Since the global outbreak of COVID-19, parents have been forced to resort to homeschooling as a way helping their children keep up with school work.
The thought of homeschooling your child can be disturbing especially if you have never tried it before.
But in the long run, the process is rewarding considering the fact that it provides you with the perfect opportunity of getting to know your child on a personal level.
Here are some tips to help you create the perfect environment for homeschooling:
Create a flexible routine
Whereas reconstructing the exact school environment at home can be challenging, you can work with a routine to help you assess your child’s learning easily.
First things first, establish a schedule that is friendly for both you and your children. Ensure to slot in breaks and snacks and give the schoolwork a timeframe, learning shouldn’t take up their whole day.
Also, ensure that their study time doesn’t overlap with any of their favourite television programmes.
Unlike school where they have no option but to sit in class, at home they can be easily disrupted by the thought of missing their favourite shows yet they are within reach.
Furthermore, you could loop them in while you schedule their study time to make them comfortable and part of the planning process. This way, they don’t feel forced to study or feel ignored.
Exhaust all available resources
While homeschooling can be a bit tricky to hack, you can try to exhaust all the learning material available to make the whole process easy and fun.
With schools shut down, homeschooling material are currently available online and parents can even sign-in their children to online classes.
You need to understand your child’s strengths and needs. Ensure the kind of exercises you assign them are in line with what they have learnt and can achieve.
You can also incorporate story books to the time slot to mix it up for them and glue their interest.
As you make the studying timetable, slot in physical education so your children can exercise and reduce screen time as their only mode of relaxing.
Setup a learning environment
Before you begin homeschooling, you need to ensure the environment is conducive for learning and all members of your household are on board.
Mark out a room you will use as the learning space. Try and ensure that the seats and tables conform to a classroom setup as much as possible.
The room you choose should be free from disruptions and the children shouldn’t be within earshot of people watching television, or other noises.
Get the necessary equipment like: charts, books, colouring items to help you reconstruct your space to look like a classroom as you prepare your kids for homeschooling.
As a parent working from home, you can also use this space to do some work since the environment will be peaceful and conducive for completing tasks.
You can also easily assess how your children are progressing with their studies while you sit with them in the same room, seeing you there will also keep them focused.
Be patient and calm
Teaching your own children can be a handful especially when they are used to always getting their way with you.
Having them focus on their schoolwork will be exasperating and to get their full attention will take longer than you think. You will need to be patient and calm through this whole process.
Keep in mind that when working with children things might not always go as planned.
It is also good to put into consideration that your teaching style might not be working for your children so do not over monopolize the learning space. Their input and feedback could actually help you correct and improve your delivery of information to them.
Finally, do some research on homeschooling and how to access teacher-material to make the whole process easier for you.
