Ever since the schools sent the children home in March of 2020 in response to COVID-19, more and more people have decided to home school. In fact, homeschooling has increased by close to 40% over the last 12 months alone, as parents have learned to adapt to life with kids home 24/7 – and found out that they enjoyed the lifestyle. If you have decided to homeschool your children even after the schools have reopened, you may have to set up a suitable space for them to learn.

The “homework gap” is a term which refers to the challenges that students run into at school when they don’t have a high-speed internet connection at home. The pandemic has accentuated this deficiency more than ever, especially because the school system didn’t have the advance notice to set up virtual learning systems before moving the entire educational process online. If the decision has been made to keep children at home full time and attend school online, the “homework gap” becomes a situation which must be rectified. The one way to  make sure that children don’t fall behind is to have your home equipped with the right outlets, wi-fi connections, and lighting.

Faster Wi-Fi is Needed for Home Schooling

In the Sarasota area, it is not difficult to obtain fast wifi – but if you haven’t done so already, your child will need to have access in order to effectively learn at home.  A quick phone call to your cable company can usually take care of speeding up the Internet, but you may also want to set up a permanent workspace for your child as well. Not only does this set aside a physical space to delineate home and school, but they can be hardwired into a router. Wireless connections are convenient, but a hardwired connection is still faster and more stable. Of course, you can set up your own space for them – but you may want to call in an electrical professional to help – in this way you can hide the wires in the walls and even in specially designed furniture, so that cables are not lying all over the floor in a tangled mess.

Install More Outlets

Older Sarasota homes were built with far fewer outlets than we tend to need today – after all, there were no cellphones, laptops or smart assistants when the home was constructed. Most rooms only have a few outlets, and they never seem to be in the place we need them. With all the additional devices that require charging, working efficiently can become difficult. Most people immediately reach for power strips and extension cords, but these can be dangerous and overload the system. By adding outlets in convenient places, your children can best utilize their homeschool equipment.

Extra outlets can also help if you have dead zones in the home where wi-fi doesn’t reach. A wi-fi extender (or repeater) can connect to your current router wirelessly to make your connection stronger and extend further throughout your home. A wi-fi extender needs to be connected to a socket, but if all outlets are already in use, more outlets are needed.

Cyber Security Concerns When Home Schooling

It is important to remember that wi-fi is not always secure and can be hacked into by criminals and cyber thieves. A network which utilizes ethernet cable wiring is typically more reliable and secure. By physically plugging your device into a cable, it alleviates the inconsistency of a wireless connection, consumes less energy and will lower your utility bill. This is an important point as many Sarasota residents saw their energy costs rise when the entire family is home working on devices all day.

Improving Your Lighting

You can also retrofit the at-home learning environment by installing more appropriate lighting. While working on a computer and reading, lighting is important to minimize eye strain. Correct lighting mimics daylight and is also proven to have a positive impact on productivity. Pendant task lighting is an ideal solution,  helping your children focus directly on what they’re working on without getting distracted by the surrounding environment.

These tips on wiring and lighting fixtures can help you get started on providing the best environment for learning and productivity. As with any wiring and electrical home improvement project, you should always call a master electrician with proper training in order to be safe and efficient – call Promise Electric today.