Ten Ways that You Can Save Time when Teaching Your Child at Home
If you are a parent who has chosen to home school their child then you will probably be interested in learning how to save time and still provide your child with the best education possible. This article will point out ten tips that will help you to home school any child, even if you have multiple children on different grade levels. It does not matter which home schooling course you are using following these suggestions will definitely make your life much easier.
1. Take plenty of time to think each lesson through carefully. This is especially the case if you are teaching more than one child. Remember that each child learns at a different pace. They will each have their own learning speed and abilities.
2. Set up a schedule and stick to it. Just like a regular teacher you will need to plan out a lesson plan and stick to it. It your children range in ages then make sure that everyone works on the same subjects at the same time. Of course it will mean that they will be on differently levels but it will definitely save you time in preparation and in teaching.
3. Give daily homework assignments. This can be given after you have finished giving them their instruction for the day. Whatever homework assignments that you plan to give them make sure that it will take them no longer than one hour to complete. You should focus on one subject per night when giving homework assignments, so that they do not end up feeling overloaded. This will also shorten the amount of time that you spend teaching and allow them to learn how to use independent study time.
4. Combine two subjects into one lesson- This is actually very easy to do. For example if you are teaching history, then you can pick out certain key words that you want them to remember and use them as your vocabulary words for the day.
5. Locate educational films that relate to your lesson plan. Most libraries carry lots of educational films for children of all ages. Most of these are now in DVD form. Just make sure that the one you find matches your current lesson plan.
6. Plan weekly outings that will help to cover their science lessons. You can take trips to various locations once a week to help reinforce what you have already taught your child. Most educational facilities are free, so all you will have to do is pack a lunch. This will help save time because it will allow you to move on to the next topic, without having to repeat the same information, over and over again.
7. When teaching math try to incorporate your dinner preparation into the lesson. This will give them the opportunity to learn about measurements and to practice using other forms of mathematical procedures. It will also allow you to get dinner prepared while they are still learning.
8. Don’t rush through a lesson. If you rush through a lesson then it will only make it more difficult for you later. More than likely your child will not be able to follow you and when it comes time for them to be tested they will not know the information that they need and you will only have to do the work again.
9. Don’t tolerate bad behavior. Any type of uncooperative or disobedient behavior will make it more difficult for you to teach your child the information that they need to know. You need to have set rules for your child while your home schooling activities are in session. It may take a little time for them to get used to it, but they will eventually.
10. Make it fun. The more fun that you make the lesson the quicker and smoother things will go. Make sure that you take this into consideration when you are planning out your lesson plan.
These are just a few ideas and suggestions on how you can save time teaching your child at home. It still means that it will be a lot of hard work on your part but you will be able to get a lot more accomplished in the long run.
