What does a parent need to properly homeschool their children? Besides a great lesson plan, first and foremost it all starts with being a great parent. The professional certifications and degrees we believe as being mandatory to education are not exactly required when talking about effective homeschool teaching.
It’s often the relationship the child has with their parents which can help motivate and inspire them. This leads to areas of development and pursuits which are custom-tailored to the blossoming student.
It’s about engaging the heart, mind, and body in everyday activities for the most beneficial and well-rounded approach. Over time, the qualities that are important in both the student and teacher will become more polished. Here are a few tips to help accomplish this:
1. Find a great curriculum to follow. For example, Easy Peasy All-In-One Home School is one of my favorite resources to help homeschooling parents. They break everything down into daily lesson plans and take the extra workload off of parents. This makes it both fun and productive for parents and children alike to stay engaged.
2. Prepare yourself beforehand. Study and learn the curriculum where needed so you can provide answers for your children.
3. Observe your child’s learning patterns. You can custom tailor a curriculum to their interests as you proceed with lesson plans. This helps to keep motivation and learning retention high. You might also find your aspiring student learns better through audio or visually through the use of pictures.
4. Creativity counts. You don’t need to lock up homeschool learning in a box or chain your child to a student desk. By engaging in various types of physical activities you can present information differently. In this manner, you can further spark interactions and get them asking you questions.
Take note, it also helps if you’re a good listener. You also want your kids to spend quality time interacting with groups of other children. To help them successfully fit in with others, sadly, we have to talk about clothing. Children these days are much more aware of what they are wearing than previous generations.
But clothes do not have to break the bank. You might find inexpensive clothes at the best bidding site for deals or do a search for online clothing fashion ideas for greater group coherence (that includes your wardrobe, too, mom).
5. Understand their needs. If you encounter difficulties, engage in problem solving and let them work through problems on their own by ‘teaching them how to fish’. If they come to solutions on their own, it will have a natural effect of boosting self-confidence. That’s something you want to be consistently working on.
6. Vet the subject matter. One of the greatest things about homeschooling is the ability to filter sensitive material, outdated information, or non-essentials that might otherwise be taught in public schools.
7. Remember you’re a parent. It’s all about what’s best for them above all else. It’s an art form to balance your relationship as parent, teacher, and friend. The synergy should bring a sense of satisfaction at the end of the day.
From achieving progress with studies to develop stronger parent-child bonds, creating a great homeschool curriculum will foster both, especially if you follow up on a daily basis. The takeaway here is that consistency is the real key to sufficiency in any educational program.
My guest blogger today is Sam Jones, a digital marketing expert, social media and branding consultant and guest blogger for various publications, including Business2Community, Inbound.org and EZsitebuilders.com. In her free time, Sam is an avid traveler, foodie and lover of all things technology. She’s also a fitness fanatic (in the making).
