Home Schooling Tips

The most important thing regarding home schooling your children is whether or not you are prepared to do it. Is your family prepared to handle it emotionally, physically, and financially? If you answered yes, then give yourself one year to try it. If it succeeds then give it another year. If it does not then you can look at other schooling options.

Read everything you can get your hands on. Read everything you can on world history, mathematics, religion, biology, psychology, classical and modern literature, art and more. You will need to be prepared when teaching your child about these subjects to answer any questions they will have.

Home schooling can be fun for you and your child. Is there something you have always wanted to learn – a specific foreign language or a musical instrument? Have you and your child learn it together, and tie what you are learning into other subjects. Learning a foreign language will help strengthen their writing and grammar skills. Learning a musical instrument can help strengthen their math skills.

Make sure to take the time to discover the way in which your child learns best. Are they a kinesthetic (by touching and handling things), auditory (by listening), or visual (including reading) learner. Once you have determined this, learning and teaching will be much easier.

Set realistic goals for your children that also comply with state regulations. Don’t ask too much of them, but you also can not afford to ask to little of them either.

Plan “unit studies” where you take a specific subject and learn everything about it. For example the founding of Jamestown. Younger children can build a model of the fort. If possible at the end of the unit perhaps you can take a family vacation to visit Jamestown.

Find other home schooling parents and children in your area. Get together the kids to do group projects and field trips. You can also get together so that the children can teach each other what they have learned by doing presentations – a great way to broaden public speaking skill as well.

Make sure before you start home schooling that you look into the legalities of home schooling in your area. Contact other home schooling parents that have been doing it for a while so that they can point you in the right direction.

Given the times that we live it, using the internet should be incorporated into the child’s learning. Teach them how to safely surf the web to gain the information that they are looking for. Bookmark reliable information sources such as an online dictionary or encyclopedia so that you can go back to it often.

Have a set routine for your day. The more structured the day is the better both you and your child will manage. For example every day you will have a block of time that is just for sitting at a desk and studying/learning/teaching, and you will have a block of time for doing what ever you want creatively.

Have a designated room for “school” if you are lucky enough to have an extra room in your home, then you can turn it into your school room. Or if you are short on space then many home school parents use the dining room table.

Use all the resources you can possibly find. There are national, state, and local organizations of home educators that you can join. This is a great way to share ideas, and for your child to be able to meet other home-schooled children from time-to-time.