How to Help Your Children At Home During This Ebola Outbreak

Parents ask me all the time about how they can help their children at home during this terrible time when all schools in the Republic of Liberia are closed and children are at home. Some parents ask for packages from the school to help children learn at home. I usually tell them that I cannot put myself at risk going to the school and interacting with people when the EBOLA Virus is still active in Liberia.

I gave them advice on how to help their children at home without getting stressed, because many parents attention is now focused on how to feed their children and keep them safe. A good way to help children now is to let them study their times table while they do not have any school to attend. Let your children learn their times table. Let them memorize from 2 to as many times table they can get into their heads. This is an excellent way to master mathematics.

Many children do not know their times table. They have to struggle to answer when you ask them: 7 × 8 =? 9 × 7 =?; or any number. When children master their times table, solving math problem becomes easy for them. They can learn up to as many times as possible. During this time you can let children have fun with mental math. Example says: John, 2 + 6 =? 8 + 2 =? 10 + 6 =? 18 + 7 =? 12 – 4 =? 18 – 6 =? Ask any number you want. These are all strong foundational skills for children. From kindergarten to 12 Grade can learn through this kind of brain challenge. When you are at home say: Toga what is the answer for 8 + 5? What is the answer for 13 – 8?

Ask your children to answer math without using pen and paper. Let them use their minds. This skill is called Mental Math. Another way to help your children at home is to let them read. Give them books of all kinds to read. Add newspaper and other magazines you have at home. The objective is to get children to improve their vocabulary through reading.

Let children read to you when you are relaxing at home every day. Say Nyema read this newspaper to me, or Alice read psalm 91from the Holy Bible to me. The goal is for you to hear the fluency and how they pronounce words.

Please do not worry too much about the children being out of school. The EBOLA Virus is gradually leaving Liberia. Schools will open soon, and I am sure that the Ministry of Education is planning for a dynamic school year. We will all work together to ensure that we build a strong and relevant program of education of Liberia.