3 Tips to Make Homeschooling Fun for Everyone
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When parents say homeschooling is a struggle, their kids don't listen to them, and they don't know if they're doing things right, there is only one explanation: the parents neither understand the spirit nor the mechanics of homeschooling.
Homeschooling is like religion.
Religious groups are either too outwardly focused, in which case they become focused on the rules and lose the spirit, or they become too focused on the spirit and lose the rules.
Both extremes will miss the mark.
We, mortals, are extremists. We tend to fall on one side of the tightrope or the other, but very few of us actually find the middle point in anything we do. Homeschoolers are no different.
Parents can loosen the reins too much and let their kids do their own thing, otherwise known as unschooling. The children may fail to get a strong academic foundation that could handicap them later. in certain areas
On the other side, the parents are afraid to let go of the state leash, and they go for the public-school-at-home approach by using the charter and virtual school programs.
While the latter option is incredibly dull and misses the point to homeschooling, the unschoolers get the idea to homeschool but they may also miss the mark.
Most parents go for the public-school-at-home approach because this method is akin to having someone babysitting you while you're homeschooling. You may not have confidence in your ability to homeschool, and you might fear your attempts will shut the door for your children to go to college, forever.
But if you think the public-school-at-home approach is the easier option, I can assure you that it is not.
The easiest way to homeschool is to disengage from any state / federal strings and muster up your courage to homeschool the smart way.
“In a home school, the kid does 95% of the work.”
Any parent of average intelligence and a speckle of patience can homeschool well and raise children to be highly intelligent. You can do it; do not doubt your ability to do a good job.
It won't be perfect, but it will be good enough, and it will be far better than any public school approach.
Let me offer you 3 tips that will all add up to more fun and enjoyment while homeschooling..
Mindset
No one can learn everything, even in an entire lifetime. The width and breadth of all there is to know is too vast. Understand that, apart from the foundational subjects, your children will learn what they learn during the ten plus years they have to study under your tutelage.
What they learn will be unique to each child.
That's how homeschooling works. There's no cookie-cutter approach to learning, and this is precisely where the magic lies.
Don't make the mistake of comparing what your children know to other children, and then worrying that you aren't doing a good job. Have the mindset that as long as you are teaching them the rudimentary skills children need to learn during the elementary years, what they learn beyond that cannot be comparatively measured.
“The art of teaching is the art of assisting discovery.”
What they learn beyond that is what will produce a singularly, accomplished adult. It is where you will find the joy and amazement in discovering all that your child is capable of learning and of becoming.
2) Curriculum
Understand what your children need to know to become well-educated and to have the kind of education that even most private schools no longer provide today.
Your children deserve an elite education, and, with a little guidance, you are perfectly capable of providing one.
Your children will not get an elite education by unschooling or doing public-school-at-home.
My son tutors English in the tutoring center of his college, and he was shocked to discover that most students did not know how to deconstruct a sentence and that some of them did not know the essential parts that comprise a sentence. As he put it, "They are literally, illiterate."
You do not want to raise an illiterate child.
3) Behavior
Children are raised today with the delusion that they are capable of making wise decisions for themselves when they are not.
Because we raise them with this delusion, they don't learn to see us as the authority figure who guides them and is wiser than they are; consequently, they can be rude and poorly behaved.
If you try to homeschool this child, you will meet with resistance depending upon how delusional you raised your child to be.
Establishing the right relationship with your child, therefore, is essential if you want to homeschool, and give your child a fantastic education.
Before you even crack open a book with your child, take a few weeks to re-establish boundaries and expectations in your home. If you do this, homeschooling will be enjoyable and rewarding. If not, you'll struggle to teach your child and will probably argue with him/her a lot.
With the correct mindset, the proper curriculum, and the right relationship with your child, homeschooling is a lifestyle you will love.
If you're not enjoying homeschooling your children, then get offline. Untie yourself from the government leash, and learn how to make this time sweet and productive.
These are your children's best learning years: do not waste them on a substandard homeschooling program.
You have a window from birth to the teen years where you can lay the foundation for raising a genius.
The onus is on you to learn how.
Join the Smart Homeschooler Academy to learn how to give your child the best of an elite education at home.
How to Raise a More Intelligent Child and an Excellent Reader, free guide and book list with over 80+ carefully chosen titles.
Elizabeth Y. Hanson is a Love and Leadership certified parenting coach with 17 years experience working in children’s education. She has two successfully homeschooled children in college.
