According to a recent study, 59% of the parents were ready to consider homeschooling their children in the near future. However, taking your child out of public schooling is a big step, one which you should not take lightly. As such, it’s important that you weigh up the benefits and potential challenges beforehand, enabling you to make the best possible decision for your child.
The Benefits.
- You can tailor your lessons around your child’s unique needs and interests.
- Your child is able to work at their own pace, without feeling stressed or overwhelmed.
- Spending more time together can improve your relationship with your kids.
The Challenges.
- Homeschooling is more complex than simply helping your child with math at home, you have to ensure they learn about a wide range of topics.
- As they’ll be spending more time at home, raising socially confident kids could be more challenging as they have less face-to-face time with their peers.
Top Tips For Homeschooling.
As mentioned above, the decision on whether or not to homeschool your children is a complex one. However, if you’re going to give it a try, here are some top tips that you can use to make sure you are successful!
- Plan out your lessons ahead of time, using free lesson plans from education leaders such as Learn Bright. This will help you ensure that your lessons are well structured, and will help your child work towards their educational goals.
- Put together a weekly timetable, so that your day is structured and organized. For example, you should decide ahead of time how many hours you’ll have of school a day, and ensure that you factor plenty of breaks into your routine.
- Ensure your child continues to socialize with their peers by enrolling them in after school clubs or team activities. This way, they can make friends and develop useful social skills, while also excelling academically.
- Set up a designated learning space within your home – don’t learn from the dining room table or the living room. This will help your child focus on their lessons, instead of being distracted by what is happening around them.
- Follow a set morning and evening routine, ensuring that your child goes to bed and wakes up at the same time each evening. Getting enough sleep will help them to ensure that they’re focused and productive during your homeschooling sessions.
- Set “homework” in the same way a traditional teacher would. This helps your child learn to work independently, and can help them develop a range of problem-solving skills that will serve them well moving forward. Without getting used to doing homework, they may struggle with assignments in the future should they go to college.
- Don’t assume that you know everything – if a topic comes up in the curriculum that you don’t understand, take some time to delve deeper into it before teaching your kid. In some cases, it may be beneficial to hire a private tutor to tackle these lessons or subjects on your behalf.
Meg is an author at Cinnamon Hollow. She writes on a variety of topics sharing tips and ideas for daily life.