The joys of homeschooling your children are many, both for you and for them. You get to stay in bed a little longer and have greater involvement in the stuff your kids learn about the world and how it all works.
However, any stay-at-home, homeschooling parent knows that it isn’t always a walk in the park. Homeschooling comes with its unique challenges, with parents exploring their many facets- teaching, parenting, and administration, with a lot of planning and organization needed to run a successful classroom in the home. This can be incredibly stressful for any parent/ teacher/ administrator/ nurse wanting to do the best they can for their child(ren).
With you as their teacher, your child will get the benefit of having a flexible and immersive approach to their learning, while also adopting a dedicated approach to education.
After a while, it can be challenging to keep learning relevant and engaging.
When inspiration fails, here are some ideas to keep home education fun.
Mix up your Math Media
Many children find math incredibly challenging to grasp well, and traditional classroom teaching methods don’t make it easy for children to learn about the practicalities of math as they need it in the world.
From learning to count to 10 to tackling the world of fractions, there are many ways that math can be taught to children in a fun and engaging way.
Utilize the internet by finding catchy songs, videos, and games as teaching tools. Kids are bright, and they’ll be mastering the tricky concepts in no time at all!
Visit Your Library for Reading Inspiration
As a home educator, your home is probably not short of educational books and resources to support your child’s learning. However, there was always something exciting about visiting a library and getting to choose books to read as a kid.
Take your child to the library and point them in the direction of the books related to the subject they had been learning about. Show them that there is limitless knowledge that can be acquired from books along the way.
On top of that, being a library cardholder teaches your child about responsibility and having to take care of books that do not belong to them so that other children can enjoy reading them too. It also teaches them how to understand dates and manage deadlines to return books.
Many libraries offer weekly storytelling slots where children can see and hear books coming to life- it will be the highlight of their week, and one that comes with plenty of educational fun.
Get Musical Instruction
Music plays a beautiful part in children’s cognitive and creative development. Learning music can also be a lot of fun!
In addition to the entertainment that your child will get from learning well-known songs to them, they will also develop their listening skills, and the discipline they will need to be successful in learning an instrument.
Invite a music teacher over to your home to enhance your child’s learning.
Big Cook, Little Cook
Cooking is an incredible way of utilizing many of the things that your children will have learned. The math knowledge they will need to shop for ingredients and measure them out. The reading skills they need to follow box instructions or to find the items in the store.
Using scientific knowledge to watch changes in states through freezing or boiling items. They will also learn about nutrition and the importance of a healthy diet for them to grow into healthy adults.
Cooking with your child is also a fantastic way of bonding with them as you support them with heat and sharp objects in the kitchen. It’s also a lot of fun and brings children a lot of pride when they finish cooking.
Get Active Outside
One of the best things about moving away from traditional classroom education is the opportunity to learn with nature’s classroom- the outside world.
Getting active outside is incredibly important for children (and adults) to stay healthy.
It is easy to stay inside all day when you educate your children at home, but don’t forget how important it is to get some fresh air.
Break up the school day by taking your kids to the park, maybe take a picnic lunch, too. Let the kids run around and play- a fun way to get PE into their day, and also gives you the chance to benefit from being outside.
Home education can be a lot of fun for both the children and you as a teacher. What are your favorite home education tips?
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