3 Teaching Tips for you to teach Virtual Montessori Art Lessons

By now, everyone knows about or has experienced virtual lessons at home. Whether you’re a school owner, teacher, or parent, school closures may quickly be affecting you in a number of ways. Mobilizing quickly by delivering school lessons and instructions online can make dealing with this unprecedented situation so much easier.

This might not be a smooth transition because many families have to figure out childcare and balance work routines. So, as an educator, you might have to support families remotely and start delivering weekly virtual lessons.

School Closures – Supporting Virtual Lessons for Home

I homeschooled my own children over the span of 20 years and now support thousands of teachers and families across the world with virtual lessons. Based on my experience—both as a teacher and a parent, seeing both sides of things—here are some suggestions to hopefully make this transition a little smoother for everyone involved. 

Tip 1: Scheduling

The best way to support parents who are now faced with teaching their own kids at home is to give them simple virtual lessons that can be done in short chunks of time. This will make it easier for them to integrate their lessons as they deal with working from home on their own or trying to cook for and entertain potentially several different kids at once. Parents are not trained to manage a full day of virtual lessons, but if you can break subjects down into time blocks, they will really appreciate you. Help parents teach subjects in 20-40 minute patterns weaved throughout the week. Make scheduling easy to understand: 20-minute math lesson, 20 minutes of reading, 20-minute language arts lesson, 20-minute art lesson, 20 minutes of whatever other subject; and this can be given daily or weekly (just adjust the times as necessary.)

Tip 2: Virtual Support

Lesson instructions should be kept simple—with just two to three steps per lesson. They don’t have the extensive training you have and resources to instruct more difficult lessons. Make sure whatever virtual lessons you give are easy enough for students to follow on their own (that’s how simple they should be!). On top of providing simple lessons, make sure you’re able to support families either via phone (calls or text) or online. Parents will need reassurance that they are doing okay, and just knowing they have your support will be a big help. Create a schedule for you to regularly check in with your families or for them to get in touch with you if they have questions until school is back in. (Calendly is a great resource for appointment scheduling!) 

Tip 3: Include Art Lessons

Art lessons are perfect for stay-at-home days! I’d recommend including them in the lessons you send home—even if you haven’t started teaching them in your classroom yet. Art is a process-based and discovery-based activity, so kids don’t need very much guidance from their parents. That means parents can set out an art lesson and then walk away knowing their children are able to work and create quietly. And if you need some support or art lesson ideas, then I’m here to help! I’m in the best position to support you with my virtual art training services, and new art curriculums, including:

• Kids Painting – 57 Master Key Brushstroke Lessons
• Kids Color Theory – 37 Master Key Mixing Lessons
• Clay Modeling – 27 Master Key Modeling Lessons

Bonus Tip for Parents

Here’s a tip you can pass along to your students’ parents:

Parents, you shouldn’t try to turn your kitchen into a full-time classroom. You’ll end up stressed, and your child will resist the work. Trust me, I went through years battling this out with my own son and daughter. Make it fun, just show your kids what needs to be done for the week and work out a schedule together. Make sure TV time, screen time, chores, outside play time, and any other fun activities are a part of their schedule. Ask them which hours or days they want to focus on a subject, because if they plan their day with you, it will be an agreement and commitment they will understand. Agreements are better than a demand, such as “You have to do it now,” which will add stress to anyone. This also helps kids build independence and accountability.

Have Questions? Need Help? Want More Support? Let’s Chat!

I offer free consultations throughout the year to help you figure out what will work best for your classroom, school, students, or own children. These next few days or weeks where schools are closed are the perfect time to reevaluate your teaching needs. So if this is something that interests you, just reach out to me with an email.

And on that note, I’ll be sending out another email in a few days with art resources and an invite to a free webinar on this topic. If you have questions you want answered or suggestions you’d like me to include, I would love to hear from you!

Sending you love and light during these hard times!