Tips From A Teacher For New Homeschooling Parents

**These tips are primarily for parents homeschooling elementary school age children**

Many parents are finding themselves in a brand new role in the last two weeks or so: Homeschool teachers.

This new responsibility was not your choice. Due to the coronavirus crisis, it was chosen for you for the safety of your children and our community.  But many of you are also working from home and are trying to balance these two new realities. This could, no doubt, cause a lot of stress. 

As far as homeschooling goes, you could have questions like the following: How much work should your child do per day? What do I do if my child is struggling with the work given? How am I supposed to homeschool and get my work done as well?

All very valid and probably very frequently asked questions.

I was not homeschooled. But I was a teacher for 12 years before having my daughter and I think some of the strategies I used in my classroom could help you as you try to educate your children at home.

At least that is my goal.

So here are some tips and strategies that I hope will make homeschooling less stressful and actually fun for you and your child, as much as that is possible. 

Number One: Be Prepared and Make Daily Goals Of What You Would Like Yourself and Your Child To Accomplish

Nothing made me feel more at ease at the beginning of a school day than knowing exactly what I wanted to accomplish and preparing the items necessary to accomplish those tasks. 

If your child is doing assignments in a packet, take a look at those sheets ahead of time so you can familiarize yourself with what needs to be done and collect up the materials necessary to complete the assignment.

If your child is doing lessons online, log in ahead of time. This will help to ensure that everything is working and accessible before you do it with your child in order to avoid frustration for everyone. Once you have access, look at the lessons and what needs to be done to complete them so you can guide your child through it and avoid surprises and more frustration. 

Number Two: Get To Know What You’re Child Knows, Then New Learning Can Begin

Every child learns at a different pace. The content given to one entire grade level may be too hard or too easy for your child. Or it may be just right.  Find where your child is proficient (they can do what you ask them to correctly, without your help) and work your way up.

Or if the content they are being asked to learn is too easy, find a way to challenge them.

Example: If the assignment given is to look at the pictures on a page or on the screen and to identify (circle, color, click on) the pictures beginning with /s/, first you need to know if your child knows how to identify a beginning sound and if they can differentiate different sounds to identify only the /s/ sound. 

If you don’t think the assignment is a good fit for your child, you may need to take an additional step to differentiate the assignment. Keep reading to learn more about differentiation.

Number Three: Change Up The Work (Differentiation) 

If the original work is too hard, find a way to show your child what they would need to know in order to complete the original assignment successfully. 

In using my previous example of an assignment where students are asked to identify pictures beginning with /s/, if this is too difficult for your child to do independently, you should take a step back by identifying letter S and its sound and identify objects around the house, discussing how they do or don’t begin with s. Then show your child two objects and have him/her pick which begins with /s/. Then have him/her find things on their own that begin with /s/. After your child has done those activities successfully, then have him/her try the original assignment.

If the original work is too easy, find a way to challenge your child. 

Using the previous assignment example, you can ask your child to identify the sounds that the other pictures not beginning with /s/ begin with. You can also have them use developmental spelling (children spelling words how they hear them, for example, snake may be spelled snak) to write the words that match the pictures beginning with /s/. And for even more of a challenge, write each word beginning with /s/ in a sentence. 

I know, I know. This is a lot of extra work. But this is what good teachers do to meet children when they are and to help them get to the next level of their learning.  I know I only gave you one specific example of differentiation. If you need help with ideas differentiating a different subject or assignment, reach out in the comment section below this blog and I’ll do my best to help.

Number Four: Learning Beyond Pencils, Papers, Books, and Screens

I have always been a  better learner when learning wasn’t just restricted to pencils, papers, books and screens.

Concepts and subject matter always connected  better when I was able to touch, feel, move and be an active participant in my learning. Here are some ways you can implement this in your homeschooling experience.

For Math, use cereal, blocks, coins, and whatever others items you have handy that could be used for counting and solving math problems.

For Phonics, use magnet letters, chalkboards and dry erase boards to build and write letters and words. Write with sidewalk chalk outside. Put shaving cream on cookies sheet and write letters and words in the cream. Use play doh to form letters and words.

For Reading/Literacy, act out stories with real people or stuffed animals or make puppets with paper and popsicle sticks or lunch size paper bags. After you’ve finished acting out the story, have a discussion about it. You can also use paper and crayons/markers to draw scenes from a story, then have your child discuss their picture.

For Science, go outside and explore. Science is everywhere. 

You can also make a project. Click on the link below for some ideas. There are different ideas for kids of every age.

Number Five: Take A Brain Break And Move

Getting up for 5, 10 or 15 minutes between assignments is a great way to recharge and relax before getting more work done. Here are a few brain break ideas:

* Turn on your favorite Pandora station or have Alexis turn on your favorite song and dance, dance, dance

* Download the GoNoodle app on your iPad or on Roku and Firestick. It contains tons of movement and dance videos that exercise children’s bodies and minds.

*Go outside and run in backyard or walk in your neighborhood. 

Number Six: Quality Time Not Quantity Time

When I taught, I can remember always thinking that there was never enough time; time to expand on one skill without falling behind on other; time to do an extra activity because I didn’t want us to fall behind on our curriculum goals.

For homeschooling, you may question how much time you and your child should be spending doing school work. In my opinion, it’s not about the amount of time you spend, it’s about the quality of the time. You can do a lot of learning in a small amount of time. Especially if you know your goal ahead of time and you have everything you need available and ready to complete the task. I don’t believe your child needs to spend 5- 6 hours a day doing schoolwork in a homeschooling situation. That kind of time is necessary to meet the needs of 20 something children in a classroom but shouldn’t be necessary to meet the needs of the children in your home.

Set a reasonable goal for yourself, or follow your child’s teacher’s recommendation about what should be done per day. And when the work is complete, they’re finished. 

Also recognize when you and your child need to take a break. Children don’t learn if they’re not focused and engaged. And parents can’t teach and guide if they’re frustrated and cranky and not sufficiently caffeinated.

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Teaching is a hard job. And that’s when you’ve gone to school and have been certified to do it. I can’t imagine being asked to do a job I have no training for while also trying to adequately do my original job, but at home. God bless you new homeschooling parents. 

I hope you find these tips and strategies helpful and that you can find the bit of beauty in this strange time. The beauty of time with family. The beauty in having a hands-on role in your child’s education. The beauty of a slower pace when days and months felt like they were flying by. THIS IS HARD, no doubt about it. But all we can do is take one day at a time and be as positive as we can; for ourselves and for our kids. We truly are all in this together. 

If I can be of further assistance and if you have more specific teaching related questions, please leave your question in the comment section and I’ll be sure to reply and help as best as I can.