Chasten Buttigieg's Twitter Thread Of Homeschooling Tips Is Gold

Parents are welcoming all of the homeschooling tips we can get these days, especially from teachers. How about a little advice from former school teacher and husband of former presidential hopeful "Mayor Pete" Buttigieg? Say no more because Chasten Buttigieg's homeschooling tips are a whole Twitter thread of exactly what we need right now.

The self-proclaimed rescue doggo dad tweeted a pretty comprehensive set of tips and ideas to guide parents through home learning. His advice addresses parents of teenagers specifically, but pretty much every parent struggling to adapt to at-home learning has something to glean from his wisdom.

He wrote, "If you’re a parent struggling to homeschool teenagers, here are some classroom tips and ideas." He also added a disclaimer that some of his ideas might need modification for younger kids.

He's concerned enough with how parents are faring during this pandemic that he unrolled an entire Twitter thread's worth of golden educational insight. That's the kind of thoughtfulness the world needs, plus the suggestions he provided are actually useful.

He advises parents to conduct a "quick, formal morning meeting." It's genius. Following his idea, parents would review the day and any potential questions about expectations before getting started. "Make sure these are written down and visible," he wrote. "A great use for a white board! Write down goals, work expectations, break and snack allowances or guidelines, chore expectations, and a daily agenda. Anticipate their questions and establish ground rules at the beginning of the day."

(Aside from the usefulness of his actual advice, his use of emojis is on point.)

Although I've seen many sample schedules floating around social media lately, this plan is both realistic for kids and helps parents keep a lid on the whole school-at-home situation before it boils over. He advised parents to anticipate questions like, "When is lunch?" and "When will you be done?" and to answer them ahead of time during your family's morning meeting.

Most of his advice seems like it would be easy to effortlessly implement for kids of any age with just a bit of tweaking. For example, readers of all ages can benefit from structured reading and discussion time. To start, he suggested parents let their kids research the book they would like to read next and present a proposal explaining why they're interested in the book. Then, he lists several ways parents can encourage their kids above and beyond a typical book review.

Buttigieg also encouraged parents to read the same book as their child for the sake of discussion. Of course, if your new dual role as both the sole educator of your child and work-from-home mom doesn't allow for much alone time to read, you can skip this step. Otherwise though, much of his advice is easy for kids to carry out on their own.

In addition to his own tips, Buttigieg encouraged other teachers to chime in on the thread with classroom tips of their own, writing, "If you're a teacher, don't be shy and feel free to offer your modifications or suggestions in a comment below."

As more parents start and continue to navigate homeschooling, these tips are sure to inspire with a few realistic ideas for daily structure and new lesson plans. Keep an eye on Chasten Buttigieg's Twitter — he noted that he will try to post some daily or weekly tips and plans. Bring 'em on!