Posts

Supporting Families and Communities During COVID-19

/0 Comments/in /by

We all could agree that 2020 isn’t what we’d been hoping for. So many things are happening in such a short period of time and it affects us all.

At the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic, our first thought was: Okay, it’ll be hard, but how can we help? Our Nobel team gathered together and started working even harder so we could provide help for those in need.

Nobel Coaching & Tutoring provides support for families

Our Coaches and Tutors are dedicated to supporting kids in achieving their academic and personal goals. They’re keeping kids learning and engaged, preparing them for SAT/ACT/SSAT/ISEE tests, helping them overcome their fears and the challenges they’re facing, helping them boost their internal motivation… In short, Nobel Coaches and Tutors are here to help students make their dreams come true.

However, we don’t support only the students  but the whole family as well. These unprecedented times hit us all hard, but it seems that parenting is especially harder these days. That’s why we’re here to help parents who’ve been homeschooling their kids these past few months, help families provide the best study support to their students, and ease the struggles they’ve been facing.

 

Meet Nobel Coaches and Tutors

 

Nobel Explorers keeping kids engaged and connected

Schools are closed and many summer camps are canceled. However, every child deserves to learn. We want to help children around the world stay healthy, engaged, and educated. How do we do that? We’ve been offering our FREE online STEM (and teamwork skills!) classes!

Through our classes, students learn skills that open up employment and social opportunities for them. Also, they have lots of fun and gain friends from all over the world – we now have students on four continents!

 

Our Explorers share their websites with the Nobel Explorers’ global learning community

 

Become a part of free Nobel Explorers classes and help us spread some magic. If you’re excited about serving your community and helping it grow – email us. Although capacity is filling up fast, we always have room for one more to join in!

We hope you stay safe and healthy.

Schooling at home during Coronavirus: 4 Tips to Make It Easier

/0 Comments/in /by

Schooling at home is hard. Yes, you get to be an active part of your child’s education, and you get to spend a lot more time with them (those being just a couple of the many benefits), but…

But you’re suddenly in this dual role of both parent and teacher. Not only does it take a lot of time and effort to do both, but you also need to work on separating these roles. Otherwise, the teacher in you may end up shortening the classes and canceling some difficult ones!

Now, if you’ve been doing it for a while, you’ve probably gotten the hang of it. But if you’ve been thrown into it after the pandemic hit, you may be struggling, along with so many others. As I said, it’s anything but easy and simple! And it’s not only the classes themselves, but the fact that you need to keep your and your kid’s motivation high in the midst of all the panic surrounding you.

We’re here to help, so without further ado, here are four things that can make homeschooling easier for both of you.

No.1: Talk About Your Fears and Expectations.

By assuming we know what our kids think, we’re robbing them of the chance to share their actual thoughts and emotions with us, and we’re damaging our communication. So don’t start from a place of, “They’re already hearing enough about this, let’s just jump straight into the equations”. Talk with them openly.

Start by sharing your fears, hopes, and needs first. Parents often think that by doing this they’re scaring the kids further, but all they’re doing is showing them that it’s okay to be scared and not feeling very productive. This way, they won’t end up covering up their feelings because they don’t want to scare you and make you sad! Kids need a safe zone for that, and what better place than at home, with someone they trust?

You should also tell them what you expect of them, negotiate some goals for every class as well as every week, and let them know that being unproductive and not motivated at all right now is understandable and that you’re there to help them through it by making it an interesting experience.

No. 2: Use Project-Based Learning – a Lot!

And here’s the answer to the question you were probably going to ask anyway!

“Make it interesting for them? How am I going to do that?”

Here’s a question right back. What are your most memorable learning experiences from school? Was it hours upon hours of rote learning, or those chemistry experiments and science fairs? My guess is the latter, and for a good reason: you got the chance to learn something by doing it yourself and understanding how it happens in real life.

So instead of “when am I ever going to need this” you were thinking “this is so cool, I want to do more of it!”

And that’s where project-based learning comes into play. You can learn all about it from one of our previous articles. And for the actual projects, here are some ideas to get you started.

Now, having a project at home when it comes to science is fairly simple, but what about, say, literature? Well, the great thing about PBL is that you can always create your own projects – all you need is a plan and a goal! For example, instead of a regular literature class, you can form a book club so it doesn’t feel as school-y to your kid. For history, you can dress up as famous people and re-enact certain parts of history together – and you can bet they’ll remember it much better than they would from a book!

Remember King Hedgehog of Gardenia?

You can find a complete list of resources to help you out with schooling at home in one of our previous articles.

It’s okay if you don’t feel up to task for certain subjects. Our tutors are very experienced and have a unique approach with every student. Schedule a free first class with one of them today:

CHOOSE A TUTOR

No.3: Schedule Matters

Remember when I said that one of the hardest parts of homeschooling is having to juggle between the two roles? Sticking to a schedule is where they’re likely to clash from time to time, so what you need are firm boundaries. After all, would a teacher let your kid go home early because they don’t feel motivated to learn? It’s highly unlikely! But…

Yes, there’s a “but”. The great thing about homeschooling is that you can negotiate the schedule together so they have an active part in their education as well! If they learn better around noon, then why not start their classes then? After all, it’s been shown that most schools start too early, at least when it comes to adolescents.

However, once you both agree on a schedule, you need to stick to it. I’m not saying that no matter what, that math class has to be finished according to schedule, even if they’ve got a splitting headache! But you should stick to it as much as possible because it will create a routine, and a routine helps raise focus and productivity.

No.4: Understand How Your Kid Learns Best

Some kids prefer working alone, so once they get a certain task from you, it’s best you leave them to it. Others learn better in a group of peers, so organizing group sessions through Skype or Zoom is a fun idea that can really benefit their learning. You can also sign them up for our international STEM camp where they’ll be learning to code and practice teamwork with peers from other countries!

SEE OUR PROJECTS

As I already mentioned, some kids function better in the morning, and others – not at all! One child may thrive in absolute silence, while another needs some light instrumental music in the background (I know, because that was me growing up – shoutout to all those chill music YouTube compilations!)

Get a home classroom going, but make sure it’s their learning space, rather than what you think it should look like. If they like a messy desk, let it be messy! You have a unique opportunity for an individualized approach that can help your kid make the most of their education, so don’t be afraid to try it.

 

I know it’s scary, and at times, you’ll be wondering whether you’re doing a good job, but as long as you’re both open about your expectations and struggles, negotiating, and doing your best, I can tell you honestly – you’re on the right track.

5 Tips to Help You Calm Anxiety

/0 Comments/in /by

Feeling like we are in control of something helps us feel safe, helps us make sense of the confusing world around us, and make it predictable. It calms anxiety.

There are times, however, that roughly confront us with the fact that we actually have very little control over “bigger things” that happen to us – such as the outbreak of coronavirus disease. We all react differently to this confrontation. Some suppress their strong feelings trying to act as if nothing is happening, some are panicking, and many people are overwhelmed with anxiety.

Though we cannot predict the duration of the outcome of this crisis, what we can do is to refocus on the behaviors and processes in our control, with the effects that we can predict and measure. This will, as a result, lower the anxiety these uncertain times carry.

Daria, our Coach and Nobel facilitator, provides you with ways to manage overwhelming emotions in the following video and the text below.

Don’t hesitate to ask for help – book a FREE call with Daria here.

5 Self-Empowerment Tips to Help You Calm Anxiety

Here are 5 tips on what you can do that will empower you and help you shift your focus to things you CAN do in these times.

1. Physical health and Breathing strategies

Even though we are on lockdown, it doesn’t mean we should be sitting in front of the TV all the time. It’s not good for our health. So here are some tips to help with maintaining your physical health:

  • Try to sleep for at least 7 hours.
  • Eat healthy and avoid eating out of boredom.
  • Control your coffee intake. If you drink more than 4 cups per day, consider cutting it back.
  • Exercise as much as you can. Although it may be not safe to go for a run in a park you can be creative with exercising. For example, cleaning your windows and vacuuming can be very good cardio exercises!
  • Meditate.

Focus on your breath. There is a Navy SEALs technique 4-2-4 (inhale, hold, exhale). Play the ocean sounds or the wind sounds and try to sync the breath with. Plus, try to make every exhale a second longer than the previous and extend the pauses in between inhales and exhales. Notice the moment in between exhale and every new inhale. Celebrate that!

Focus on having at least 5 minutes per day only to focus on your breathing and practice calming yourself down by using this technique every time you get emotional.

2. Observing the feelings

Be mindful of how you feel. Understand it. Be kind to yourself. It is normal to feel anxious, afraid, angry, sad, surprised, and overwhelmed. It’s ok not to know what to do.

We all have the capacity to face difficult events and carry on. Understanding and properly naming your emotions is a first step towards developing emotional resilience, the capacity to develop strategies that help you manage when facing situations you find stressful and recover from them.

Here is an example of how to do it. Start your own Mindfulness meditation & Journaling.

Start from the curious stance: What emotions or thoughts do I have here? When do they show up? What do they look like? Do they have any triggers that I notice? Write all those things down. Connect them with events in your life. See if there are any patterns.

3. Stay connected

Physical distancing means that now more than ever we need to have extra emotional support. Maintaining social networks can foster a sense of normality and provide valuable outlets for sharing feelings and relieving stress.

You can maintain these connections by texting or chatting with people on social media. Use this opportunity to reconnect with your loved once and help them. We are all in the same situation.

Woman sitting on a couch and holding a phone

Physical distancing and social connecting

 

4. Be informed, but not too informed

You may find it useful to develop more analytical approaches as you follow news reports. Here are some ways to do it:

  • Try to verify the information that you receive from your family and friends.
  • Limit your daily exposure to reports relating to counts – how many newly infected, or death in which country.
  • Do not consume the news the first thing in the morning and right before sleep.
  • Limit the conversations with family and friends that are COVID-19-related.

Remind yourself that most people who contract COVID-19 will only experience mild symptoms. What you can do is to make sure to take the necessary precautions to keep your family and loved ones healthy.

5. Focus on what you CAN control

Shift your focus solely on the things you can control, rather than focusing on the things that are out of your scope. Focus on:

  • How you react to this new reality if you follow the physical distancing guidelines?
  • What is your exposure to news and how do you identify the news from unreliable sources?
  • How kind and understanding you are when communicating with others and how kind are you to yourself?
  • How well you take care of yourself?
  • What are your boundaries in social media use?
  • How do you organize your time?

As a bonus creative idea, make a diagram of the things that are under your control. Go back to it every time you get more anxious and check with yourself – Do I have any control over it and if not, remind yourself what are the activities you can actively engage in. This will help you gain more clarity, be calmer and organize your time more productively.

Let us leave you off with one information. We as humans have an ability to recover from or adjust easily to misfortune or change. We can even thrive under adversities. Don’t forget that. You are much more resilient than you think. Put that capacity in good use!

Be safe and stay at home.

 

If you, or someone you care about, are feeling overwhelmed with feelings of sadness or anxiety contact Daria or another coach for a FREE consultation.