For years I wavered back and forth about homeschooling my daughters. I’m not sure why I wasn’t fully committed to homeschooling them from the beginning, but I think it was mainly because I wanted to work and make money so that I could have more freedom to buy things I desired. Eventually, I realized my daughter’s health concerns were too great for me to put her into school and more money wasn’t a big issue. Thankfully, when I finally resolved that I would homeschool I decided that to homeschool successfully, God would have to be the center and I would have to guide my actions with my children with love, patience, and diligence.
Homeschool with Love
By homeschooling your kids, you can create activities that keep them engaged and awake. You can purposefully tailor their lessons to their interest. One of our favorite games is to play is multiplication hover ball. I hold up a multiplication card and if they answer correctly they get to try to kick the ball into the goal. The best part is that they are learning multiplication while kicking the ball back and forth indoors.
Homeschool also allows you to give your kids fun classes outside of your home at a discounted price like swimming, science classes at a local museum, music lessons early in the day and more, which also gives them an opportunity to meet other homeschool families. When looking for discounted homeschool classes check your local recreation centers, museums, event organizations, etc. Many will need several families involved to make it mutually beneficial so feel free to tell other families whom you come into contact with.
Homeschool with Patience
Sure, you want your children to learn new material quickly, but patience is key. Sure, you want your children to pick up their assignments from their To-do folders, read the directions and get started immediately, but it takes time to develop these skills. Homeschooling is great but it is not perfect, there will be rough times when your children would rather play then listen to your instructions, but through it all, be patient. As your children understand your rules, they will learn how to make the best of homeschooling. Also, remember that it is out of love that you are devoting your time and energy to help mold your children into loving, intelligent, respectable individuals. Don’t allow your heart to sour because you feel stressed at times. Instead, develop plans that everyone in the family will work hard to make homeschooling a better experience.
As stated earlier, my decision was finalized, once I realized my daughter’s illness caused her to be fatigued, have low energy levels and a short attention span. I knew that my smart girl might not do well in a large group setting, so I had to embrace my decision to teach them in our home. Along with these challenges there were days that felt discouraging. Instead of giving up, I decided to create alternative learning activities that she loves. Thus, with kids, it’s great to be creative while exhibiting patience.
Homeschool with Diligence
You don’t have to rely on just on curriculum to meet all the needs of your child. By homeschooling you can find resources and curriculum programs that challenge your child to grow and learn at different levels. The lessons taught should introduce what you want your child to learn, not necessary what a traditional classroom full of students need to learn. Your homeschool day will run much smoother if you create a schedule to guide your day.
Follow an outline
One of the curriculum programs I use is Classical Conversations (CC). The 3 cycles program repeats each year consecutively. CC is great because it provides me with a guide to follow and a host of information my kids will need to know for years to come. The subjects include a range of information from history to Latin, English, science, math, geography and so forth. I’m impressed with the memory work so far and my children enjoy the information learned. This is our second year using Classical Conversations in our homeschool. However, I also use other curriculum program’s as well to keep my children on par with other students in private and public school’s their age.
Accept support
If you’re considering homeschool for your family my best advice is to make sure both parents are on board so you receive support. Support is essential to feeling successful when the overall duties of a parent and teacher can began to overwhelm you. A good planner can help bring relief and a good co-op or CC community can provide support, but if you’re an introvert, you may not find a large co-op or community a good fit for you or your children. Overall, I definitely, encourage you to try a group out first before you make your decision never to join a homeschool group.
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My week at a glance
If you are using Classical Conversations, today I am sharing information that I compiled for my memory work tri-fold board (as seen on the blog Half-a-Hundred Acre Wood). Each week I will create new materials based on my Foundations guide. Unfortunately, I do not have these printables created in advance, so if you’re able to go ahead and create future materials for the upcoming week, please feel free to share your materials with me as well. If you are a part of CC, join CC connected and you will have printables for the weekly lessons available to you.
Reader Response:
What are some ways you make your homeschool and amazing experience for your kids?