Designate an area of your home as a classroom. Your child needs a quiet area, away from your other children, where he or she can study without interruption. A spare bedroom or a finished room in your basement will make a great classroom for your home school students. If you don’t have a spare room, you can designate an area of another room as your home school nook.
Choose a curriculum that covers the basics. Younger children need a focused curriculum consisting of math, reading, handwriting, spelling, science and social studies. Because most science and social Studies homeschooling textbooks are comprised of fewer lessons than math or reading textbooks, you can alternate science and social studies every day to complete each text near the end of the school year. A good reading homeschooling text should consist of English, phonics and reading comprehension and may illuminate the need for an English class. Resist the urge to fill your child’s school day with elective subjects until he or she is older. During the elementary school years, your child needs only the basics. Reserve elective classes for the junior high and high school years after your child has mastered the basics and is better able to handle a heavier course load.
Set a schedule to effectively home school your child. Children need the comfort and dependability of a schedule to feel secure. Begin your home school class at the same time every day, teach subjects in a specific order, and take breaks at regular intervals.
Resist the urge to overdo it. Your child doesn’t need eight hours of daily class work in order to succeed at homeschooling. Take the average public school schedule for example. Most classes begin at 8:00 a.m. and end about 3:00 p.m. in the afternoon. Public schools allot 30 minutes for lunch, 30 minutes for recess, 30 minutes for music, and 30 minutes for physical education every day for most elementary school students. During a child’s school day, only five hours are actually spent in the classroom. Factor in the time your child will spend waiting for other students to finish their assignments before moving on to the next subject and the time the teacher may spend providing other students with additional instruction, and you’ve whittled another hour from classroom learning time. Unless your state homeschooling laws dictate otherwise or you feel your child needs more time, try to limit your home school day to a maximum of four hours of instruction and class work.
Reward good grades and behavior. Children love receiving rewards for their hard work and you can encourage your child’s homeschooling success if you reward him or her when he or she makes good grades or behaves appropriately in school. If you have an elementary school child, encourage his or her good grades by offering an award certificate or special treat each time he or she scores an “A” on a test. If your students are older, reward good grades with special privileges or an allowance bonus. While older students don’t usually require as much encouragement as younger children might, they still need recognition for their hard work.
Keep adequate records. Keep track of lesson plans, attendance records, and test grades to show to Board of Education authorities as proof of your child’s involvement in your home school environment. Depending on your state laws; you may need to provide verification of home school studies at a moment’s notice in order to continue homeschooling your child. In many instances, copies of your child’s classroom work will be the only tangible proof of your child’s attendance in your home school. Keeping adequate records protects you and your students if the Board of Education questions your homeschooling abilities and it helps you gauge your child’s development and progress in his or her studies.
Disregard criticism. There will be plenty of naysayers that will question your every move when you make the decision to home school your child. Just as with anything else that doesn’t fit into mainstream society’s vision of “normal,” you will find yourself defending your decision to home school your child just about every time the subject comes up in conversation. Questions will arise about your child’s social interaction with other children, his or her intelligence, and your qualifications as a home school teacher. You’ll need to use discretion when answering questions about your homeschooling lifestyle. You can take the high road and defend yourself by meeting each snide remark with a carefully thought-out retort or you can respectfully remark that you have made the best decision based on your child’s current needs and you feel that you are the best person to determine what’s in your child’s best interests.