Tips on Homeschooling From a Mom of Four Sons
To truly enjoy homeschooling, you must genuinely like your child or children and enjoy his, her, or their company. If your child is going to spend most of his/her waking hours in your company, it’s vital to his/her well being that you enjoy the daily interactions in your family. Of course there will be moments when you need and want peace and quiet and some time to yourself. However, if you often feel resentful of your child’s need for you and are constantly irritated by your children’s presence, homeschooling your children will not be a fit for your family. Another thing we find important is to have a sense of humor. Trust me, it will get you through the rough spots and help you enjoy homeschooling.
You do not have to have a degree to teach your own children. You know them better than anyone else. You do need to have the basics down such as being able to read, write, and do basic math. You will find yourself learning as you go along, and will need to upgrade your skills as necessary. If you can read children’s picture books aloud; write a letter; and multiply, divide, add, and subtract you have the basics I am talking about. There is a wealth of material available to help you homeschool your children: textbooks, guidebooks, and prepackaged curriculums as well as information on the Internet.
You need to have a commitment to a philosophy that leads you to homeschool. It’s not enough to homeschool because you don’t like what happens in your local public school. You also need positive reasons to help you through the rough times you will inevitably have. Also be willing to develop communication/listening skills. Communication is the key to any relationship. Learning to listen and speak clearly is so important to be successful in homeschooling.
Go ahead and prepare yourself to receive criticism for your decision to homeschool. Unlike many other parenting decisions, the decision to homeschool is very visible and may affect members of your extended family. It might be helpful to prepare your extended family by letting them know why you have made the decision to homeschool. When you give them this information, let them know you are not expecting to persuade them one way or the other, you are just informing them. You might also let them know that while you don’t expect agreement from them about your decision, you do expect their respect and cooperation. This was the hard part for my family.
My grandfather grew up in a time where going to school was a privilege. I knew he would not love the idea and nor would my mother who would most likely have to hear the complaints. But if something is important to you, you have to work through it and “stick to your guns”. Make sure you have a support system. This can be your spouse, family friend, or church group. For some people, meeting with others in a group on a weekly or monthly basis is a must. For others, it’s enough to have just one or two close friends who can listen. Magazines, internet articles, and homeschooling books can also help you feel less alone as you educate your children outside the cultural norm.
Open yourself up to learning from your mistakes. This is a natural part of learning. Everyone makes mistakes when trying something new. Believe me, homeschooling gives parents many opportunities to learn from their mistakes. It’s also important to be willing to develop limit-setting skills. Because homeschooling children are home nearly 24 hours a day, it is very important for homeschooling parents to learn how to set limits and boundaries.
Make sure you try and remain calm, and be willing to develop patience. Many people say to me, “How can you stand to teach my children? I don’t have the patience.” They assume my patience is a quality that I was born with. It’s certainly true that if you don’t have any interest in learning patience, homeschooling would not be a good idea. Something I have found to be vital is to develop observational skills. For your child to learn something, you have to know your child. The more in touch you are with your child’s way of learning, the easier it will be to find material that will match his or her learning style.
All the characteristics I have mentioned now point the way to this last one – a willingness to change, to being flexible and responsive. Children are always growing and changing. You have to be an active participant in your child’s growth. I promise that you will find yourself growing and changing as well. Remember that everyone who homeschools does it differently. That’s one of the best things with this type of education. You create the homeschooling curriculum to fit your family’s unique needs. While I freely admit that homeschooling is a bit time-consuming; seeing your child learn to read and learn new things is truly priceless.
