If your favorite student has been struggling with the major physical upheaval of having in-person school canceled through the rest of the year, you should know that they’re not alone: the pandemic that’s forced the shutdown of every brick-and-mortar has also barred athletes from championship games, theater lovers from final bows, and seniors from their graduation ceremonies.

Although you’ve always strived to give your student the best possible schooling experience possible—and provide them with consistency, stability, and normalcy—there are some events that just can’t be anticipated. You want to salvage what you can of the year, but you’re not sure where to start: after all, how do you replace some of those milestone experiences, and make learning online in virtual school fun and accessible? Read on for some ideas on how to make the rest of the school year—and this upcoming summer quarter—memorable for more reasons than one.

It’s Okay to Not Be Okay

According to experts in the fields of social work, child psychology, and education, right now it really is okay for your child to “not be okay.” Make sure that you are all ears when they need to share their feelings with you, especially when they are expressing feelings of loss or grief. Although your student is still working through their coursework online, they are mourning the loss of some physical, in-person milestones. Encourage them to stay connected with their friends and their teachers; at Mountain Heights online school, for example, some of the state’s best teachers are readily accessible to help meet any student’s needs. Online schooling allows for scheduling flexibility, so you can work around any instructor’s class schedule to set up some private check-ins.

The Future is Out There

Most critically, help foster your student’s faith in themselves and their futures—let them brainstorm ways to make new, less-conventional milestones, and support their creativity. A few options to optimize online learning and virtual school include:

• Inviting family and friends to a “virtual” graduation. If you have a high school senior at home, head to the nearest, properly socially-distanced park, and snap a few great photos of your teen to add to a grad “slideshow.” Work together on collecting the names of all the most important friends and family that your teen would like to see at their graduation, and meet up online to celebrate.
• Talk to your teen: is the flexibility of virtual school enhancing their learning, or do they miss the structure of traditional school to stay on task? If it’s the latter, and you’re lucky enough to be working from home, work on a schedule together, and check in on their task lists during the school day. If you’re an essential worker and unable to be on site with your student, then feel free to text and call.
• Plan for the summer together: as the first wave of the pandemic wanes and more opportunities for safe and socially-distanced travel and outdoor activities open up, start planning out some hiking trails and parks to visit. This is also an opportunity to continue some fun and valuable online learning at a much more flexible and steady pace, allowing your student to grab some credits for the next year and accomplish some personal growth goals. Mountain Heights offers a wide selection of online summer courses to intrigue and inspire.

Not So Rocky Road

The transition to online learning at the outset of the crisis may have been a rocky one, but you and your students can be hopeful as you look to the future. Between virtual meetups and graduations—and continued virtual school over the summer—there’s plenty to look forward to. Keep an open ear when you listen to your student discuss their feelings, and work together towards new kinds of memories.