Ep 71 | How I Homeschool During the Coronavirus: An Interview with Emily Chen

A note from Talking Taiwan host Felicia Lin:

I invited Emily Chen on to Talking Taiwan as a guest to talk about how she manages to homeschool during the coronavirus when having her kids home full-time during this pandemic. The idea for this episode came from a Google doc that was created and shared by Emily on Facebook. The link to it is listed below in the related links section of this post. You'll see that it has over 100 weblinks to resources for parents and kids to try out during the Coronavirus pandemic. What a treasure trove of information it is!

**SPOILER ALERT** Be sure to listen to the end of my interview with Emily for a special offering that she has for parents and kids to get through the quarantine of the COVID-19 pandemic.

With so many parents and families struggling with managing their kids at home due to the COVID-19 outbreak, I realized that many people could benefit from this amazing list of resources that Emily has compiled. I also knew that because Emily has been homeschooling her kids, she could definitely provide some perspective with parents suddenly faced with this unfamiliar situation.

Our conversation touched upon what homeschooling is and the different approaches that people take to homeschooling. Imagine a teaching approach completely centered on a particular child's interests and a more holistic approach to teaching. In essence every moment of teaching could be turned into a well-rounded lesson by looking at a particular subject matter from different angles by discussing the math, geography, history, or writing etc. involved.

It is a creative approach to teaching what a child is already interested and it makes what the child has learned seem much more meaningful and tangible. This conversation gave me a fuller understanding of how homeschooling works and how Emily is applying it to her kids. In full disclosure, Emily is not only my Facebook friend, but also my cousin. Strange that we never got into such an in-depth conversation about this before.

Emily also shared her thoughts on how to manage working at home while having kids at home and how to parents your kids when you are at home full-time with your kids.

Here's a little preview of what we talked about in this podcast episode:

• How long Emily has been homeschooling her kids
• Why Emily decided to homeschool her kids
• What is homeschooling, and what approaches to people take to homeschooling their kids
• What is unschooling and different unschooling approaches
• Homeschooling vs. public schooling
• How she and her kids are dealing with social distancing and how that has impacted their homeschooling
• The challenges for parents having to be home full-time with their kids due to lockdown recommendations
• What's on the Google doc list of resources that Emily put together for parents with kids at home
• How parents can deal with having kids of different ages and personalities at home at the same time
• How to manage working at home with having kids at home
• Talking to your kids about the Coronavirus
• How to parent your kids when you are at home full-time with your kids

Related Links:

The Google doc that Emily has compiled with resources for homeschoolers and parents looking for things to do with their kids at home: https://bit.ly/2VuOOOR

Emily's Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/mchendraws/

Other resources for parents dealing with talking to kids about COVID-19:

Coronavirus: Keeping Our Children And Ourselves Safe, With Pamela Cantor, M.D. (180 Podcast): https://www.turnaroundusa.org/the-180-podcast-coronavirus/

Turnaround For Children, an organization created by Dr. Pamela Cantor in the wake of 9/11, after co-authoring a study on the impact of the 9/11 attacks on NYC schoolchildren: https://www.turnaroundusa.org/

The Daily podcast episode, in which Carl Zimmer, science reporter and author of the "Matter" column for The New York Times answers kids questions about COVID-19: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/a-kids-guide-to-coronavirus/id1200361736?i=1000469699785

TED Talk 10 Tips for Cultivating Creativity in Your Kids: http://ideas.ted.com/10-tips-for-cultivating-creativity-in-your-kids/