Whether you’re #homeschooling for the long run or during the time that schools are closed during the lockdown, there are few things to keep an eye on if we’re setting up school at home on a regular basis.
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| Find your homeschooling "HAPPY" |
While I’m no expert in this, I have been homeschooling my son for the last two years, and there are a few things I’ve learnt on this journey.
1. Make up your mind about homeschooling regularly. Embrace the fact and be very sure that your daily routine will include sitting down and teaching the kids. When you know that this is on your plate, you not only learn to make time for it, but also get in the mood for teaching.
2. Use methods that feel good to your child and you. Experiment. Try new things. Don’t feel compelled to stick to one method. There are so many teaching tools and methods out there, and as homeschooling parents you might wonder which one to go with. So let’s say, you are using the Charlotte Mason method but after while, feel like borrowing some techniques from Montessori or the Classical or the Waldorf way of education. Give yourself permission to feast on this buffet of methods or stick to just one, depending on what works for you and your child. Just because you may have spent money on buying a teaching tools or books that adhere to a single method, doesn’t mean that you can’t still explore other methods.
3. Be open to changing things up. If you feel that something - a routine or way of learning, isn’t working for you and your children, then make some changes to bring back the fun. It could mean changing the syllabus or bringing in more story books or using online games or documentaries to supplement your lessons. It could mean changing the schedule or taking more breaks. There is no use in sticking tight to one way of doing things when it is not serving you.
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| Add variety to your homeschooling days |
4. Take a break or do something different. Whenever my son and I start dragging our feet in our homeschool, we take a rain check from “studies” and do art classes at home. We the learn about what we’ve drawn, for instance, polar bears, and watch video clips or play online games about what we drew. This always helps us get back into the mood for regular lessons again. You can use whatever method you like to shake thongs up in your homeschool and bring back the fun.
5. Don’t let stress take away the joy from your homeschooling. It’s important to keep reminding ourselves why we’re homeschooling. For most of us, who’ve chosen this as our main form of educating our children, homeschooling is about helping bring back the joy of learning for our kids. Even for those of you, who’re homeschooling because of the Covid situation or as a stopgap arrangement for any reason, it is important to keep stress at bay and make the entire process enjoyable for your child and you. Whenever you’re getting stressed, stop and think what’s the root cause of that? Is it because you’re worried that your child isn’t picking up some concept quickly or because you’re comparing his schoolwork or educational development to other kids of his age group and feel he is coming up short? Or, are you worrying about his future and if homeschooling is going to be adequate? Or, is there a particular habit that your child has that tests your patience, when you sit down to teach?Find out what’s bothering you or what’s bothering your child and create a plan to step away from it. Also, taking deep breaths and short breaks can stop you from flying off the handle during such times.
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| Make your homeschooling days interesting |
6. Think how you can make the same old syllabus interesting. One of the most fun aspects of being a homeschooling parent is that you can teach your children the way that you’ve always wanted to learn. And I’m sure that’s not the boring way, right? ;-) Bring those textbooks to life through Youtube videos, documentaries, online games, educational websites, simple experiments, craft projects, art and stories. Honestly, if you ask me, we are blessed to have so many interesting teaching tools at our disposal these days. So why not use them?
These are some of the things I try to remember while homeschooling my son. I hope you find them useful too.
FOR MORE HOMESCHOOLING + WORK-FROM-HOME VIDEOS: My Youtube Channel (do Subscribe, if you enjoy the short videos)
A fun video for #homeschooling parents during the #lockdown: 5 Homeschooling Ideas to Keep your Children Engaged
Would you like to know how to start homeschooling in India? Here are some posts for homeschooling parents.
#homschooling #homeschoolindia #homeschool #homeschooledkid #militaryhomeschool #homeschooltips #homeschoolmom
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