Category: Education

Most families teaching at home think they are choosing a curriculum. What they are usually choosing first, without noticing, is a format. A program bought in September as a set of books commits the household to one kind of day.

The same subject bought as a subscription commits it to a different one, and the difference shows up in who marks the work, how much of the morning can run without an adult in the room, and how many hours a child spends looking at a screen.

That last consequence is the one families feel and the one they usually discover late. Screen time in a home classroom is not really decided by a rule about screen time. It is decided months earlier, at checkout, one subject at a time.

It is worth seeing the trade laid out before buying anything. Numa School, an official school of record for homeschooling families, sets its curriculum comparison out subject by subject, and Numa School’s comparison of online and print homeschool curriculum goes further into the format question itself, including what a fully online school day adds up to in hours. Seeing that in advance is what turns format into a decision rather than something a household discovers in November.

There are two kinds of print, and the difference matters more than the format

The most common reason a family rules out paper is that they believe print means teaching every lesson themselves. For about half of print programs that is true, and for the other half it is not.

Parent-led programs hand the adult a teacher’s guide and expect them to run the lesson. They are the most involved option available and they are also the most effective in early elementary, when a parent is sitting at the table anyway and reading and arithmetic foundations are being built.

Programs written to the student put the instruction on the page. A child reads the explanation, works through the practice, and needs an adult only when something breaks. Plenty of upper elementary, middle school and nearly all high school texts work this way.

Check which kind a program is before ruling out paper for lack of time. What print always requires, in both varieties, is the grading. Nothing marks itself.

What online actually buys

Online programs are almost always written to the student. Lessons arrive as video, text or both, most assessments are marked automatically, and progress is tracked in the platform, so a parent can see where a child stands without marking a page.

That is a real purchase and it is worth naming honestly. It buys back a morning. It covers a subject a parent does not want to teach, which by high school is usually one of the sciences or a language. It suits a large family, or a household where an adult works, because it lets one child move independently while another is being taught directly. And it gives instant feedback to a child who stalls without it.

What it costs is less visible. Screen hours accumulate. It is harder for a student to show working, and harder for a parent to see thinking rather than a score, which means a misunderstanding can run for weeks behind a set of passing marks. And access usually ends when the subscription does, so nothing stays on a shelf for a younger sibling.

Put a number on the screen time before you buy

The useful discipline is arithmetic rather than principle. A video-and-practice program tends to run around thirty to forty-five minutes per subject per day. Multiply by the subjects a family is considering putting online, and a fully online school day for one child lands somewhere between two and four hours of screen time depending on the grade.

Some households look at that number and accept it. Many look at it and change the plan, which usually means running one or two subjects online, typically math and whichever subject the parent would rather not teach, and keeping the rest on paper. Either answer is defensible. What is not defensible is arriving at four hours by accident and then arguing about screen time as though it were a discipline problem.

There is a second number worth checking. Whatever the school day costs in screen hours sits on top of everything else a child does on a device that day. A family that has budgeted an hour of recreational screen time has not really budgeted an hour if the school day already spent three. The American Academy of Pediatrics makes the same point in its Family Media Plan, which asks a household to account for the whole day rather than police a single limit. That framing is the right one here, because in a home classroom a large share of those hours is school.

Choose by subject, not for the whole household

Framing this as a single decision is what makes it hard. Almost nobody ends up entirely in one lane, and the families who are happiest with their setup chose subject by subject.

The pattern that recurs is a progression rather than a split. Paper in the early grades, when an adult is at the table regardless. Subjects move online as a child gets more independent and more comfortable working alone. By high school the balance usually tips toward online, especially for advanced courses a parent would rather not teach.

Two things push against that drift and are worth protecting. Handwriting does not survive a keyboard. And where a child will be assessed on paper, whether that is standardized testing or an evaluated portfolio, some of the preparation should happen on paper too, because format is part of what is being practiced.

The safety setup is different for each lane

Format also changes what a household has to secure, and this is the part most families do last.

An online curriculum means accounts, so give each child their own rather than sharing a family login. The safety reason is obvious. The academic reason is stronger and rarely mentioned: adaptive programs place a child from their answer history, so two children on one login are placed by a blend of both, and neither gets what was paid for.

Filtering has to sit below the browser. A filter installed as a browser extension is defeated by opening a different browser, which a nine-year-old will manage by accident inside a month. Applied at the network or at the operating system level, it survives that and it covers the tablet a grandparent bought as well as the laptop the schoolwork runs on. Prefer controls a child knows about to hidden ones, particularly with teenagers, where what covert monitoring costs when it is discovered is usually more than it was protecting.

Then there is what the platform itself can see. The federal rules that govern school records, set out by the U.S. Department of Education in the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act, bind schools and the vendors acting on their behalf. A family buying a subscription directly is generally outside that arrangement, so the protection is whatever the terms of service say. Four questions answer it: what is recorded beyond scores, how long it is kept, whether anything is shared for advertising, and whether the account and its history can be deleted when the subscription ends. Any provider worth buying answers all four in writing, and the answers are easier to find before purchase than after.

Print has none of that surface, which is a genuine advantage and not a small one. It also has no automatic record of what was done, which is the trade coming back around the other way.

Special education depends on people. Teachers, paraprofessionals, school psychologists, speech-language pathologists, and other specialists each contribute to services for students with disabilities. When schools cannot fill these positions, the effects can reach far beyond an open job posting.

Staffing gaps can make it harder for schools to consistently provide the support outlined in students’ individualized education programs (IEPs).

Shortages Affect Multiple Specialties

Staffing problems are not limited to special education teachers. Schools may also struggle to recruit and retain related service providers, behavioral specialists, psychologists, and instructional aides.

The challenge can be particularly significant in rural districts and other areas with a limited pool of qualified professionals. Some specialties also require credentials that reduce the number of candidates who can immediately step into a vacant position.

Schools may respond by sharing specialists across buildings, using contracted professionals, or adopting telepractice for appropriate services. These approaches can fill specific gaps, but they still require scheduling, coordination, and oversight.

Higher Caseloads Change the School Day

An unfilled position redistributes work. A special education teacher may take responsibility for additional students. A psychologist may cover several schools. Paraprofessionals may be reassigned to classrooms with the most immediate needs.

As caseloads grow, professionals have less time for planning, documentation, collaboration, and individual student support. Meetings and evaluations still need to occur, and IEP goals still require attention.

Workload also includes communication with families and general education teachers. Those responsibilities can become harder to manage when staff members spend much of the day responding to immediate student needs.

Related Services Require Consistent Access

Some students receive speech-language therapy, physical therapy, counseling, or occupational therapy for schools as part of their special education programs. Vacancies in these roles can create scheduling difficulties, particularly when one provider serves students across several campuses.

Consistency matters because related services are connected to specific educational needs and IEP goals. Schools therefore need systems for tracking scheduled services, missed sessions, provider availability, and student progress.

Temporary staffing solutions should still allow professionals to communicate with teachers and families. A provider who sees a student briefly each week needs relevant information about how that student functions throughout the school day.

Staffing Is Also a Retention Issue

Recruitment alone cannot solve persistent vacancies. Districts also need to examine why employees leave. Large caseloads, limited planning time, and difficult working conditions can contribute to turnover. When experienced employees depart, schools also lose institutional knowledge.

Retention efforts can include mentoring for newer employees, manageable workloads, useful professional development, and scheduled collaboration time. Compensation matters, but day-to-day working conditions also influence whether professionals remain in their positions.

Schools Need Plans Before Vacancies Occur

Districts can prepare by monitoring vacancy trends, caseloads, retirement eligibility, certification pipelines, and hard-to-fill specialties. Partnerships with universities may help create student-teaching or clinical placement pipelines that introduce future professionals to the district.

Special education staffing gaps ultimately affect students most. Filling vacancies is important, but stable services also depend on manageable workloads, strong retention practices, accurate service tracking, and planning. Look over the infographic below for more information.

For kids who are used to tapping and swiping on tablets, a mechanical keyboard can feel unfamiliar at first. They suddenly need to find individual keys, coordinate their fingers and remember where each letter belongs without looking. That adjustment can take time, but with playful support, it can be an exciting journey.

With a little creativity, you can turn keyboard practice into something kids enjoy. Simple games, tactile activities and short routines can help them build confidence and develop stronger typing habits.

Why the Switch to a Keyboard Can Be Tricky

Using a tablet can feel easy for kids. They tap letters, swipe or use autocorrect to assist. But using a mechanical keyboard is different, requiring more deliberate and coordinated finger movements. Keyboards vary in size, layout and key movement, while a tablet’s screen has smaller, closely spaced keys.

These differences can disrupt students’ muscle memory, the repeated finger movements that help typing become more automatic. When this happens, kids may type more slowly, make mistakes or feel frustrated searching for keys.

1. Start With Exploration

Before students start typing words or sentences, you can let them get familiar with the keyboard. Give children keyboards and let them explore. Provide simple challenges, such as finding the letter C or identifying vowels. You can have students run their fingers along the rows of keys and notice how they feel.

You should also point out the small bumps on the F and J keys, which help them find the home-row position by touch instead of always looking down. Once kids know where to find the keys and how the keyboard feels under their fingertips, learning proper typing skills becomes much less intimidating.

You can also use this early exploration time to help kids build proper sitting habits while typing. Encourage kids to sit comfortably, shoulders relaxed and elbows close to their sides. Proper posture reduces muscle strain and improves spinal support.

2. Try Keyboard Hacks

Students need to build finger strength, coordination and muscle memory to use mechanical keyboards. Simple hands-on activities can help develop these skills. You can start with small, removable stickers on a few keys. Use one color for left-hand keys, another for right-hand keys and mark home-row keys with a bright color. These visual cues help students remember correct finger placement.

You can also have students make a paper keyboard and practice placing their fingers on the correct keys. Call out short words and have them type by pressing the matching paper keys, letting them practice movements without the pressure of using spring-loaded keys.

Additionally, students with special needs may find regular keyboards challenging. Small keys and complex layouts may be frustrating for them, so consider adaptive keyboards with larger, easier-to-press keys or color-coded layouts.

3. Turn Typing Into a Game

Quick typing games give kids a chance to try out the finger movements, find keys and build confidence without feeling like they’re doing another worksheet. In fact, in game-based learning, students show higher levels of retention, engagement and participation.

You can try these games:

• Keyboard treasure hunt: Call out a letter and have students search for it on their keyboards. Once found, they cover the key with a sticker or piece of paper. Have them start with familiar letters and gradually include numbers, punctuation and less common keys, like command keys.

• Finger detective: Choose a letter and ask, “Which finger should type this?” Students then point to the correct finger and press the key. This helps reinforce finger placement and keeps the lesson interactive.

• Word builder: Give students familiar words like cat, sun or house. Have them find each letter on their paper keyboard, then type the word on a real keyboard. This two-step activity connects letter recognition to typing.

4. Focus on Accuracy

A common mistake you can make when teaching beginners is emphasizing typing speed too soon. For a child who is still learning where the keys are, being asked to type quickly can create frustration. Instead, divide typing into smaller skills, such as learning the home row, practicing individual finger movements and typing short words. By sectioning complex skills into smaller, easier-to-remember components and providing ongoing feedback, students can make substantial progress in a short period.

5. Make Progress Visible

You can give your students a simple way to see their progress. Create a classroom keyboard challenge where students can check off skills as they learn them, such as typing their name, using both hands or keying a short sentence. You can do the same thing at home with a small checklist on the refrigerator or near the computer. Keep each goal simple and achievable, and celebrate progress along the way.

You should also remind students that mistakes are part of learning. Typing is a motor skill, so it’s completely normal for their fingers to feel awkward at first. Give them time to practice and celebrate small wins. These early successes at typing can free kids to think more clearly and create better texts.

Small Steps to Stronger Typing Skills

Use simple activities, tactile practice, quick games and short, consistent routines to make learning feel easier and more enjoyable. You can encourage kids to explore the keys, use proper finger placement and celebrate small improvements along the way. With patience, positive feedback and plenty of opportunities to practice, children can develop the skills they need to become comfortable, capable keyboard users.

Tessa Dodson is the Senior Writer at Classrooms.com and a former career coach dedicated to supporting teachers and students with practical and accessible educational resources.

When she’s not writing, you can find her diving into research or catching up with her latest read.

Picture this: you’re standing in the doorway of a childcare centre, watching a room full of little humans, and trying to figure out if this is the right place for your kid. It’s a lot to take in. The noise, the colour, the sticky hands. And somewhere in that chaos, you’re supposed to spot whether this program is actually any good.

Here’s the thing. Quality isn’t always obvious at first glance. A shiny building with fancy toys can hide a pretty average program, and a slightly worn-in room can be home to some of the best educators you’ll ever meet.

So how do you tell the difference? Let’s talk about it.

The educators actually seem to like the kids

Ever noticed how you can walk into a room and just feel the vibe? Same goes for early education.

Good educators get down on the floor. They make eye contact with the little ones. They talk with kids, not at them. You’ll see them kneeling beside a toddler who’s mid-meltdown over a dropped biscuit, calm as anything, helping them work through it.

The truth is, warm and responsive relationships between staff and children are one of the strongest signs you’re in a good place. Kids who feel safe learn better. It’s really that simple.

There’s a rhythm, not just rules

A quality program has structure, but it doesn’t feel like a boot camp. There’s a flow to the day. Time for play, time for rest, time for messy art that ends up on the ceiling somehow.

Look for a program that balances free play with guided activities. Children learn heaps through play, and the best centres know this. Many well-regarded early education and preschool centres build their whole approach around letting kids explore while gently steering them toward new skills.

Curious what “steering” looks like? It might be an educator turning a game of stacking blocks into an early lesson about counting and balance. Sneaky, but brilliant.

Communication that goes both ways

Good centres talk to you. Not just when something goes wrong, either.

They’ll tell you what your kid got up to, what they ate, whether they had a big nap or a tiny one. Some send photos. Some have a quick chat at pickup. The point is, you’re not left guessing.

The other day a parent mentioned they knew more about their toddler’s day than their teenager’s. Fair enough, really.

Now, the red flags

This part’s a bit tricky, because not every warning sign is a dealbreaker. But some are worth a second look.

High staff turnover is a big one. If the faces keep changing every few months, that’s usually a sign something’s off behind the scenes. Kids need consistency, and so do you.

Watch out for a place that won’t let you visit properly, or seems cagey about their routines and policies. Transparency matters. A quality centre has nothing to hide.

And be a little wary of overcrowding. If there seem to be far too many kids and not nearly enough adults, that’s a genuine concern. Ratios exist for a reason.

Another quiet red flag? Kids who seem bored or disengaged. Little ones are naturally curious. If a whole room of them looks flat, something’s not clicking.

Trust your gut, mostly

You won’t get a perfect checklist moment where everything lines up. Real life is messier than that.

But if the kids seem happy, the staff seem genuine, and you leave feeling reassured rather than uneasy, you’re probably onto something good. And honestly? That feeling counts for a lot.