Melanie Rasmussen, owner of Reach for the Stars Tutoring, joined us on a recent episode of Lenard Team Connections. She shared tips on what parents can do to help their children adjust to learning, playing, and socializing from home. Keep reading for more information, or listen to the full conversation here.

Can you tell us about Reach for the Stars Tutoring and how you're adjusting your services right now?

We've been in business for 16 years and we have a staff of about 50 teachers working for us. Traditionally, pre-Coronavirus, we provided services in kids’ homes, at their local libraries, and we did some online tutoring. 

As soon as we started to see the writing on the wall as far as quarantining, we were proactive. We got our teachers all trained in providing online tutoring sessions in different platforms, because not every student is comfortable with every platform. So this way we have choices and options for the students. We do individual tutoring, we can also do small group, and we can do larger group through things like Zoom.

Prior to this had had your tutors ever used tools like Zoom and FaceTime to do tutoring, or is new to you?

For the most part, even though we said we offered online tutoring, most parents really preferred in person, somebody sitting next to their child. So truly, this was a learning experience for all of us. Now that we have been proactive, we can offer this service going forward. 

We're all in this new situation working and learning from home. What advice do you have for parents of school-aged children in regards to learning from home?

First and foremost, give yourselves a break. We're all doing the best we can. We're going to make mistakes. Not everything is going to go right. 

Knowing it won’t be perfect, here are some tips for managing learning from home:

• Help your child create a quiet, dedicated spot for their online learning someplace in the house. Let them be a part of choosing a spot so they take ownership. 

• Develop a consistent schedule and routine. 

• Help your children prioritize their assignments and manage their time. It's actually a really good skill for them to have for the rest of their life to be able to do that. 

• Make sure they have all their necessary materials and tools on hand. 

• Know when to take a break. Some kids (and adults) like to plow right through things, others need breaks. 

• Encourage and support your child’s independence and reward their efforts and their achievements.

How do you suggest balancing structured learning time with play and downtime for kids?

More isn't always better. And that's true in life. Try not to stress throughout this process. Again, remember, we're all in the same boat. We're all having challenges. 

This is unprecedented for every one of us, from school teachers and administrators, to the parents and for the children. 

If you are having some difficulty and your child is having difficulty, reach out to the teachers, they are there, they're accessible, you can email them or reach out to them through Google Classroom. 

Again, help your children to create some kind of schedule so they have that balance. Some students will get up in the morning and just plow through it and then play the rest of the day. Other students would rather be a night owl and sleep in a little bit and get the work done later. This is a real great opportunity for students and parents to really learn about time management strategies. 

Someone gave me this advice: Try to do one of the following four categories, one per day.

• Something that's intellectually or mentally stimulating. 

• Something that's physically stimulating. 

• Something that's social. 

• Something that's mindless. 

There's a certain amount of guilt in doing things that are mindless because It seems like we should always be doing something. But you're saying, allow ourselves to have that time for our brains to rest.

Yes. Not all the time, of course; you have to get your work done. But allow yourself permission at least once a day to do something mindless, that takes your head and brain away from everything.

What are the updates that you have for New York Public Schools that parents should know about?

I think everybody heard by now, all schools and non-essential businesses are going to stay closed through at least April 29. 

The Board of Regents announced yesterday all June Regents Exams are canceled. They came out with some more information just a little while ago. Basically, they're going to give students credit for the course, but the June exams are canceled. They're going to change the graduation requirements so that they're not required. Any students that failed the actual class, they can have the opportunity to retake it in summer school. 

According to what I'm reading, it doesn't look like they'll be taking the regents in August either, and that's honestly fair because their peers didn't have to do it in June. But if they didn't master the class material, that's important, and they'll get the chance to do that again in summer school. 

I also found out about AP exams. Those are advanced placement exams that high school students are taking to get college course credit. Those are still happening, those are important because, again, they're for college credit. So those are going to be happening in May.

AP Exams are going to be held online. It's going to be a condensed version of the test. The exams are usually two to three hours long. This is going to be about 45 minutes long, so significantly shorter. They're going to structure the test to make sure they're addressing the material that most of the students should have covered by early March in their classroom. So it should be something that's fair and gives kids a fair shot at really passing the exam.

Before we continue, there's something we need to touch upon. And that's the fact that through all of this, you are also donating tutoring time for families in need. Can you just tell us about that?

Sure. So the best way to reach out to me is on Facebook. We're doing our best to offer as much as we can. I've connected with a few families where parents are first responders. They're on the front lines, they have so much added stress on their daily plate. And the last thing they need to stress about is to worry about their kids completing their assignments or struggling with geometry. So for families where there's first responders, we are offering up to 10 families, free one-hour per week online tutoring until we go back to school. 

Also if there's families that are really struggling, and there's a lot of them, we're working with families. We’ll work out whatever we can with payment plans to make sure that the students are getting what they need, and that we can ease the stress a little bit on the families.