It’s not always easy to get the homeschool day going
Homeschooling can be overwhelming at times. There are times when it seems impossible to get it done, or even get started. We have had days when our school day did not begin until 3 pm. Sometimes we get it all done on days like these, and sometimes we don’t. To me, though, homeschooling doesn’t have to fit into a mold, or be grueling. If all I am is a task master, demanding that every subject be done, and the curriculum is the boss ,and must be completed no matter what, what am I really teaching my kids? When learning isn’t fun and interesting to them they aren’t really learning at all.
If I want them to retain the information, and truly learn what I am teaching them I need to make it appealing to them. The days that I find it the hardest to get the homeschooling day going are the days I can’t seem to make it appealing, even to myself. Thankfully this doesn’t happen often, but it does happen. I have to remind myself not to over complicate things. They need to be challenged, but not overwhelmed or discouraged.
Inspire creativity in your homeschooling
Allow your kids to be creative in their learning. Encourage and inspire it even. Creative kids learn better and retain the information better. For example, you could teach them to make up songs to remember facts and Bible verses. This also works for definitions that are tricky. Teach them rhymes and riddles to remember how to spell. Use the curriculum as a guide for the information, but remember this is your classroom, and they are your kids. They don’t have to do all of the work in the workbook. You can find creative ways to live out the lesson or turn it into a project. Some of my kids like to do reports. I will have them do a few lessons on a subject, then research it out and write a report. They enjoy it and still learn all of the information they need.
Figure out what your child is the most interested in, and hone in on it, and fine tune it. Let’s face it, if your kid hates math it isn’t very likely that he is going to grow up to be a mathematician. Just like if they hate science they probably won’t become a scientist. As long as they have basic skills in each major subject you are doing just fine. Don’t kill their creativity and imagination by drilling them like the public school system does.
Choose what works best for you
Another great part of homeschooling is that you get to choose what works best for you and your kids. You don’t just get what you get. You don’t even have to use the same curriculum for each kid or each subject. We use Landmark Freedom Baptist Curriculum for some of our subjects. We all love Life of Fred for math. If you haven’t heard of it check it out. This is not sponsored, but I am going to say that if I had been taught Life of Fred math as a kid I would have loved it even more. It teaches math skills from a life application point of view. Your kids will never have to ask you, “When am I ever going to use this in my life?” They are learning it as Fred is using it in his daily life.
There is also life experience. I believe that there is no better way to learn than from doing. If you really want to teach your kids something that they will not forget, or be bored to tears learning, get them active in it. Come up with a project they can do. Take them to historical sites. Let them dress up and act like characters from the past who they are learning about and read a research paper about them. Do experiments. These do not only have to be limited to science, but can span over many different subjects.
Be well rounded
Be well rounded in your homeschooling. Teach your kids a wide range of life skills along the way. Such as safety on the internet, as well as in public. Teach them the importance of eye contact. Too many people walk around with their heads down looking at their phones and not at people. This makes you a target to people looking to harm others. Predators are much less likely to target you if you are able to identify them, or are looking them in their eyes.
Teach them how to cook, clean, budget their money well. Even if you are not good at these things you can teach them to your kids with some help. Take them to a farm and let them volunteer for a week. We don’t have to be stuck in a box of drill and kill. Or you have to focus on only reading, writing, arithmetic, history and science, and only from these specific books. No, this is not good or fun for anyone. You can even come up with your own curriculum if you want to. Especially for pre-school and kindergarten. Have fun with it. If they see you having fun and enjoying it they will too.
What we do during crazy times
We are all humans living on this earth, so we all know that crazy times come. We have a new baby, we get sick, we move, get a new job, the list can go on forever. For us, we have a new baby and are preparing to move, so as you can imagine if we were trying to stick to an all day long, gotta do all the lessons in the book and do every single subject known to man approach, it would be nearly impossible to do it. Right now we are working on fine tuning reading skills with our little ones and letter recognition. Our older ones are learning a lot of life skills as well as sharpening their spelling and handwriting up. Of course we are doing a little bit of something else each day. Some days it’s art or music. Other days it’s seeing who can dig up the most stuff in the back yard. Of course there are days that we still sit down and get it all done.
It’s okay to have times of focus. Especially if one of the kids is struggling with something. Taking the time to slow down and focus on it shows them how much you care about them. It also shows them how important their education is to you, and so instills in them a love for learning and gaining knowledge. It truly does not have to be complicated or daunting. Homeschooling should be simple, fun, and exciting. Even when it’s not easy, if it’s simple you’ll stick to it and enjoy it.
