This guide will help you prepare for your child’s homeschooling year ahead

How To Choose Furniture…
Garima Agarwal, founder of Peekaboo Interiors, says, “Ergonomics is the key. The study desk and chairs need to be of the correct height enabling the online schooling gadget to be at eye level, thereby avoiding unnecessary strain on the back, neck, or eyes of the child. For storage, neatly classified cabinets or baskets with labels will help in keeping their books, stationary and any other essentials organized.” Choosing a table that has enough drawers to keep everything in one place, makes sure that the child doesn’t have to leave the table during class.

Furniture that is multifunctional is the need of the hour. For people who live in apartments, managing space is crucial. In such a case a desk that can be folded and shut post classes is an option. Solis work table-cum-bookshelf is one such product by the House of Asian Paints that provides sufficient storage and can be shut post school. For older kids, investing in a chair that provides adequate back support is essential.

On the other hand, Manju suggests a hack: “Cover the desk with a layer of brown baking sheet paper. This way if the kids want to scribble away or happen to make some paint splashes, the table below isn’t affected. This paper will also catch eraser rubbings and pencil shavings easily, rather than have everything fall on the floor.”

Garima mentions a few important points in this area, “Having a nice pin-up board around their study area helps in keeping their to-do lists, timetable and other school essentials handy. Here, you can also put up some motivational quotes, or a few happy photos to nurture their emotional quotient. Another thing you can easily do is put a small indoor plant on their desk. This helps in rejuvenating their eyes after long hours of screen time due to the healing power of the colour green.”

How To Be Techonologically Equipped…
Other than the screen of choice, a good Wi-Fi setup, voice cancelling headphones, speakers, anti-glare screens, blue shield glasses and printers have become a tool kit for making the most of digital schooling. Along with these, new products have been introduced to further enhance the learning experience. For e.g. A projector device has been introduced. This helps make the screen on your phone reflect on your wall in 10 times its original size making viewing the class easier.

Parents who have children entering the online schooling system for the first time this year, make sure to discuss the school’s tech requirements before you make expensive purchases. Many schools prefer kids to work on laptops or desktops rather than tablets. Reduce the risk of redundancy by discussing this with the school beforehand.

How Parents Could Balance Work And School…
Mansi Zaveri, founder of Kids Stop Press, shares how she does it, “Planning ahead and maintaining a schedule helps the most. We have a common digital planner where we fill in our schedules, a day in advance. So, my kids know what they are supposed to do throughout the day and when they absolutely cannot disturb me. Since I have two kids, my husband and I have divided the responsibilities for school hours. If you have younger kids that need complete attention during class, you can make a request at work to excuse you for those many hours. Workplaces have become accepting of this due to the current situation.”

Many parents opt for parental lock on their gadgets. This is done so that if they are not around the child during class, they can still make sure that the child isn’t getting distracted with other activities like browsing the internet or playing games. Apple products now allow Screen Time to be controlled via Family Sharing on a parent’s phone. Parents can allow the essentials while blocking the entertainment apps for afterschool.

With a tech-savvy digital-native generation, parents have to adapt and innovate. “Afterall, parenting is a unique combination of art and science,” laughs Priya.