A homeschool classroom has to involve more than paper, pens and books. It has to be hands-on in the kitchen, garden and even on field trips. To give your kids a well-rounded education, read on to find out more about how other parents are successfully teaching their kids today.
If you are homeschooling your child, always include reading in your daily curriculum. Depending on the age of the child, this should include reading aloud and allowing him or her a quiet time to read alone. With a younger child, begin with the alphabet, sight words and phonics, progressing to simple books. Older children will enjoy a variety of mediums, including newspapers and textbooks.
Plan field trips with other local homeschooling families. This will be a lot of fun, and your children will get to socialize. Call ahead to see if certain locations offer discounts to home schooled students.
Limit the distractions in your workspace. This does not mean that you have to have a classroom. Simply, shut off the ringer on the phone, turn off the television and if the computer is not used for school, shut it down. The fewer distractions you have to compete with, the smoother your lessons will go.
Treat homeschooling like a job. You're a teacher now, and that means you also have to seek out more education. Professional teachers take "PA" days to attend conferences and training, so you should, too! Find homeschooling events near you or even attend one as a vacation. You'll find they teach you not only specific topics you might not know a lot about, but also how to be a better teacher and how to plan out homeschooling lessons like a pro.
There are great resources available to those who are interested in homeschooling their children. It can feel overwhelming to deal with everything all at once as a teacher. Classes and seminars are great sources of inspiration and hands-on guidance for many aspects of homeschooling. Even if you already home school your children, you can still get helpful advice from these events.
To determine if homeschooling is right for your child, make a list of positives and negatives compared to public school. Allow the list to be a guide to making a lesson plan that provide your children with what they did not get it public school. You can use this list as a tool to ensure you are covering all areas that were previously neglected. Keep the list to use when you need it.
Do not try to cram every subject into every day. You could use a two or three day school week per subject. This way, you can keep your child focused on a particular subject for longer periods of time. The less often they have to switch their focus to a new subject, the more progress they will make each day.
Do not just go by the most popular method of homeschooling. Look at your child's interests and way of learning, and use that to guide you into the right approach. There are many methods practiced by homeschoolers, and you may need to try out a few before settling on the most appropriate one for your child.
Don't fear getting help for housework when homeschooling. Adding an extra responsibility like homeschooling may mean that you need to delegate some of your household chores to another person. This other person could be another family member or even a friend. If you can afford it, there are maid and cleaning services that you can look at.
Just because your child is being home schooled does not mean you should be too lenient on them. Make sure they are not allowing them to take too many days off of learning for either their convenience or yours. While it is okay to take a vacation or allow them to take a day off because they are sick, do not allow this to be a habit.
When you decide to start homeschooling, let your family have time to adjust to it. You want to integrate the changes slowly so that they don't overwhelm your family. It's a big change, so you need to be patient with them. If some things are met with opposition, try making compromises and adjustments to help everyone get used to it.
If you have more than one child, know that they do not all have to be home schooled. While one of your children may benefit from learning at home, the others may benefit from going to school. You know your children and what needs they have, so use this knowledge to make your determination.
Before starting school for the day, make sure your child has eaten properly. Your child needs the energy needed to learn and for focusing properly. It will also help them stay focused while you teach.
Enjoy the flexibility of homeschool. Don't think you should follow strict schedules like traditional schools do. You can take as many field trips as you want, anytime you want. If you want to focus exclusively on math one day, you can. If you want to teach several subjects the next day, you can. As long as you are using effective strategies in helping your child learn, you can do whatever you want.
If you are homeschooling different aged children, consider unit studies. With a unit study, you pick a topic and the whole family learns about it. The topic could be a European country, the lifespan of a frog or a particular musical style. Each child works to their ability level and everyone helps to teach parts of the unit. This is a great way for peers to share their learning experience. It also cuts down on the amount of planning that you, the teacher, have to do and makes homeschooling easier.
To be able to educate your kids, you have to go above and beyond what a public school offers. This means finding out ways to creatively provide lessons which will stick in their mind for a lifetime. This article is a great start, but read all you can to learn multiple strategies.
Orignal From: Homeschooling Tips That Every Parent Should Know
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