Thinking Of Becoming A Homeschooling Mom? Ideas & Tips To Set You Up For Success.

I homeschool four of my five children. My four daughters, who are eighteen months apart, have always been homeschooled and I have been doing it for the past five years alone, despite having a social life. There are many homeschooling avenues to discern from, but each family has their own rhythm and schedule; you will discover what suits your family best!

In this article I will share with you my tips and ideas on how it is possible to educate your young kids in the midst of raising your family and taking care of your household duties.

• Early bird gets the worm! Wake up early, pray, eat breakfast and get straight to work. Ideally get your schooling done in the morning, this is when children are generally more focused. It is also easier to get school work out of the way in order to move onto the more fun activities which also enables you to use it as leverage to get school work well done.

• Use flash cards during meal times for easy and quick learning- ABC's. colours, sight words, addition, etc.

• Set up stations- Get your baby on the mat with some toys, colouring books at the table for your toddler, and work books for your older kids.

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• Arts and crafts and-or drawing lessons can be done together as a break in-between courses.

• Use house chores as learning time. Ex- get the kids to count the cutlery while emptying the dishwasher, name the colours of the kids cups, do a simple math game of subtraction with spoons, etc

• Do games together with all of your kids although they are at different ages. You can cater to each kids age level. Ex: Hide and seek board games are great for elementary kids and toddlers. Memory game, snakes and ladders, bingo, etc. are all fun and educational.

  

• When the stations aren't working for your kids because things are too chaotic. Put on an educational film. In my house, my children can watch only movies in French (with some exceptions of course).

• Plan discovery days. When the kids ask a question, use it as an opportunity to make a fun project out of it the following day.

• Be consistent. I don't take breaks from teaching throughout the summer; I keep going all year 'round because I find it helpful to keep the schooling going a bit each day to maintain it as an integral part of their routine.

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• No matter what get at least a bit of learning in on the days that are very challenging.

• Pray hard. Work hard. Play hard...get the school work out of the way so you can take the rest of the day off and bring your kids out on fun outings. Ex: Berry picking, museums, meet-ups with other homeschoolers/homemakers, swimming, sports, visits to grandparents, etc.

• Go on fun weekly outings. They don't do this at regular schools, so you really get to create the kind of adventures you would like your kids to have.

  

• Create a strong family culture by ensuring your kids have strong bonds and a sense of loyalty to their siblings. I always tell my children, friends are great, but your siblings are forever. If one of your kids is leaving out their sibling during playtime with friends, correct it and get them to include their sibling if they are feeling left out.

• If you desire your kids to learn a different language, speak that language during meal times. My mother tongue is English and my husband's is French, so during the meal times that we are together, we are intentional to only speak French.

• Read lots of books to your kids! I started reading to my girls when they were babies, and when they were toddlers they enjoyed story time and still do now that they are older. We have a library at home, but if you don't have many books at home, a trip the neighbourhood library is always fun!

  

• Get your older kids to read stories to the younger kids. my 7 & 5.5 year old read stories to their two younger sisters. It gives me a break and is sweet to see!

  

• Nap times! Having clear sleep times are important for everyone to relax their brain and rest. If your older kids don't wish to nap, make it quiet time for them where they have independent imaginary quiet play or reading to do.

• Moms can join in on their kid's nap time, or use it to get house chores , cooking or a mini workout in.

• There are so many different homeschooling programs you can use, but for my young kids, I have made up my own programming by purchasing work books from various places. Dollarama, Costco, amazon, etc. I also make non-classical education activities a time to learn such as gardening , I will include math lessons.

  

• Free-time. Get your kids to entertain themselves so that they are able to create and problem solve on their own. I am guilty of being like most parents now a days who fill up their kids days with things to do. Although this isn't all bad, we need to let our kids be 'bored' to allow them to discover and build self-confidence.

  

I will write a part 2 on this another time, but here are some ways to get you started.

" Children are not a distraction from the most important work, they are the most important work."- C.S Lewis.