The last few days most of us have seen shops closing, schools shutting down and our whole way of life changing due to the spread of the new coronavirus. Since many of you have to stay at home while schools are closed or choose remote work, you will have to spend a lot of your time with restless kids who are not used to staying in and who understand your anxiety.
Our guess is that kids tend to spend a lot of time on their computers and phones and parents tend to urge them to stop doing so altogether. During times like this, however, technology can be your friend. As long as you find the happy medium. Greek Lessons OnLine is here to bring you some suggestions that will reduce both parents’ and children’s cabin fever and make sure kids spend some creative and fun time at home using technology in the best possible way. And why not see this as the right time to boost their “Greekness” a bit?
- Make comics together. A lot of kids and teenagers love comic books. How about they made one of their own with your help and support. There are quite a few free websites and programs you can work with to help you make a comic book on your own. Maybe you could urge them to do it in Greek and if they are Greek LOL students, they can definitely ask their teachers to help them with the language. Or if they are still beginners, maybe you could encourage them to use characters from the Greek mythology. Zeus meeting Iron Man sounds great, doesn’t it?
- Vlogging. Kids love youtubers! If you ask a group of 12 to 15 year olds what they want to be when they grow up, half of them will say “youtuber”. Maybe this is the chance to encourage them to do something creative instead of just watching their favorite youtubers for hours. You could vlog together. You can be the director and they can be the star youtuber, talking about their day, pretending they are chefs cooking Greek recipes their grandma makes or reviewing movies they love. You decide on the topic and maybe help them do it in Greek. When it’s done you can share it with friends or family to help your children feel connected while staying in.
- Group classes. All of the above are great ways to spend creative time with your kids, but they demand a lot of your time which might be a luxury for many parents. To keep them involved with something educational and fun that will also involve remote socializing, you could organize semi-private lessons of Greek. They could start classes of Greek with their cousins or best friends from their Church Greek School in one of Greek LOL’s online classes. In this way, they could use this time to improve their Greek through fun lessons designed based on their needs and aiming to keep them interested in Greek language and culture. Learning Greek at Greek LOL at this time mostly aims to make sure kids are active parts of an online community that is stronger than ever during trying times when everybody needs good spirits and motivation.
Stay healthy, stay calm and overuse your computers creatively! We are all in this together!