There’s a lot of excitement surrounding the idea of becoming a homeschooling parent. However, it would be wrong to think it’s all plain sailing for homeschooling parents. There’s no denying that it can be a little challenging, daunting, and anxiety-inducing.
First of all, it’s important to remember that these feelings are normal. And second of all, remember that you’re not the first person to homeschool their children, so there are plenty of resources out there.
While I chose to send my kids back to school, I did lots of research preparing for homeschooling. I found many helpful tips out there that’ll ensure the experience is nothing other than successful. With many parents still considering homeschooling, I wanted to share those tips for new homeschooling parents to take on board.
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Tips for New Homeschooling Parents
Don’t Worry About Making Your Home A School
There’s a lot of freedom that comes with homeschooling. That’s one of the main reasons people decide to do it in the first place. So, make the most of the freedom that it brings. Some parents become a little overwhelmed by the feeling that they have to recreate the school environment, but this isn’t the case. You don’t have to turn your home into a school. Instead, you only have to turn it into a learning environment.
But Do Come Up With A Workspace and Schedule
While your home doesn’t look like a school, it’s generally best to create a set workspace for learning. Creating a dedicated workspace is helpful in numerous ways. For instance, it’ll make it easier for your children to get into the right mindset for learning. It’ll also help to divide the day between school time and home time. Once your child finishes school for the day, you’ll want your home to become a place for relaxation, socializing, and all the other goodness that comes from family life.
Having a schedule will also help in this regard. What time you begin and finish is up to you, but it’s a good idea to stick to the same schedule every day.
Set Learning Targets
A child will learn a little if they spend the day learning about subjects. However, they’ll learn much more if they have educational targets and goals. It doesn’t matter what these targets are (and in any case, they’ll depend heavily on the age/ability of the child). The main thing is that the targets exist in the first place.
Studies have shown that people achieve more when they actively work towards something. You can, or should, create these goals with input from your child. After all, they’re the ones who are learning!
Find Your Child’s Learning Style
And talking about learning: it’ll be helpful if you know your child’s learning style. Everyone learns in different ways. Some people prefer to hear, and others enjoy using their hands, but most people like a mix of those two things. You might already have a sense of how your child learns. If you don’t, then you can ask them — or if they don’t know either, try a few different methods and see what seems to work best. As well as their learning style, you can think of how best to divide up your child’s education. As outlined at onlinecoursesreviewed.org, homeschooling is usually based around unit studies or traditional programs. Both have their advantages, so it’s best to read up on each to determine which will be the right one for you and your children.
Ease Into The Homeschooling Parents Role
Also, remember that unless you have prior experience teaching, you’ll also need to figure out your teaching style. Learning your style can be a little daunting in the early days, especially if you feel as if you’re not doing as well as you could be. Don’t stress about it! Someone is rarely natural from the first moment they walk into the classroom. If you keep on plugging away and doing your best, then you’ll eventually begin to feel comfortable, and it won’t be long before you’re positively enjoying it.
Use High-Quality Materials
You’ll find homeschooling much easier if you have the best educational materials by your side. As with all things, there are good tools and resources you can use, and there are some not-so-good ones. If you were using a textbook from 1934, for example, you can’t be too surprised if the learning isn’t quite as powerful as it could be. There are plenty of current resources online to incorporate into your studies. You can also research what other homeschooling families have found useful.
Beyond The Textbooks For Homeschooling Parents
There’s plenty of scope for getting out of the classroom and creating a more engaging educational environment. For example, you can visit a museum, spend a day at the farm, or play outdoor games that have an educational spin. These won’t make up daily lessons, but you should use them when you feel the moment is right.
Become Part of the Homeschooling Community
You’re not the only family that’ll be homeschooling their children in your area. While you’ll want to remain independent, of course, many benefits can come from connecting with other people doing the same as you are. These benefits are wide-ranging. For example, they may show you resources that you’d never heard of or give some tips on how to make boring subjects more engaging. Above all, they might be able to offer an encouraging word of advice and support if you’re beginning to feel the strain that all homeschooling parents experience at some point.
Give Up On Things That Don’t Work
It’s a good idea to play around when you’re homeschooling. There’s value to being creative and trying new things, after all. It’s also important to give up on the things that don’t work well. You don’t need to see an idea through to the end just because you started. If you think it’s leading nowhere, just put it in the trash and begin something new.
Prioritize Math and English
Now, all subjects are important, but it’s also true that some are more important than others. Take math and English, for example. It’s worth prioritizing these two because they can help with other subjects. If your child has the basics of math and English down, they’ll find it easier to succeed in other educational subjects.
Make it Fun
Finally, remember that while homeschooling is serious business, it’s not as if every moment needs to be fully serious. Neither is it true that serious and fun behavior must be mutually exclusive. The two behaviors can co-exist just fine. Plus, not only will injecting some fun into serious learning make the days in the classroom more pleasant, but they’ll also make them more effective. It is much easier to learn when you’re having a good time, so your child will remember the information much better. As long as the work gets completed, you can have fun with things.
New Homeschooling Parents
No one’s saying that homeschooling will be a walk in the park, at least not always. There are challenges to overcome and things you’ll need to set up to ensure the project is successful. You can help yourself immeasurably by following some of the tips that we’ve outlined above. They’ll help smoothen your initial takeoff and make sure that it’s nothing but smooth flying once you’ve got going.
