Kelly

Here are some things that have helped me over the past few years…

1. Don’t set too much work (particularly for young children). Incorporate regular breaks into your study time.
2. Be organised! Complete your lesson plan each night for the next day.
3. Follow each child’s interests and tailor their work around what they like to do.
4. Utilise your local library. You will save so much money and its a great outing.
5. Don’t buy unnecessary things. Start with basics and figure out over time what you need. eg. dictionary, world map, pencils, art materials etc.
6. Meet up or liase with other homeschoolers. They are a wealth of information.
7. Chores and life skills are an integral part of daily life, the sooner children learn this the more your family can work as a team.
8. Include younger children by organising “school” activities appropriate to their age.
9. Give rewards for good work and the occasional “surprise day off”.
10. If its not working take a step back and analyse. Remember, you determine holiday and break times so if you’re extra tired or bogged down take time off!

I don’t usually volunteer to strangers the fact that we are a homeschooling family, however, naturally when you take a school aged child out on a school day many people want to know why. The responses I get vary between extremely positive to extremely shocked to extremely bewildered. But everyone asks the same things “Why do you do that?”. I often say “because it works really well for our family” and don’t really go into much detail as some people are sensitive and actually find it offensive that you don’t do what they do. Yes, it does work well for us, but there is so much more to it than that. One of the main reasons is we want our children to grow and learn in our faith. Another reason is my husband and I had negative school experiences. Another reason is I think our home environment has a lot to offer our children. But there is one thing that sticks in my mind – the day my first child was born. If someone had sauntered into the operating theatre when I was gazing lovingly upon this new indivdual my husband and I had been blessed with and said “I’m sorry, but I need to take this child away from you for at least 6 hours a day as I don’t think you’re capable of caring for him and teaching him. You can have him back in the evenings though!” do you think that would be acceptable?
What do you think?