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5 tips for the homeschooling parent

1. Posted by admin in Home education |
2. May 6th, 2010 |
3. No Comments

You have decided to home school your children. You know that this is a wonderful gift to your children, but you still may feel a bit overwhelmed. Being prepared, keeping things structured, and staying organized are the best ways to make each day go smoothly. You are teaching your children much more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. You are also teaching them –by example- how to give of themselves and how to organize their lives and use their time effectively.

Here are some tips to help you stay organized:

Designate certain spaces for specific activities

A playroom is not the best place to work, since it reminds the kids of playtime. If you do not have another space to use, section off the playroom into areas for work and play. It is a good idea to create a math center, a science center, a reading area, etc. It not only allows you to keep the items you need handy, instead of having to put science stuff away before starting on math, it also helps break up the day for the kids since they are allowed to move from one area to another. This will help reduce boredom for children as well as parents.

A place for everything

After organizing specific areas, you also need to find places for home schooling gear. Leaving items scattered does not make for a productive experience when you return to the area. Have your children help you put everything back in place when “school is out” for the day. You will be glad you did when you are able to start fresh with a neat, organized area the next morning.

Stick to your schedule

Make sure the kids eat something at appropriate times so they will not be distracted from their work because they are hungry. If it is time to do math, do math. When home schooling, it is easy to rearrange your schedule for more enticing activities, but it can become a trap. Do not let the kids pressure you into changing the schedule too often. Of course, being too rigid is not good either, so be flexible when necessary. If something important comes up, it is okay to bend the schedule a bit, but on a daily basis, try to stick to it as closely as possible.

Concentrate on one thing at a time

Do not try to do too much at once. If it is time for reading, focus on reading and do not try to incorporate other subjects at the same time. It is also a good idea to schedule household chores for rest time, playtime, snack time, or “after school.” Attempting to do the laundry or to wash dishes while home schooling is not conducive to a productive learning atmosphere. This may require extra planning and more of your time, but it will be worth it in the long run.

Enlist help

If you know someone that works in a field your child is interested in, invite that person to speak to your child or have your child visit him or her at work if possible. On the other hand, if there is a subject that is not exactly your best, consider bringing in a tutor or trading subjects with another home schooling parent in your area. Nothing is more frustrating for parent and child than trying to work on a difficult subject, especially if you are ill prepared to teach that subject. Another parent might agree to teach your children math, while you teach his or her children science, or vice versa.

Homeschooling benefits

1. Posted by admin in Home education |
2. April 15th, 2010 |
3. No Comments

Why do people homeschool?

Parents choose to homeschool for a variety of reasons. These include a desire to strengthen family bonds, freedom to design individualized curriculum, moral and religious reasons, and dissatisfaction with the public school system.

Homeschooling parents spend a great deal of time working with and guiding their children. These families often feel that the fast pace of modern life is destroying family closeness. Family activities such as games, shared chores, and group projects are a regular part of the homeschooling plan. These families enjoy the extra time they spend together. They feel that homeschooling strengthens the family unit and allows their children to make choices for themselves without regard to peer pressure.

Parents have a unique understanding of their children and can plan their learning program to accomodate individual interests. For example, a child who is intrigued by frogs may be assigned the task of researching and writing a report that describes a certain type of frog, it’s life cycle, and what part of the world it lives in. The child may also be asked to explain why the study of frogs is important to scientists. If the child then becomes interested in space exploration, the learning program can be altered to meet that interest. Since the child is always studying something he or she is interested in, the learning has more impact and meaning. This type of interest-led learning is not possible in a classroom where teachers must design lesson plans for many children at once.

Homeschooling also allows parents to tailor the curriculum to meet their child’s individual learning needs. Children who need to spend extra time developing their math or English skills can be given that time. Parents can achieve this by decreasing the amount of time spent on other subjects in order to encourage a child to spend more time working in a weak area. This type of flexibility is available in a homeschooling environment.

The same flexibility allows parents to tailor curriculum to meet their child’s learning styles. While some children learn best through reading, others must hear to remember, and others are primarily hands-on, or tactile, learners. Homeschooling allows children to explore topics in the way they learn best.

Moral and religious reasons motivate many parents to choose homeschooling. These parents want their moral and religious beliefs to be included in their child’s education and are able to choose or design curriculum that integrates their beliefs.

Finally, many parents choose to homeschool because of dissatisfaction with the public school system. They may feel that their children are being either held back or pushed too hard. They often disagree with an educational philosophy that groups children solely according to age and wish to provide their children with an opportunity to learn at their own ideal pace in every subject. Their child may be unhappy in school or, in some cases, their own memory of an unhappy public school experience motivates them to choose homeschooling.