"The transition from summer to going back to school is terrible."
We totally agree and here's why.
Going back to school is always a heavy adjustment for children. Especially when kids are still hung up from their summer vacation. This results in a slow and painful transition which often reflects in their class performance.
This is even more difficult when homeschooling. Being in the same environment as they did during the summer only drags the adjustment phase. Unless you know the hack to prepare kids in going back to school!
There are workarounds that parents can do to ease kids to the new routine. We collected 7 awesome tips for homeschoolers to help you and your child prepare in going back to school!
Back to School Tips for Parents and Homeschoolers
Homeschoolers and parents share the same struggle of committing to homeschooling after summer. That's why our back to school tips listed caters to both parties! We aim not only to help children maximize their learning but also alleviate parents from homeschooling stress. Here are the tips for homeschoolers:
Plan the school year ahead
"Productivity is never an accident. It is always the result of a commitment to excellence, intelligent planning, and focused effort." -Paul J. Meyer
One aspect that makes homeschooling difficult is the lack of an actionable plan. When parents fail to prepare the curriculum beforehand and set the schedules throughout the school year, the kids walk through homeschooling blindly.
Planning is essential in homeschooling while working full time. Having to divide your day into two chunks: homeschool and work is a heavy burden. That said, you need effective time management especially when homeschooling while working full time.
Some benefits of planning are as follows:
-
This can save you hours if you do the preparations for the whole school year before classes even start.
-
It will be less disruptive to your work responsibilities.
-
Children can carry out the tasks with little supervision if the plans have been set out.
Want to plan the school year ahead? Check out these tips for homeschoolers:
Review Your Child's Previous Performance
Parents often fall into the trap of comparing kids with others. When in fact, there shouldn't be such comparison. Homeschool exists for children who don't need toxic competitions. Make homeschool fun by nurturing your child to be a better version of themselves. And themselves, alone.
Here are is what you can do: assess the areas where you find them struggling and focus on reinforcing those aspects this school year. Plan your strategies based on your observations.
Outline Your Child's Learning Goals
Based on their previous performances, create this year's learning goals. Which subjects should you devote more time to? Which ones should you tone down a bit?
Set milestones to benchmark their progress. Having targets challenges students to power through the hurdles. Add rewards whenever the kids reach a milestone. The key here is making homeschooling fun and this is one strategy to do it.
Set the School Year Schedule
The first activity you need to set is for the commencement of classes. List down your first day of homeschool ideas because this will set the tone until the end of the school year. Once that's done, establish their daily tasks and targets. Ensuring that they understand what's expected of them makes teaching easier.
Here are some tips for homeschoolers when setting your school year schedule:
-
Divide the day by hours and what subjects they should be tackling in each.
-
Indicate the activities they have to perform on that specified day or hour.
-
Try to insert entertaining activities now and then
Having extracurricular entertaining activities is one way of making homeschooling fun and enjoyable. Do field trips and library sessions as these would be good exposures to new environments. It will also keep them from being bored staying indoors!
Getting kids involved in the preparation
Let us give you a scenario:
If your kids wake up to the sudden reality that they're going back to school, expect tantrums. You can't take them by surprise like that, especially when they are having a great summertime.
The secret here is gradual transition and conditioning. Slowly reel them in the reality that the school year will start soon by getting them involved in the preparations. We thought of two tips for homeschoolers where they can be a part of the homeschool preppin'.
Decorating the home classroom
A homeschool classroom is imperative to embrace the conventional school vibe. If your home classroom looks the same as it was since vacation, then it’s likely to confuse kids.
We have an entire article dedicated to preparing your home classroom so you might want to visit that.
In essence, look for a specified place where you can freely teach and conduct the lessons with your child, without any distractions. Making homeschool fun by decorating and personalizing the place would also be helpful in keeping children comfy.
When kids are a part of fulfilling a huge responsibility like redesigning the home classroom, they feel more invested. These are tips for homeschoolers you should keep in mind.
List down the homeschool supplies they need
Buying their homeschool supplies comes only after you have set their curriculum. It would be unwise to buy head-on without a clear conviction of their activities for the year.
Once you're done with their learning modules and plans, then you can proceed to buy homeschool supplies based on the activities. The key here is not giving the kids full freedom to buy what they like (unless you want them to drain your bank accounts!). But to give them some liberty of choice, say, to choose the color or the design of notebooks they prefer.
Buying is always enjoyable, even for kids. That is why letting them join in the buying session is one method in making homeschool fun.
Engage with the Homeschool Community
The homeschool community is a tight-knit collective of parents, grandparents, and tutors. Certainly, there are other homeschooling parents in your area. Asking them tips for homeschoolers might spark an idea to improve your teaching strategies.
A Homeschooler get-together every once in a while would also be pleasant. Aside from making homeschool fun for kids, it encourages building meaningful bridges with their peers. Ultimately, the event helps parents gather back to school tips from one another and recalibrate their approaches, accordingly.
Slowly Ease Kids Into the Learning Routine
Nobody likes surprises. Especially if they wipe the smile smiles off kids' faces. Remember that even if your kids helped to prep the classroom and assisted in buying the homeschool supplies, it doesn't mean that the reality of homeschooling has sunk in them. Keep them posted on how many days are left before school commences.
A gradual transition would be splendid. These tips for homeschoolers are activities you might want to consider enforcing before classes start:
-
Establish the school morning routine. Waking up at 8 am, having breakfast, and taking a shower before they begin the day.
-
Start sleeping early. Around 8-9 in the evening is good so they can get ample time to rest and face a busy day at school the day after.
-
Spend some days with them inside the home classroom. Talk to them about their feelings and do your best to eliminate any fears of going back to school. Being inside the classroom acclimates them to reality. Giving them some back to school tips on how to do well in class might reap rewards too!
Start the First Day Right
One of the major tips for homeschoolers is creating a clear distinction between 'home' and 'classroom'. During this time, you take on the mantle as teacher-student on top of being parent-child.
Formalize the first day with a formal greeting which you can then decide to personalize. They can come in the form of a hug, secret handshakes, or high-fives.
Discussing the class expectations is necessary so your child knows what to look forward to and expect during the school year.
Keep the warm atmosphere to dispel feelings of nervousness. Assure them that you will be there to encourage, help, and motivate them to power through their lessons.
Take it easy on the first day. Reviewing concepts they are well familiar with is effective to build their confidence. This helps in making homeschooling fun.
Bring the Learning Outside the Classroom
One advantage of homeschools is the flexibility you can have when learning. There is no particular need to follow traditional classroom setups and learning practices. If you happen to ask tips for homeschoolers from other seasoned teachers, they'd have one common thing to say: Take the learning outside.
You may interpret this either literally or figuratively. Because both of them work anyway.
Being confined in a room with 4 walls can be vexing. Most especially if your school and home are the same places.
Taking the learning literally outside can mean an exploration session outdoors. You can identify plants or study trees while strolling in the park. You can also go on field trips and visit museums if it aligns with the lesson plan.
While in a figurative sense, there are other learning outlets to derive lessons from. There are fun and interactive board games you can play. Learning household management practices like budgeting or doing laundry are also independence-promoting lessons. Ultimately, you can play with STEM toys as a means to convey a rudimentary science concept.
For example:
Our portable microscope toy can be an avenue to introduce elementary microscopy to kids. Plus, kids can use the tool to explore the great outdoors too during their leisure hours!
Talk about hitting two birds with one stone (or microscope, in this case!).
Make the Learning a Bonding Opportunity
The paragon of homeschooling is to use it as a platform to encourage bonding in the family. To forge stronger connections above the learnings taught when homeschooling.
If you ask us, seated at the top of all tips for homeschoolers is to bond while learning. Building real family relationships should go above the learning sessions.
There are countless tips for homeschoolers out there. Ask people from the community and you'll find a gold mine of wisdom on how to make homeschooling worthwhile. Essential tips especially for parents that are homeschooling while working full time.
The Secret Homeschooling Tip You Should Try!
Learning in the home is not constrained to the four corners of the classroom. Homeschoolers can learn from different sources like educational TV shows, field trips, interactive games, and STEM toys.
Our portable microscope is a great toy to accompany kids in their nature explorations. This microscope banks on kids' curiosity, and encourages active play that transforms them into lifelong learners!
If you want an extra source of learning and adventure for homeschoolers, then get one now while supplies last!
Enjoy 15% OFF your purchase and NO SHIPPING CHARGES from us to your abode!