Whether it’s full-time homeschooling you are thinking about offering your child or just a temporary solution to pandemic measures, here are some handy tips to help you out.
As much as we love our children, it can be difficult to teach them at home.
We aren’t trained teachers and we don’t have all the resources that in-school teachers would have.
That being said, we can still provide our children with a lot of value with at-home teaching.
Without further ado, here are our best tips and tricks to do so.
Let us know what you think in the comments and let us know if we have missed any tips that could really help fellow parents out!
Keep Your Resources Varied
One of the biggest challenges you can come up against when trying to teach your child at home is their eventual boredom and frustration.
It can be hard for children to pay attention for long periods of time and they can get distracted and fed-up.
A good way to combat this is to keep your resources varied.
This means not only talking and reading but also using video, digital and interactive materials on the content you are learning.
There is always an abudance of good content online and you should be able to find different forms of content in the area you are studying.
Make your own exercise sheets and art activities too.
This will all keep your child learning and taking in information while keeping their boredom at bay.
It will help you save your voice too.
Pick a Quiet Place to Work
A potential issue with learning at home can be the multitude of distractions in a child’s own home.
At school they don’t have all their own toys, books and belongings around them to distract them.
There could also be other people or pets at home who could distract your child unintentionally while they are trying to study or learn.
It is a good idea to pick a quiet and peaceful area at home for your child to have their learning time.
Try and keep it as the same area every day to reinforce to them that when they are in this area, they are learning.
Good boundaries between what is school time and what is free time are important.
Keep Things Fun and Creative
As much as you can, try and incorporate fun and creativity into your child’s homeschooling day.
Play, music and art are all part of the school experience and so it is important to bring these aspects home too.
Try and break up the school day with these more fun aspects dotted through.
It will easier for your child to concentrate on the more academic content if they have had plenty of fun activities inbetween.
Take Plenty of Breaks
Schedule regular breaks throughout your homeschooling day, just as regular schools would.
Break and lunch time should ideally be at the same time every day, to keep your child in a structure and a routine.
If you can, try and take your child outside on their break times.
Let them get out and stretch their legs whenever possible.
This should stop them from feeling fussy during the school day and will keep their behaviour at a more calm level, which benefits all of us at the end of the day.