As a parent you already have a system for how to help your child succeed in
school. I always boiled my list down to these basics.

Set a reasonable bedtime
Offer good and healthy food
Communicate with their educators
Provide a place for them to do homework and study

This last item is where this post on online school will focus.

How to help your child with online learning:

Don’t let this new education system give you or your child any stress. Make online learning easy and stress-free with proper planning. Online learning has its pros and cons. Help your child in adjusting well with this new system, explore and learn about tips for parents for online learning and support your child.

The Specifics for Online School

With online school you will need more than just table, chair, pencil, and
paper. You will need a digital device connected to the internet. Ideally this
device will be either a laptop or desktop computer. Tablets and smartphones
are less ideal. If you do not have a computer for your child to use check with
your school district to see about the computer resources they offer.

Your first step in preparing your child for online school is to determine what
their computer situation will be.

• Will they be sharing your computer with you?
• Will siblings share a computer?
• Will your children each have their own computers?
• Will they be borrowing a computer from school?

Your goal is to establish a set up that makes it easy for your child to access
the stuff they need for school without getting it muddled with everything
else. You also need a reasonable way to monitor them and help them as
they do their work.

The Basic Elements of Online School

Tips for Parents for Online Leaning:

Online learning has now become a necessity, if you or child is struggling with this new education set-up, then read this article to know how to help your child with online school.

The idea of online school is new and many parents as well as students are struggling hard. Here we are sharing some basic tips for parents focusing how to help your child with online school.

1. Online school will start with your child’s computer screen (the desktop)
and its controls. When your child turns on the computer, they should
be able to open what they need quickly. Having everything in an easy
to find and consistent location on the computer screen will enable you
to actually say “Go do your schoolwork” and have them be able to get
started on their own.

2. The primary tool they will use within the computer will be a browser
(The program that navigates the internet). The most common
browsers I work with are Chrome, Edge, Safari, and Firefox. We will
need to determine which browser you want them to use and how to
set it up.

3. The other tool they will use will be the video conferencing program.
Common options are Zoom, Google Meet, Microsoft Teams, and your
child’s school will let you know which one they will use.

You Get to Choose the Browser Your Child Will Use

Chrome, Edge, Safari, or Firefox? You are busy, you have better things to do
than figure out which browser to use.

For this adventure I recommend Chrome. It is the only one that is able to
reliably do ALL the things I will recommend. We can compare browsers later,
for now let’s just use Chrome and get this done.

By its very nature online school will use several websites and other online
tools that can be organized within the features of Chrome. There are a few
settings you may need to adjust to take full advantage of what Chrome can
do for you.

You will gain the most benefit by associating your browser with a browser
profile account. For Chrome this means a Gmail account. Every Gmail
account has a Chrome browser profile attached to it whether you use it or
not.

This means that your first order of business for your child is to set up
individual Gmail accounts for each of them. Yes, each child needs their own
Gmail account, an account you will be able to monitor. This Gmail account
can follow them through life. It is free and will not be automatically
deactivated when they leave school or if you change internet service
providers.

Establish Your Child’s Chrome Account

One of the marvelous things about the Chrome Browser is that it allows you
to have multiple browser profiles open at the same time. This means that
while you are at your own computer you will be able to log into your child’s
browser account and organize their favorites, passwords, and review their
history even if they are using a different computer. If you share a computer,
this will allow them to open their own browser profile and not mess up your
stuff. Kids?! Right!

Take a look at the Chrome dashboard. Currently* in the upper right corner
of the dashboard. Is the mini profile icon of your browser account. It is often
the same profile icon as your Gmail account, but smaller. Click on that mini
profile icon.

This will open the option to add or create an account. Go through the steps
of entering your information and be sure to allow the data to sync at the
end. You may need to reconnect the sync from time to time. When your mini
profile icon says “paused” it is time to re-sync. Click on the icon to login
again to reconnect it.

If you are all on the same computer, you can still keep everything separate.
Notice that when you click on your mini profile icon you will see a list of the
other Chrome accounts you have access to. When you choose another
Chrome account it will open in a separate browser window that will contain
the favorites and settings associated with that account.

Take a tour of the settings in Chrome

Sometimes Chrome defaults to the settings you like and sometimes you
need to adjust them. Let’s take a look at some of the important settings in
Chrome.

Currently* settings are found in the upper right corner of the dashboard next
to your mini Chrome profile. When available they will be represented by 3
dots.

If the 3 dots are missing, you will need to do some Chrome maintenance.
Click on whatever is there and follow the instructions. Enable or disable
extensions (orange) or update Chrome (Green or Red). This maintenance
may log you out of things.

Eventually, you will see the 3 dots.

Turn On Your Bookmarks Bar
This bar will live within the dashboard of your browser and you will be able
to organize all the different websites involved in your child’s school where
they can be found easily.
Chrome —>  Show Bookmarks Bar  Bookmarks  3 Dots

Review The Password Manager Within Chrome*
Chrome has the ability to capture log in and password information within it’s
system, making it easy to successfully log in to all the various sites your
child may need. You are also able to view these passwords in the Chrome
settings.
Chrome —>  Passwords  Settings  3 Dots

Check Out The History
Occasionally you will need to clear out the cookies and cache of your child’s
browser to keep everything running smoothly. Make this a regular task and
include a quick look at your child’s history list to make sure they are on
track.
Chrome —>  Clear Browsing Data  History  History  3 Dots

Let’s Optimize the Browser

Now that your browser is identified, and your child’s Chrome account is set
up we can get to the fun stuff. As a parent/guardian you have most likely
been given a ton of resources (links to websites) of all the things that will
help you and your child navigate this online school thing. It is time to go find
these things and set them up.

Let’s start with the first resource.

Login And Passwords
The best resource to choose first is the the website that your child will use
as their primary log in. Visit that site and go through the process of logging
in. If you already know the log in credentials, then let the Chrome browser
save the information. If you turned on the save passwords feature in
settings it will ask if you want to save this information. You can say ok.

Note: If this is your first-time logging in you may need to establish a new
password. Do not let your password manager save your password until you
are satisfied with what you plan to use. Just tell it “not now” if it tries to
save it before you are ready. The login information in the Google password
vault cannot be edited. To fix wrong or changed passwords you may need to
delete the entry and let it save a new one. You can also choose a different
password manager like Lastpass or 1Password to keep passwords organized
and secure.

Bookmarks And The Bookmark Bar
Once you are safely logged on you can save this site to the “Bookmark bar”.
Click the star in the Chrome dashboard and it will automatically save it to
the last location you used. If this is not your “Bookmark Bar” you will need
to set it.

Once you have this first site set up, the rest is easy.

As you work you will notice that the entries will span across the bookmark
bar. Eventually, your bookmark bar will fill up and the entries will “fall off the
edge”. When this happens, you are ready to bookmark bar folders. Using
bookmark folders will exponentially expand your bookmark bar way beyond
anything your child will ever need.

[Bookmark Bar Image]

Now for Some Power Organizing with Bookmark Folders

When you have bookmarked each of the web pages important to your child’s
learning you can determine if they are limited enough to span the toolbar
and still be easily seen and accessible to your child or if further organization
is necessary. If any of the bookmarks “falls off” the bar then we will need to
create folders.

Here are a few folder organization ideas. Use the ones that resonate.

Don’t get too complicated, it can be as simple as

• School – classroom portal, assignment lists, school dashboards,
  homework download pages.
• Fun – for games and personal Interests

Or more complicated like

• School
  o Math
  o English
  o Science
• Research
  o Sports
  o News
• Hobbies
• Fun

As your child progresses, categories will become clearer. Add them as you
need.

Often you will need a website that is comprised of several links to other
pages. It is ok to bookmark just the main page. It is also ok to bookmark a
few of the pages your child needs to visit regularly.

Regularly Monitor Your Child’s Chrome Account

The virtual world provides uncontrolled exposure to children. Keeping track of your children’s online activity is for their good. Even if you are busy you have to keep in mind that your child’s safety and concern are the utmost. The tips for parents for online learning is not all about the way children study, but it focuses on their well being as well. Here are some truth that one cannot deny as a parents:

• You are busy.
• It is not reasonable to monitor your child’s internet activity 100
  percent of the time.
• You are the best authority on how much (or how little) supervision
  your child needs.
• Here are the things you can evaluate regularly. (You decide what
  regularly means – I generally consider it a week for this)

But keep in mind the monitoring should not create a wall of secrecy or lack of trust between you two. Read more: “How To Create New Relationships With Your Adult Children

Their bookmarks

Whether you teach them or the figure it out on their own your child may
create their own bookmarks. You have the opportunity to help them learn
sustainable organizational skills.

When bookmarks fall off the bar you can create folders. You can delete
duplicate or old bookmarks. You can show them how to maneuver their
bookmarks into folders.

The browser history

Your kids will get curious and will search for things, random things, weird
things. This is perfectly normal, and you can investigate their history to
remain aware of the things they are interested in and curious about. They
may find some really fun things for you to enjoy together.

Clear cookies and cache

When the browser cache is full the internet misbehaves. “Clearing cache” is
one of the most useful troubleshooting techniques out there. Just below
“turning it off and back on” again.

Your Child’s/Children’s Computer

Now that you have set up your child’s browser account you can load it onto
the computer they will use (open Chrome and log in) This may be your
computer, or it may be their computer. This is where the power of Chrome
accounts is most useful.

Your last step, if you choose, will be to add these Chrome accounts as icons
on your desktop or toolbar/dock.

If you are using a PC:
Chrome  3 Dots  Settings  Chrome Name and picture  Look for little
switch that says Add to Desktop. Once it is added to the desktop you can
drag it to your toolbar, Rt. Click the icon and pin it.

If you are using a MAC: Chrome  Open the best starting webpage page  3
Dots  more tools  Create Shortcut  When the window with the icon
appears you can drag it to your Dock, Rt. Click the icon and check the option
to “Keep it in Dock”.

Good Luck

This change in the way our children are learning is monumental. We can
decide to view it as devastating and fight it with our words, emotions, and
energy, or we can embrace it as new learning and use it to encourage
learning in our children. Don’t be afraid to try new things and don’t let your
technology bully you.

For more tips and ideas on how to make your digital office behave play the
Rescue My Digital Office Game from Luxcentric.
www.luxcentric.com/game

See you around the internet,
Nicole

*Note: The “how-to” of anything in technology is subject to change and
would likely be out of date as soon as I hit “publish” on this blog. You can
use the information I have provides as clues to get it done.

Also Read : How To Create New Relationships With Your Adult Children

about

Nicole Lux-Ritchie

It all began when my grandmother asked me to help her learn how to use the computer. She was 80 at the time and it is because of her (In a variety of ways) that I am doing what I can to help anyone, no matter their technological skill, get control of their technology situation. She encouraged me to share my ability to take complex topics and break them down into simple steps and normal language.

My mission now is to help professionals gain the technical skills they need to grow their business and focus on their vision. Luxcentric is dedicated to training, using practical strategies, in the area of the core technologies. Email - Files - Calendars - Contacts

Don’t let your Technology Bully You!

Please check out the great conversations I have been having in the Fave Lifestyles group. Fave Lifestyles Posts with Nicole