Resources for Schooling from Home for the First Time

March 28, 2025 byConnections Academy

5 min to read

middle school boys do art project with adult woman

Families transitioning from a brick-and mortar school to at-home learning—whether online, in a learning pod, or a hybrid model—may need time to adjust. Changing learning environments can be a shift that often involves many new activities like establishing schedules and routines, mastering unfamiliar technology, and developing strong organizational skills.

If you’re one of these families making the switch to learning from home, the good news is you’re not alone. Connections Academy® has been helping first-time online learning students and their families adjust to at-home learning environments since 2001 with a rich variety of resources, tools, and tailored guidance.

Resources for First-Time Online Learning Students and their Families

1. Establish an Online Learning Routine.

Creating routines for learning at home can help keep students focused and ready to learn while fostering independence and responsibility.

Without the clear structure of in-person schools, though, it can be hard to know where to start when your student begins learning from home for the first time. While online school and other at-home learning solutions allow for a lot of flexibility, routines can help keep kids focused and relaxed during the school day while pacing learning hours evenly throughout the weeks can help them better retain the learning material.

A good place to start is to first understand the keys to establishing schedules and routines. Work with your student to help them understand why they are likely to benefit from the routine and what makes a successful learning day. When creating your schedule, be sure to include time for brain breaks, extracurricular activities, and homework in addition to learning time. When you’re ready, help your student get started on creating their new routine with this blank schedule template.

2. Set Your Home Up for Success.

Not all learning has to happen at a desk; the kitchen table, or a picnic blanket in the backyard can all be turned into your student’s classroom. Regardless of where your student decides to learn, it is important to have your space organized and ready for learning success.

This doesn’t necessarily mean that you need to rush to the office supply store to buy fancy equipment. The first step is to start organizing home classrooms, especially with limited space. Each at-home classroom will look different; try to establish a dedicated learning space—even if it is one that is set up at the start of the day and put away at the end. Just bringing out your student’s folders, laptop, and notes can help shift your student’s brain from seeing their dining room as the place where they just had breakfast to a classroom.

3. Make Learning Fun with Games.

Learning games can support your student’s schooling by reinforcing the material they have gone over in class in an engaging format. While you can make up games yourself through gamification of your student’s homework, you can also find games online to help student practice their typing, vocabulary words, quiz themselves by making digital flash cards... the possibilities are endless!

4. Find a Balance that Works for Everyone.

Working from home or having more than one student in online school may sound like a daunting balancing act, but it can work out well. With the ability to create your own flexible schedule, you can design a daily routine that fits with your family’s rhythm.

If you have more than one student learning from home, you make sure that you as their Learning Coach have time to make sure each student knows what they should be working on and that they are staying on task. Coordinate their learning day around your work schedule. Some students may need more help at first, but over time, as everyone settles into their new routines, things should naturally fall into place.

5. Help your student adjust.

Social and emotional support can contribute significantly to a student’s success in their new online environment. It is a myth that online school students miss out on socialization opportunities that students in brick-and-mortar schools traditionally have. Many Connections Academy-supported schools offer clubs, field trips, in-person meetups, and even prom for students. When learning online, students can have more time to enjoy community sports, pursue extracurricular activities, dual enrollment at community colleges, and volunteer opportunities.

Resources for First-Time Learning Coaches

When it comes to schooling from home for the first time, students aren’t the only ones who can benefit from some support.

Remember, no one is born being a Learning Coach for their student, but anyone can learn to be one — especially with the plethora of resources available from Connections Academy®. There are too many to list them all, but here are some to get you started:

Resources for new Connections Academy® Learning Coaches
More resources for Learning Coaches
Learning Coach tips from sports coaches
On motivating students
Helping your student to love learning
For parents: Tips on when to wear the parent hat and when to wear the Learning Coach hat.

Ready to Enroll in Online School?

Whether you’re schooling at home for the first time or are a seasoned online school family, you’ll find that Connections Academy® can provide the comprehensive resources, tools, and support families need to feel and be successful in their new virtual learning environment.

Students frequently graduate from a Connections Academy-supported school well-rounded, academically prepared, and equipped with the skills and confidence they’ll need in life after high school.

Learn more by downloading our free eGuide to see if online K-12 public school is the right fit for your family.