Taking An Interest In Your Child's Education

How To Home School Your Children Successfully

Have you decided to home school your children? Perhaps they were in a formal school setting and you just felt that they weren't getting enough individual attention. Or, it might be that you are unhappy with the curriculum that was used. You may have chosen to home school your children for religious reasons. Whatever the reason, from joining others for activities to hiring a tutor for certain classes, here are some ideas that might help you to successfully home school your children. 

Things You Can Do Yourself - Think of exactly what you want for your children to experience as home schoolers, and write down your ideas.

  • If you want to join with other home schooling families, write down ideas that you can do together. For example, you might choose one day a week to go on field trips or to do sports together. Perhaps you want to form a home school choir that can perform at places like nursing homes. If so, write that down as part of your plan.
  • If you are home schooling very young children, consider writing your own curriculum. For example, you can divide the school year into sections. During one period of time you can focus on science. Visit places like planetariums, research institutes, and the zoo. 
  • If you are home schooling high school age children, think about finding an accredited curriculum that will be accepted by colleges of your choice. 
  • Remember that the world is your classroom. If you decide at the last minute to visit a museum, don't worry about changing your plan for the day. After all, museums can be a great learning place.

Getting Outside Help - As a home school parent, you might have realized that you have limitations. For example, you might be great at teaching things like reading, literature and history. However you might feel that you could use some help in teaching your kids science, foreign languages and math. 

  • Think about hiring a tutor for classes that you don't feel comfortable teaching. Find tutors that are not only experts in their field, but that enjoy working with children of different ages.
  • A tutor doesn't need to cost a lot of money. For example, call your local high school to find a tutor. Find out if there is a student who is wanting to make some money tutoring in a field that he or she does exceptionally well.
  • Perhaps you can trade tutoring with other parents in your group. For example, if you are fluent in Spanish, somebody might love for their kids to learn that language and would be happy to tutor your children in reading.
  •  Think about hiring a tutor to prepare your high schoolers for the ACT, the SAT or to get his or her GED.

As you make your home school plan, consider getting input from your children on things they would like to learn. For more information, contact companies like Shandon Tutors.


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