Home Schooling

home schooling tips no 6

Come Up With Projects When Homeschooling

Due to its many benefits, many parents are choosing homeschooling for their children. Homeschooling allows for a more flexible educational experience, and curriculum can be easily tailored to your child's individual needs. As the costs of private schools continue to rise, homeschooling becomes a viable economic decision as well.

When you decide to homeschool your children, you need to become knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects so you can prepare an adequate educational plan. Once you have established a plan, which should include targets for different subject areas, you should consider the idea of unit projects.

You're probably familiar with projects, as you likely did one or two if you came through the public school system. Projects are a great way to implement and test knowledge acquired through an educational unit. A good plan is to have a multi-week unit set up for a given subject, and at the end of the unit assign a week-long project that will make use of what your child has learned.

For example, if you and your child study a biology unit, a great week long project is to create an ecosystem. This can be done with an old aquarium, and your child's goal will be to create an environment that can be self-sufficient in the sealed aquarium. In learning about the water table and the different cycles of nature, encourage your child to think of the best way to make his or her ecosystem. After your child has come up with a plan, take him to a store to by the requisite materials with which to begin his project. Once it is started have him track the ecosystem's progress every day.

The reasons that projects like this can be very effective is that they serve multiple educational purposes: your child will not only be learning as he goes, but he will be learning in an engaging way, and most likely with a higher level of retention. A project can also engage other members of the family. The ecosystem, for example, could be placed in a prominent location, and other family members will no doubt take interest. It's a great educational experience when your child can not only excitedly report on a project's progress to his parents, but actually show the work at hand. Every parent has witnessed a child from the publics system describing a project they're doing at the dinner table, but as a homeschooling parent you have the benefit of having "home" and "school" being one: you child can not only tell, but show.

When you homeschool, you're not limited by the practicalities necessary in a public or private school system. Project ides are only limited by you and your child's imagination. For each and every unit, encourage your child to come up with long term project ideas and use their learning in a practical way. Not only will the project allow your child to learn more about the subject, it will carry over into the home as a whole: other family members will take interest, and the whole process of buying the materials and planning the project will become part of your child's educational experience.

KC Yap also owns a blog on baby sleep too!

Home Schooling

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KC Yap also owns the following blog on baby sleep too.

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Home Schooling



Making Your Child a Part of the Homeschooling Process.

There are a myriad of different reasons why people choose to homeschool their children: there is the economic benefit of avoiding high private school fees; there is the convenience of scheduling schooling around other family activities etc. . . One of the most important benefits of homeschooling is the flexibility with which you can tailor your child's education. It is a well known fact that every individual has individual needs, and homeschooling allows you to create a learning environment that suits your child particularly.

When you undergo homeschooling, it is important that you have a clear curriculum and mind and a plan to execute it. But within that plan, you should understand that you have a tremendous amount of flexibility: there are many different ways that a child can learn something, and many different things to learn in a given subject.

One of the best ways that you can ensure a high level of learning retention is to encourage your child to take a personal interest in his or her education. Although this may seem obvious, many people growing up who went though a traditional school system will probably agree that their education was received in an authoritative way: schooling and your education was something that was done to you, not with you.

When homeschooling, however, you can take advantage of the almost unlimited flexibility at your disposal and let your child take a more active role. While you can't, obviously, let your child do whatever he or she wants education-wise, you should always explain to him or her a given education plan, and see what he thinks.

For example, when you start your school day, outline the plan for the day with your child. Depending on his or her age you can also explain the reasoning behind the plan. If there are any things the child seems averse to doing, try and take them seriously. You should not, of course, avoid certain subjects or activities simply because your child doesn't like them. You should, however, ask your child why he or she doesn't like something in the day's plan, and to suggest alternatives. In many cases you will be pleasantly surprised by what your child comes up with, and be able to incorporate it into the day's work.

As much as possible, you should have a list of alternatives in mind for assigned activities. The idea is to try and think of alternative activities that accomplish the same task. If your child protests against a certain exercise, then, you can offer them an alternative. This can be extremely effective in getting your children to learn material that they dislike.

Oftentimes the child simply has to feel that he or she is more in control of the situation to enjoy it. Even though you are ultimately controlling your child's education, by granting them small allowances and choices, while still sticking with the larger picture, everybody wins: your child feels he is doing what he wants to do, and you are still teaching your child what you want him to learn.

KC Yap also owns a blog on baby sleep tips too

Home Schooling

Home Schooling



Developing Reading Skills When Homeschooling Your Child.

The extreme amount of flexibility offered by homeschooling creates many educational benefits. One of them, of course, is that "home" and "school" become one, so that the educational experience doesn't have to begin and end with the ringing of a bell. By incorporating educational activities into your home life as a whole, you child will gain a more valuable educational experience.

One of the best things about home schooling is you can come up with an educational plan that suits your child's particular needs. By working one on one with a child, you can create an individual learning system that can be more beneficial then the learning techniques used in a public or private school. When coming up with an individual education plan for your child, make sure you place focus on reading.

Much of the philosophy of homeschooling is about not being subject to the limitations of the public school system, and an area where the public school system commonly falters is in reading. Many public school students perform poorly on standardized reading tests, which is unfortunate as reading skills are crucial to a child's education.

Reading can't really be emphasized too much when homeschooling your child. While there should be a good balance of subject areas taught throughout the teaching day, reading should be encouraged during your child's free time. While it may be difficult to get a child into doing math or science work in his or her free time, reading is a different story.

As soon as your child can read, he or she should always be reading something. As long as you find the subject matter appropriate, allow your child to read whatever he wants in his free time. Develop the habit at a young age of getting your child to always have a book on the go. By finding books that your child enjoys, your child will, from a young age, associate reading with a fun experience, which will do wonders for his further education.

You must also understand how important it is to set your own example. Try and set time aside during the day in which you read, and in the evening hours, when most children would be watching television, sit down with your child and read together. When it gets close to the child's bedtime, imply that you will be going to be soon as well - because you have a good book to read.

Reading is a fantastic educational opportunity because it is the basis for which your child will learn many other things. When a child is reading a book they are not only bettering their reading skills, they are becoming privy to knowledge contained within the book. It is important that reading begins at a young age because mastering it is a slow process, and you will be doing your child a serious disservice later in life if you choose not to focus on reading early.

Every education should be well rounded of course, but reading is a building block from which other education follows. When homeschooling your child, encourage him or her to read from a young age. If you so do you stand a good chance of instilling a lifelong habit that will benefit your child until the end of his days.

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home schooling

Home schooling

Getting Together With Other Homeschooling Parents.

Homeschooling can have many benefits for your child. It allows for specific teaching styles to be implemented that suit your child's particular needs, as well as creating a learning environment that your child works best in. Homeschooling also has economic benefits as well, if you consider the costs of a private school education, and for this reason it seems to becoming increasingly popular with each and every generation.

One of the drawbacks of homeschooling, however, is the concern that your child is not surrounded by peers in the same way that he or she would be in a public school system. Also, as a homeschooling parent, you are dealing with lots of pressure - the quality of your child's education rests entirely on you, after all - and are probably dealing with many questions of your own. One good way to address this is to make a point of getting together with other homeschooling parents.

By meeting on a regular basis with other homeschooling parents, you do a service to both you and your child. You will be able to exchange ideas and teaching techniques with other parents. Most importantly, though, you child will get a chance to interact with some of his or her peers. Children at a young age can be very impressionable and concerned with being different. All every child usually wants to do is fit in.

It's important when homeschooling your child that you acknowledge the fact that not everybody does it. This fact can't be kept hidden from your child, and at some point he or she will realize that lots of other kids go to school. That's why meeting up with other homeschooling parents can be valuable for your child, because they will see that they are not the only ones. The child's fear of not being "normal" will be eased by seeing and interacting with the other children.

There are many different ways you can get together with other homeschooling parents. One of the best ones is to incorporate it into the children's education. Keep in regular touch with other parents, and if you find yourselves studying the same subjects at the same time, suggest an appropriate field trip - in this way you can replicate the public and private school experience of combining your children's educational and social time.

Another good idea is to suggest a group project to be conducted with another family. If another parent is also teaching a biology unit, for example, you could suggest a that the children work on planting a garden together on your property. When studying zoology, a trip to the zoo would be enjoyable and educational for both you and your children when conducted with another family.

By keeping in regular touch with other homeschooling parents you will do a service for your child's education and social development. By exchanging ideas with other homeschooling parents you can learn new teaching strategies, and at the same time your will be teaching your children that they are not alone, and not at all strange.

KC Yap also owns a blog on baby sleep too

home schooling

Home Schooling

Home Schooling


Playing an Active Role in Your Children's Homeschooling

Homeschooling is an option that many parents make when they feel that, for whatever reason, their child will not be getting the best education in a public or private school system. Homeschooling allows for specific curriculum and teaching techniques to be applied that suit your child's particular needs - something that is unlikely to happen in a large classroom. One of the benefits - and also one of the difficulties - in homeschooling is the extreme amount of flexibility it affords. In order to homeschool successfully, it is important that you understand this.

While there are many benefits to homeschooling, it also requires discipline. In the same way that working from home can be difficult, homeschooling can be difficult because it requires you make a distinction between home and school while still remaining at home. Like almost everybody, there are going to be times in your family life when you are extremely busy or dealing with serious distractions. It can be tempting at these moments to try and multitask: that is, to both educate your children and deal with other aspects of your life. There can be a tendency among homeschooling parents to place an assignment in front of their children and then leave the room to engage in other activities.

If you do this you will severely limit the value of your child's education. When homeschooling you should think about public and private school systems, and use them as a sort of benchmark. You should be trying to surpass, or at the very least match, the level of education your child would receive in one of these environments. Now, if you think about a public school classroom, you'll see that the teacher is always in the room. It is one of the most fundamental rules of teaching -- even if the students have been assigned work to complete on their own in class time, the teacher remains in the room in order to assist the students.

You should also adhere to this principle. Children learn by example, in subtle ways that are not always within our control. If you assign your children work and leave to go do other things you are sending a message to them that the schooling is not of a highest priority for you. Even if they cannot articulate it, this negative message in terms of your priorities will affect the children's attitude towards their education.

When homeschooling your children, the hours that you spend teaching should be hours in which your children's education are the number one priority. Errands or other household duties should be left for "after-school" hours. When "school is in," you should be to. Of course, there will be many instances where you will be trying to get your children to learn how to work independently, but at these times you should still be physically available for questions or your children's need for assistance.

By always being present during your children's education you make them understand that their education is a serious thing, not simply something to occupy them while you take care of more pressing activities.

KC Yap also owns a blog on baby sleep too!

Home Schooling

Home schooling


Homeschooling laws

Many parents, for many different reasons, make the decision to homeschool their children. Homeschooling allows for a specific educational experience designed to suit your child's particular needs, and in many cases goes above and beyond what can be achieved in a public or private school system. If you make the decision to homeschool your children, it is important that you do so legally, and understand the laws in your area. It is absolutely crucial that you do this, because if you fail to meet legal standards when homeschooling your children you will inadvertently rob your children of postsecondary educational opportunities.

Homeschooling laws vary from state to state, so you have to look up the specific laws in your home state. The basis of state laws on homeschooling is the result of truancy laws that require children to attend school. The basic idea is that these laws exist to distinguish a homeschooled child from a child that is simply not going to school, which is of course against the law. Generally, states will require that you submit a "notice of intent" to homeschool your children before the upcoming academic year, and the state will then respond with the appropriate paperwork for you to fill out.

Besides familiarizing yourself with the particular laws of your state you should also consult a homeschooling association for advice. In some cases parents will be dealing with school officials who want to discourage them from homeschooling, and in these situations it is important that you understand your rights. In the state of New York, for example, parents are not required to meet with school officials. School officials may request a meeting with the parents in order to discuss homeschooling, but the state may not revoke the right to homeschool if the parents refuse this meeting.

It is also required that your child take standardized tests. This is so the state can legally assign your child to a given grade level. The laws vary from state to state but in most cases you will have a certain amount of leeway in non-standardized tests. New York allows for non-standard tests every alternate year between grades 4 and 8, for example.

Although it may seem intimidating at first, homeschooling your children legally is ultimately not that complicated. You just have to make sure that you follow every step, and don't overlook any paperwork. While some state restrictions or rules may seem unnecessary or cumbersome, in the long run you'll save yourself a ton of headaches if you fill everything in properly and on time.

The best thing you can do when you begin to homeschool your children is to consult other homeschooling parents and advocacy groups. Looking up legal jargon online can be confusing, but any homeschooling group will give you solid, plain-English instruction on how to properly and legally set up homeschooling for your children. Remember: it's impossible to overestimate the importance of studying your state laws in regards to homeschooling - if you overlook or violate any of them, you could lose your right to homeschool altogether.

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