BELMONT — Being self-employed and a self-described “older mom” has helped Renee Garcia teach her son at home during the coronavirus pandemic.

Garcia said teaching her son Samuel, a first-grader at Union Local Elementary School, has been “pretty easy.”

“We’ve stuck to the same school schedule,” she said. “That’s what works best for him.”

Garcia, a Belmont resident, is self-employed as an antiques and estate appraiser, which means she can make her own work hours. This has helped her keep a consistent schedule for her son. In addition to the worksheets and online work assigned by his teacher, Garcia also likes to use a more hands-on, experience-based approach to teaching.

“He likes to be challenged. We do cookie sheet math problems. We use magnet numbers on the cookie sheets. … I just do what I think will keep him interested,” she said.

For some parents, coming up with creative ways to keep their child engaged in learning may be difficult. But Garcia believes she has an advantage:

“I’m an older mom; I’m 50 years old and … I’ve seen what works for friends and what didn’t work,” she noted.

She also tries to do outdoor learning activities. For example, to learn more words she has Samuel do alphabet scavenger hunts, which means he searches for things that start with certain letters outside.

“It’s more about making it fun and interesting. We play Yahtzee — that’s math, but he doesn’t look at it as math because he’s playing a game,” she noted.

To get him to memorize his phone number, Garcia played a game where Samuel hopped down each step on the stairs for each number he named.

“It doesn’t all have to be sitting at a desk with a paper and pencil,” she said.

Baking, she noted, involves measurements, which means learning fractions. Playing “store” with change is another fun activity with accounting math involved.

While things have gone well education-wise during this pandemic for Garcia and her son, the experience has not been without some stress.

Garcia’s husband, Butch Garcia, travels for work sometimes, either by plane or car. He’s an engineer who helps hospitals with their repairs to CAT scan machines. Because of his travel and interactions with other people, he often will quarantine himself for a week after coming home to make sure he does not have any symptoms of COVID-19.

The last time, about a month ago, that he had to fly on an airplane for work he got sick afterward, despite taking all the recommended precautions — wearing a mask, handwashing, using hand sanitizer, social distancing. He got tested for COVID-19, but was negative for the virus.

To be extra safe he slept in a separate bedroom and kept a safe distance from the rest of the family. This also meant not getting to give his son a hug for a week.

“I think it was harder on him than Samuel,” Renee Garcia noted.

When he does work from home, that means he is also there to help when his wife has to go out for work.

When school starts in the fall, Garcia said she is concerned about what it will be like for her son. She believes the students may have to wear masks, but she does not know if that is a realistic expectation for a child for an entire day of school. Still, she said, being in school is important for learning skills of all types.

“I really believe kids need to be in school and have interaction with other kids. Being away from mom and dad is good, too, instead of being with us all the time. Kids need independent time away from us. … They need social interaction, good and bad,” she said.

In the meantime, much like other children his age, Samuel is looking forward to seeing some friends in person again. He also is happy about being allowed to play baseball this summer. Gov. Mike DeWine announced Thursday that no-contact sports will be permitted starting May 26.

“He’s been playing since he was 4. It’s always been the same group of boys. They all know each other and have a good time,” his mother said.