Top 5 Tips For Homeschool

Being a teacher is not something I imagined I would be doing…ever! In fact when my mother-in-law suggested this idea I laughed. I told her “no way” because I didn’t feel like I had the patience to deal with difficult children all day. Something I didn’t realize however is that the once you become a parent, you become a teacher. Whether you like it or not. You teach your children to engage with you from the minute they are born. You teach them how to play, how to talk, and how to walk. Given the current state of affairs in our country, our family made the decision to begin homeschooling our oldest daughter. Here are the top 5 tips for homeschool that I have found to be useful.

1. Patience

The first of the top 5 tips for homeschool is patience. This isn’t something that you can buy in preparation for homeschool…I wish it was. Wouldn’t that be so easy? Unfortunately it’s something we must learn and something we have to go into homeschool keeping in mind.

Teaching can be fun, but it can also be challenging. We may be expecting our child to learn something quickly because of past experiences with them. But that is not always the case. Instead of being overbearing and rigid like a brick wall, we need to take a step back and ask ourselves what is causing the learning difficulty. Is there an outside source of distraction? Is it the way I’m approaching the subject? Once you diagnose the issue you can find a solution that helps both of you to move forward in a positive way. The last thing we need is to make our children dislike school because we were unwilling to be patient with them. We have to be open and try to understand the way that they learn individually.

2. Flexibility

Flexibility is key. As in life, teaching is unpredictable. You may have a plan for the whole school day, but things may not happen the way you want them to. We start our days off with the best intentions but children can be finicky and quite emotional sometimes.

Take today for example. We started with a plan but my oldest daughter who is only five was just not understanding the math concept we were covering (subtraction). This was causing her to be upset and emotional. I made the decision to take a snack break and switch topics. While we may not have finished math at the exact time I anticipated, it saved both of us from being frustrated. It allowed me to have a minute to think about a different approach to subtraction. After our “breather” she was able to come into the topic of math refreshed and ready to learn instead of becoming frustrated.

3. Planner/ Organizer

I bought a daily planner almost the minute that I registered my daughter for homeschool. I didn’t exactly know what to do with it at the time but I knew that I would figure it out and that I would eventually use it frequently.

This organizer has been so helpful to me even in the first few weeks of school. I quickly learned that I should have a rough plan for each day. It’s really just a guideline because things can change at any moment during the homeschool day. You may have activities set out to the 30 minute interval and a particular order you’d like for things to be in and that’s great. Unfortunately it’s not always the case that you reach those 30 minute interval goals.

I’ve experienced a few days so far that really haven’t gone to “plan” but we did get everything done that needed to be. Just in a different order and much slower than anticipated. I highly recommend that you get some type of organizer prior to starting homeschool. It doesn’t have to be expensive, but it should definitely be functional. I don’t feel the need for anything fancy with bells and whistles, but if that’s your preference, go for it. Whatever helps to keep you motivated.

4. A Dedicated Work Space

A dedicated area for homeschooling is essential. This isn’t to say that you need a whole room to do homeschool in. While that would probably be a dream for most homeschool parents, it just isn’t ideal.

I doubt that most of us have extra rooms just for homeschool. If you do that’s great! If you’re like me, you’ve crammed all of your homeschool activities/ curriculum into every corner of the dining room. And you use the dining room table for literally everything. This is homeschool though, it’s messy and fun and so very worth it!

I have 3 binders. One for each of my daughters and one for myself for important paperwork and record keeping that the school requires. After attempting distance learning through my daughters previous school and not having anywhere to put her completed work, I really appreciate having a binder just for her. After each activity we do, I simply place it under the subject divider and have it to refer to later as needed. Having this in place at the beginning of the school year has made the transition into homeschool much easier than I thought it would be.

Let’s talk storage. I have limited space so storage is essential. I have two medium sets of drawers (from Ikea) and a book shelf. In one set of drawers I have the fun activities that we get to do for Kindergarten. Things like play doh, games, construction paper and miscellaneous crafts. The other set of drawers is for curriculum aids. Most of what is in there is related to writing, alphabet learning and the like. There are some manipulatives for math as well. The bookshelf houses educational books that we read in the morning before school as well as essentials like crayons, pencils, pens, tape, etc.

In addition to the storage, I have two small containers (14.25″x14″x3.25″) (you can get them at Joanns) which hold school supplied for each of my girls. They have things like: pencils, crayons, glue, watercolor paints, dry erase boards and markers. This way when we have different activities throughout the day they can go to their individual boxes and get the supplies that they need. It gives them a sense of independence and teaches them to keep their supplies neat and organized for school.

Hang in There

In the end, as strange as this may sound, I feel like the best advice for a new homeschooling parent is to go into it with few expectations. You’ll end up happier and feeling more accomplished than you would if you went into it with high hopes and didn’t accomplish everything you had your heart set on. I’m definitely not saying that you shouldn’t have any goals set out for the day or even the year. What I am saying is to cut yourself some slack. Soon enough, using these top 5 tips for homeschool, you and your child will come into a routine and teaching will become easier and more fun.

Curriculum is definitely important and I know that there will be state testing in the future. For now though, engaging with my child, helping with hands on learning and making memories that will last a lifetime are more important than what is learned from a book. I want my children to have a love of learning and a healthy understanding of how to find the answers they seek. Instead of stressing about the curriculum and the end result (especially if your child is still little like mine) learn to enjoy the ride.