Greetings and Blessed Love,
If this is your first time homeschooling, be prepared. No matter what, be prepared for what is to come. Teaching is a job. It has steady hours 5 days a week, and requires you to get up early and focus on completing scheduled tasks. You have to genuinely love this to do it. You've got to harness every creative bone in your body and have the right attitude. Not everyday will be fun and wonderful, you can suffer burnout and so can your little students. It's important to not let yourself crack under pressure, it's important to have a positive outlook too. Sometimes you feel like you aren't getting anywhere, that the yutes aren't learning or behaving. These things will happen, but don't let it be taken as defeat. Remember that children have their own interests, they easily lose interest and they tend to give their full attention only when they are in the mood. 😃😃😃
Not every day will be perfect, but homeschooling is extremely rewarding nonetheless. There will definitely be days when classes run smoothly, there will definitely be days when your students are on the ball and learning and participating and getting their work correct. There will be days when you're excited to start something new or learn something new together. It's a win win partnership with your children, and once you are committed and find your teaching style and flow, it will start to come naturally.
So here are a few tips that may be obvious to some, but which I think are so necessary to consider. I advise you to make this list and expand upon each point for yourself and use it as a guideline for what needs to be done and what can be improved. And there is always room for improvement and to get things right, remember that.
I don't have this list in any particular order.
1). Be on time - When the yutes are left to their own interests too late in the morning, it's hard to rein them in to settle and start work. However, set the time that works best for you and your family.
2). Make and Stay on schedule - plan a schedule that works for your household and stick to it - of course you can tweak it when or as necessary, but enforce it so that everyone falls in line and knows what the day is like. Class times, break times, durations, that kind of thing.
3). Take breaks - It's important for everyone's patience and good mood to take a short break! And since homeschool isn't like public school the children shouldn't have to go too long before taking a breather. Never try to do all your lessons without a break! The younger the child the harder it will be to get a lot done in one sitting so plan shorter lessons for pre-K and K. Aim for two lessons at a time, or if one lesson takes a while and required a lot of writing or use of hands, give them a break.
4). Prep snacks and meals - You can't spend too long while on break or their interest will disappear, so it's better to have food ready or at a state where it won't take long to prepare.
5).Stay calm, be firm. Because they are home - or because it's you - children might feel like they can just get up and go on their way, or kick up a fuss to get out of lessons. Change direction if their attention is waning, give them a learning activity instead.
6). Have a syllabus. I use the local Trinidadian syllabus. Familiarize yourself with the content and make notes on the topic areas to be covered for the year for each subject. This helps tremendously with planning you term and your weeks.
7). Buy workbooks the local schools use, or find some online that better suit you. Go online for printables - you can get a ton of them free. Having these types of resources help a lot!
8). Make your own resources like anchor charts and flashcards. You can even make simple worksheets. I do this all the time using markers. It saves on printer ink. It's important to get creative. You should always have poster board, cardstock, construction paper and printer paper in stock at home.
9). Use youtube and online learning sites. Children love using the computer and there are lots of online pages that let them learn through games and quizzes that are colourful and animated. Youtube has lots of videos that teach as well, so you can get good reinforcement that way.
10). Have your schoolroom stocked with art supplies, stationery, magnetic/foam letters and numbers, reading books, activity books, whiteboard and markers, puzzles, maps, and all types of learning resources for reading, phonics, math and science.
11). Give rewards and praise when your children do well, also know how to discipline with taking away privileges when necessary. My son knows he cannot use the computer to play Minecraft if he doesn't settle down and do his work. Or he cannot use my phone to watch youtube.
12). Keep a school diary. Use it to plan the lessons for the week and to keep record of what is completed or not. My diary keeps me organized and clear on what I need to do next. I make notes of everything to keep on top of progress.
13). Block out the comments of others who have a problem with homeschooling. They can comment how much they want, it won't change anything. You do what you want to do and be proud and determined!
14). Be supportive of the spouse who homeschools, give them support and help where or when you can. It's important!
15). Familiarize yourself with the topics you are teaching. Find teaching resources online, you can also download or buy lesson plans. Read the workbooks and see how the topics are set out.
16). Keep your lessons interesting, handso-n and fun as much as possible! This won't always be possible but try your best to use toys, cards, games, counters (can be anything from coloured sticks to bottle caps, to coloured paper clips), and other items that will help, like for math and phonics for example.
There are so many things to consider but I hope these tips help you in some way.
Please do subscribe as I will be posting more tips to go along with my worksheet packs.
Happy teaching!
Ila Addis
