Tips on Homeschooling

It’s been a rough year. With school closures extending until the end of the school year for many areas, ours included, many parents are finding themselves in the position to extend homeschooling. Not only is this stressful on parents but on children as well. I completely understand. Homeschooling in my home has not been going that great and often times there are more tears being shed than actual learning taking place. Due to this and after talking with other parents in the same boat I have compiled some tips on homeschooling during this extremely difficult time.

Organize

Organize an area in the house that the child is responsible for completing his schoolwork. Also organize all the things that your child will need to complete his or her’s schoolwork such as pencils, papers, books, etc.

Create a Schedule

Create a daily schedule that is easy for your child to follow. Have them help you create the schedule each day to allow them some control over the situation. If your looking for an easy homeschooling schedule then check out a free printable one HERE.

Use free online learning programs

There are so many free online learning programs available right now to help your child succeed. Programs that we love include Prodigy, Go Noodle and Science 360.

Help when able to

Be available to help your child but also be comfortable saying you don’t know the answer. It has been many, many years that I have been in third grade so I don’t always have all the answers available to help my child. That is where google comes into help.

Take Breaks

Just because you are supposed to be homeschooling doesn’t mean that it has to be an all day event. You as the parent were never meant to homeschool your child (unless you wanted to and had spent many hours creating a plan to do so) so the world will not end if you only do the bare minimum top educate your kid.

Give lots of breaks to make sure that you and your child do not get frustrated.

Go easy on your child

Remember that nothing about this is normal. Your child will probably be missing their teachers, friends and the routine that comes a long with a normal school day. They may be struggling with not being able to expend energy as they easily can at school. Go easy on them as much as you can but still encourage some form of learning.

Go easy on yourself

The majority of us did not elect to homeschool our children, nor were we prepared to do so. Nothing about this is easy. So if you skip a day of structure or miss a few assignments, go easy on yourself. Your child and you will be fine.