Homeschooling 101: 4 Useful Tips for Parents
I’m sure you can all agree with me when I say the last two years have thrown quite a few curve balls our way. Not to mention adding homeschooling children, particularly the littlies into the mix, it can all get a bit much!
I’m here to reassure you that homeschooling doesn’t have to be an overwhelming and highly stressful task. I’ve collated my top four tips for homeschooling that will improve your child’s engagement and nurture their creativity!
Break up the day of learning into 30-minute time slots
Take the time to identify learning time slots that work best for your child. For example, you may find 30-minute time slots, followed by a ten-minute break, helps to main their focus. Alternatively, you may find working for more extended periods, followed by a longer break works better for your child.
During this break, I recommend steering clear of screen time as this can disrupt your child’s focus. Instead, organise a mentally stimulating activity such as kicking the soccer ball around, arts and crafts, completing a puzzle or try an interesting quiz!
Create motivation by setting goals with your child
Take the time to sit down with your child and map out their weekly goals. I always find this works best when you keep the goal visible at all times. Visual is great – that’s why adults use a vision board and businesses create a visual goal! For example, you can use post-it notes, write them on a whiteboard, or set these as their computer desktop so that they are always in sight.
If you are homeschooling a young child, I recommend making a goal ladder together and agreeing on incremental rewards as you work towards them. This concept works fantastic for the littlies, as by using the visual of stairs building towards something, they can easily grasp the concept of taking small steps to achieve a larger goal.
For teens, using the concept of a vision board to map out their goals can help them re-energise, promote creativity, and provide motivation to submit that assignment before the deadline!
Set up a weekly schedule that is always visible for you and your child
Scheduling each day with a similar structure to a regular school day and avoiding disruptions is crucial. Having a large visual timetable on a whiteboard or an A2 piece of paper in a place that you and your child can always refer to is a valuable strategy to get them in a routine.
When filling out your child’s homeschooling timetable, I recommend breaking up each day into learning and non-learning time, with learning time being further broken down into subjects or activities. Some great templates are available here.
Set up a designated learning space
A designated learning space can be as simple as a section of a room; it doesn’t need to be a large area. This space should be in a quiet part of the house with minimal distractions if possible. While you’re at it, why not make this a fun little project to get your child excited for homeschooling! You can do this by letting them pick out some new stationery, book covers, pens and pencils.
If you find your child is becoming increasingly disengaged during homeschooling, please reach out to caz@theincrowd.com.au to find out how we can help!
You might also like to visit https://www.abcconnect.com.au/mentoring/ to find out more about how mentor-mentee relationships can help with the learning process.
