Tips and Tricks for Parents who are New to Homeschooling
If you want to try and keep your kids on track, and if you want them to navigate some of the ins and outs that come with online-based homeschooling, then you are not alone. So many parents are in the same situation that you are right now, but there are things that you can do to try and make things easier on yourself. Take a look below to find out more.
Create a Designated Space for Homeschooling
Homeschooling can be fun, and it can also be an exciting experience. That being said, it can also be somewhat messy. Learning and living under a single roof can be hard, and if you are not organized then you may find that things eventually lead to disorganized chaos. You may find that it is not a good environment if you want your kids to be happy students, and this is the last thing that you need.
If you want to avoid confusion while preserving your own sanity, then you need to try and keep your children’s study materials nice and organized. You also need to try and designate a learning hub for them. This is essentially a space where you can keep all of their supplies and their books.
If you know that your kids like to do homework at the dining table, then buy some little baskets that you can clip onto the side so that they have everything they need when they first sit down. You might also want to try and create a schedule that you can keep updating, so they know when tasks have to be done, and by what time.
Follow a Schedule
Homeschooling will certainly bring about a lot of flexibility, not to mention that you can also afford to be a bit spontaneous with your child’s education as well. That being said, if you do not have a clear structure then you may find that it is very easy for you to get distracted and then eventually get off track. Kids thrive when they have some kind of structure and routine.
If possible, you need to try and create and then follow a routine or schedule. You can always adapt it later, but this will give you a lot of focus and direction on a daily basis.
If you aren’t sure how to create and follow a schedule, or if you need some help, then look into color-coding the activities your child is going to do, so they can see what they are working on, and why. If you are teaching more than one child, then you can easily use swim lanes to try and track a lot of different schedules, with the opportunity for you to bring everyone together for things like meals and other general activities.
It’s super easy for you to do things like this online. You can also find homework resources too, which will make things much easier for you if you are trying to handle everything yourself.
Map out the Homeschool Year
If possible, you need to try and map the school year out, ahead of time. This will help you to monitor any progress you may have made on your goals, and it will also help you to break up some of the bigger goals that you have into way smaller steps. This will make them manageable for you, and if you find things easier, then your child will too.
Road maps, flow charts, and even mind maps are all very good here. If you can visualize your goals, then this will give you the chance to see your progress at a glance.
Make Homeschooling a Family Activity
If you can, you need to share the excitement that you have for learning with your children. Think about it, is there a specific activity that everyone in your family happens to love? It may be that you like to read together, make crafts, or even go on hikes.
Either way, you have to remember that there are truly countless ways for you to try and get everyone involved and when you do, you will soon see that it is easy to make learning fun. You may want to try and practice cooking together or even trying to make grocery lists. Things like this can give your child the life skills they need for the future as well, so be mindful of this if you can.
Collaborate
Sure, you may be in charge of your child’s education but at the same time, you have to remember that you are not in this alone. There are so many rich and even diverse homeschooling communities out there. If you are able to, you need to try and connect with other people who homeschool where possible. This will help you to make the process easier, and it will give your child a way better experience too. As if that wasn’t enough it will enrich them and help them to expand their opportunities for the future.
Ease into Homeschooling
It doesn’t matter if you are coming back from a summer break or whether you are having a mid-year vacation. You need to make sure that you ease back into the education side of things if you have had some time off. It may be that you start with one or even two subjects for the first week and then add some more in as time goes on. This will give your child the chance to acclimatize themselves to the school environment and it will also help them to build a very natural routine.
Homeschooling does not have to mirror the structure that your child would have if they did go to school, and you should never be afraid to experiment with their learning style or even the schedule that you give them. If you can remember this, then you will surely see a huge improvement so keep this in mind. You may even find that you are able to give your child a much more positive result overall from their learning experience too, which is always a good thing.
