Nowadays, more people are educating their children from home because of the advantages of flexibility, productivity, and bringing out your child’s unique talents. But if you haven’t homeschooled before, it might be difficult to know where to start – read the expert tips below.
Stick to a routine
Whether you home school your children part-time or full time, it’s important to stick to a routine. Traditional schools are excellent for creating formal structures and routines for students to follow, which frames their psychology for learning. However, when you don’t have a strict routine to follow, there is a tendency to cut corners and take breaks here and there – this doesn’t make for the best homeschooling environment.
Learn at your child’s pace
Children are all different; they have different personalities, learning styles and processes, so homeschooling does have many advantages. With homeschooling, you can design the school day to coincide with your child’s learning style and reduce or extend the timetable as necessary. Get to know your child’s learning styles and adapt the lessons as necessary.
Give them responsibility
It gets boring for anyone when they adopt the same learning style all the time, nothing new happens, and there are no surprises. But giving your child the chance to be the teacher once in a while is a great way to keep them interested in lessons and develop their learning capacity in new ways. So instead of teaching material, ask them to research it themselves and present it back to you.
Show a genuine interest
Academic interests aren’t just for universities, but if you are interested in university-level learning, you can read about it at the American International University Kuwait Reviews. Either way, it’s important that your child sees and understands that the topics they engage in within their school day are relevant and interesting to parents as well. Think of ways you can extend your interest in the topics you’re studying, such as visiting real places or watching related movies.
Stay active
A healthy body is a basis for a healthy mind, so if you are homeschooling your children, you need to make sure you are all getting enough exercise. Encourage a sporting interest for your child and research sports teams in the local area. If your child isn’t the sporty type, they might prefer walks or yoga. Whatever you do to stay active, try to remember that it’s an important way to support their education.
Use outside marking
Even though you might be well qualified to assess your child’s work and mark it to the standard of an education board, it’s still a good idea to have the work assessed by a third party from time to time. Even professional markers must learn how to mark things correctly in relation to their peers, so errors can be made. Having your child’s work marked externally will only strengthen the quality of the work, and you might also learn something about your own marking standards.
Limit screen time
Although we live squarely in the digital age and devices are also a vital learning tool, it’s important to limit your child’s screen time to protect their eyes and improve their concentration. Using digital devices regularly can lead to eye fatigue, headaches, and a loss of concentration, which is detrimental to your child’s health and learning capacity.