When homeschooling, you want to make sure you’ve thought of as many things as possible before you get started. While there is much to consider, you want to do the best job you can. This is the future of your children you’re planning for, and it’s important that they receive the proper education.
It may be a concern of yours about who your child interacts with socially; however, it is a necessary part of learning. Schedule pay dates with other family members or neighbors. Schedule a trip to the park so that children see new things and other kids to play with. Find some clubs, organizations or teams they can join.
Give your kids the same responsibilities they would have if they had to get off to school every day. They should have all their chores done by the time school starts, including teeth being brushed, being out of pajamas and dressed and breakfast having been eaten. Don’t forget to get them to clean up their dishes, too!
Know the laws about school attendance in your area. Homeschooling rules vary state-to-state, so you must know what it required for your area. Standardized testing for homeschooled students is even required by some states. Some states might require you to register your name as the owner of a private school before you can homeschool your kids.
Plan out a ton of activities to accentuate your child’s learning. If they’re learning about history, have them act out the time they’re learning about. They can dress up, speak like people of that time and even engage in battle, if that is what the topic is. It gives them a chance to truly experience what they’re learning, immersing them in the topic and ensuring they learn as much as possible from the lesson plan you present.
Friendship is an important part of growing up and should be encouraged. This is especially important to children who are being homeschooled. To help your child develop healthy relationships with others, get them involved in the community. This can be accomplished through volunteering, attending homeschooling cooperatives or even playing sports.
The goal of homeschooling is to instill knowledge in your child or teen, but it should also be viewed as something more. You have a rare opportunity to use learning as a means of bonding and interacting with each other in a way most parents never get. Highlight the student’s accomplishments in your “�classroom’ just as you would for those earned in a traditional learning environment.
Read a variety of titles to ensure that your child receives a well-rounded education. How-to articles can give you a variety of hands-on activities to do with your child. Before you child begins studying a specific subject such as World History, visit your local library and check out a children’s history book along with an age appropriate book. Use the children’s history book to give you a broad overview of the information that should be taught, and use the other book for specific information to include in your lesson plan.
Try to be as social as possible when you are homeschooling. Networking locally can be invaluable for parents and their home schooled students. Meet those other parents, get involved with homeschooling support groups and participate in online forums. Cooperatives also offer opportunities for homeschooling parents to share insights and perspectives as well as develop lasting friendships.
Lay out your logic for wanting to homeschool on paper. You know what your reasons are, but it may help your spouse to see them in black-and-white. Be aware of your ultimate goals, so it will be easier to filed the concerns of others when it comes to your decision to homeschool. This inevitably makes vocalizing your reasoning an easier process.
It is okay to use computers when homeschooling your children, do not completely rely on them. As you probably already know, computers are very prone to problems like viruses and freezes. Because of these problems, it is important that you continue to use textbooks and other physical materials as well.
Create a written schedule for your homeschooling children. To effectively educate a child, you need a certain degree of structure in each day. By creating a schedule, you give yourself a means for maintaining that structure. This helps to make the transition from one subject to the next easier, and it can help you, as the teacher, to know you are covering all the subject areas you wish to cover.
When you are homeschooling your children you should always take the time out to read to them. You can read books that have some relavance to every subject you are teaching them. There are so many books out there you can see just how many you can read together in a school year.
Do not try lecturing your children the same way that a teacher does. You know your child best. In addition, when dealing with your own children, you are much less likely to get them to listen to a lecture. Place yourself in their shoes and teach them the way you would like to be taught. Don’t be surprised at how much you learn as well.
If you are homeschooling an older child and have preschoolers at home, consider finding some sort of child care for a few hours a day. Having your preschooler out of the house or otherwise occupied can help you to accomplish more with your older child. Even if you can only manage a couple of hours of care, you can get a lot accomplished in that time period. If budget constraints are an issue, consider trading off childcare with another homeschooling family that is in the same situation as you are.
