemic, she said “we are asking too much of parents and teachers and we need to pull back on what the expectations are for children learning at home.”

She went on to say that “learning doesn’t happen because of a perfect, pre-packaged lesson ... Learning is happening everywhere and all the time – in the kitchen when you’re cooking, when you’re going for a walk and in conversation with your children about what’s happening on TV.”

This is the approach Montreal mother of three, Ruby Tagney, is taking with her children. “My approach is letting the kids be. They are absorbing this pandemic just like we are,” she told CTVNews.ca in a Facebook message.

Hasina Lookman is a mother of two and the founder and CEO of Explorerhop.com, an organization that focuses on teaching entrepreneurship and financial literacy to kids as young as six years old. She believes there are other ways to “rise to the challenge” presented by the pandemic.

In a phone interview with CTVNews.ca, Lookman said parents can use this as a teaching opportunity. They can show their kids how to turn negatives into positives by coming up with meaningful ways to spend their time.

Father and education strategist Dwayne Matthews sees this as the time for parents to embrace a personalized approach to learning, led by the child’s interests as opposed to a traditional curriculum. With the timeline of school closures still unclear, Matthews explained over the phone that “the disruption to school may become something that’s the new normal,” so families need to adapt.

For this reason, experts say it is helpful for kids to develop ways to continue learning outside of the classroom.

Teach practical skills

With so much time at home, Lookman says parents should “take the opportunity to teach their kids the things that they never have time for.” One big learning opportunity, she says, is money management. For example, parents can include their children in creating a budget and a weekly grocery list, to teach them how to shop for necessities when resources are scarce. They can also take this time to teach children financial literacy and how the stock market works. Lookman’s program teaches kids as young as 11 years old how to create a fantasy stock portfolio, starting with $10,000.

For artistic and creative projects, Lookman suggests getting crafty and teaching kids the basics of sewing. With a growing shortage of protective face masks, why not teach kids how to sew their own?  By showing them how to make the most of what’s available, Lookman believes parents are instilling resilience in their children.

Make learning fun and innovative

Tagney has asked her oldest daughters to read, write and play instruments in whatever capacity they feel comfortable with. “I’ve asked them to have a list of daily goals, none of which has to get done, but it’s something they can go to if they feel bored,” she said. “They have been creative, using their imagination, playing, building, painting, role-playing. Their ability to fill time with fun is amazing!”

When it comes to math, rather than printing off worksheets to be done at the dining table, Lookman recommends getting creative with household items. Her family has devised a program for her six-year-old called “Toilet Paper Math,”a new stream of algebra used to determine how much toilet paper each family member gets to use. In this exercise, kids get all the benefits of practicing division and multiplication, with a fun utilitarian twist.

Another way to make traditional learning fun is to incorporate technology. Lookman suggests having children create a blog or produce creative content for social media. For example, one of her students is creating TikTok videos about multiplication. In Lookman’s experience, children are motivated by the opportunity to use these platforms. These kinds of projects allow students to practice academic skills such as writing and math outside of the classroom through the lens of their own interests.

Try open-ended projects

In education strategist Dwayne Matthews’ household, this time has been spent focusing on high-level skills like critical thinking and independence through open-ended projects. For Matthews’ 10-year-old son, this has meant learning how to solve a Rubik’s cube and learning songs on the piano.

Together, Matthews and his son came up with an outline of resources and strategies – including trial and error, online tutorials and apps -- for his son to work with. Upon completing the project, his son will reflect on his process, taking stock of successes and challenges and prepare a presentation on his experience.

Matthews noted that parents are not necessarily equipped to suddenly become teachers, so taking on the role may not be the best approach. Instead, he recommends serving as the child’s guide by helping them develop a framework to achieve a goal that is personal rather than prescribed.

With this approach, solving the Rubik’s cube is not the most important lesson. As Matthews puts it, “the topic is irrelevant. What’s important is the framework and honing the skills.”

These projects are designed to foster critical thinking, self-directedness, and most importantly, an appreciation of the value of effort, he said. They also have the added benefit of freeing up a parent’s time.

“A parent working from home doesn’t have that much time,” Matthews said. “We make all of our projects long and rich and what that does for a parent is it buys you time in the day.”

Keep your expectations realistic

As opposed to setting lofty goals for achievement and progress, Direnfeld believes that a parent’s primary goal should be to maintain a reasonable relationship with their child in this difficult time.

“By placing the expectation on us to have a reasonable relationship with our children we’re going to monitor our own mood and behavior,” the social worker said. “We want to come across with calm and with compassion. With that we then enable our children to perform better because they can borrow our calm and then attend to the tasks they need to attend to.”

To that end, Vidya Shah wants parents to remember that this is a stressful time for everyone. “As best as they can, parents are encouraged to connect with their children, focus on their social and emotional well-being and ask them how they’re doing,” the professor said in the news release.

With three daughters at home, Ruby Tagney is doing just that.

“I feel like getting them to do school work is not something I want to do.” She believes that this time is rife with valuable life lessons.

“I don’t feel the need for academic work right now. They are learning about life, about keeping strong, about sacrifice for the collective. I think those are big learning curves.”