Posts Tagged ‘teaching’

Home Schooling and the Study of History

Thursday, July 9th, 2009

Do you think that passing time in traditional classrooms is a waste of time? For many people, that is probably true. For instance, an exam is due and the students are asked to memorize a lot of dates and names. However, after taking the exam, they will probably forget 90% of those dates and names. That’s what the majority of students do every time they have exams. If you are one of these people, you will find traditional history lessons boring, so home schooling, which focuses more on the history of the world, will probably interest you more.

Simple memorization is not enough to realize the importance of famous people and important events. Through home schooling in history, you can learn about the different cultures of the past in a different, but interesting way - your own way! Through the study of history, you will also understand what is happening in the world today.

But, if you think that home schooling is the most effective option for your child’s education, you must also be prepared to undertake some responsibilities. Since there will be no teacher physically present, you will have to supervise your child’s learning development by yourself.

Let’s say your kid supports a particular sport. You could combine history and home schooling by just putting a map on the wall of your child’s bedroom and mark the location of his favourite sports team. Make sure that you track all the team’s games, scores, activities and schedules. Then, you could go back to history lessons by reading biographies of the various athletes, who had been famous in the particular sport that your child likes. Apart from that, you could also look into the history of that particular sport and discover where it started, its inventor, and the other things happening in that particular time in history.

For instance, let’s say your child likes baseball, you can teach your child about the history baseball, government hearings on the use of steroids and other favourite sports at that period of time. But remember that you can apply this concept to any interest like dancing, flight, cars or any invention. You can also have conversations with your child about current affairs or read interesting historical documents and other books. Aside from that, you could also watch documentaries together with the rest of the family. There are various resources that you can use in home schooling, like TV, maps, newspapers, books, a globe, an atlas, and encyclopedias. Due of the exciting adventures that you and your child will read about and see on film, he/she will find it easier to remember the names and dates of the history lessons. After all, learning is better when it is done in an interesting way.

These ways are recommended if the child is still young, but once your child is older, you must select a home schooling program that is suited for his/her age group. The programs are available at the elementary, high school, and even college levels. You just have to search online for these different programs. One good thing about these programs is that you can tailor them to fit the requirements of your child. However, you must ensure that all the lessons are studied by your child.

After you and your child decide to try home schooling, you must be prepared to make some changes to your life. The learning environment will now be in your home not at a school and through the various resources that you think best, such as a computer and the Internet.

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Homeschooling and the Family

Saturday, June 13th, 2009

According to the National Center For Education Statistics, almost 1.1 million children underwent home schooling in 2005 alone. That’s a lot of children. Once upon a time, homeschooling used to be a radical statement - something like a declaration of independence.

It was the (right-wing|conservative Christians who pushed for homeschooling in the 1980’s and legalized it in every State. But the average homeschooler of today is not religiously motivated.

More recent surveys show that parents are quite fed up with the public school system where a lot of the learning is superficial and compulsory. They are also concerned about the negative environment in school, ranging from drugs and abuse to negative pressure from their peers.

As a result, we have a surprising mixture of people who make up the homeschooling world of today. They cut across all religious creeds and all regional borders. Their chief aim is providing meaningful and productive learning through a method that strengthens the bond between all the members of the family.

All these families have one major thing in common - a long standing commitment to the sanctity of childhood. The children of these families are given a primary position. Many believe, and, probably, rightly so, that home schooling allows parents to bring up their kids in a more natural and caring environment.

Public schools can make a child nervous, subservient and thoroughly nasty. Children who receive their education at home are protected from these damaging, negative influences until they attain an age where they can deal with them.

Home-schooling draws the whole family into the almost religious job of teaching. Everyone has a role to play. The parents together form a bond with the children. Any experience can be turned into an educational experience. Both the parents are aware of exactly what is going into their child’s education.

Parents also have a greater say over the kind of religious and moral values that the child is learning. Even watching a film together can become a learning experience. Journeys to the libraries, zoos, museums and other places become educational experiences as well as recreational ones.

A home-schooling family is usually dependent on the income of one earning member. That means that often spending has to be curtailed and proper planning of expenditure is a must. This helps to bring the family members together and everybody gets involved in the task of saving money.

Just having a parent at home to supervise, to nurture and to care for the children brings with it a lot of love and caring. Even the husband chips in and there just is no room for boredom.

All right, problems do crop up, and there will be a lot of misgivings in your mind, but when you know that your kids can always count on you, and your kids know it too, then homeschooling becomes a richly rewarding experience.

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Avoid Burnout in Home Schooling

Wednesday, May 20th, 2009

No matter whether you are teaching in a traditional school or in a home schooling program, there will come a time when you will come across burnout. This is something that you have to avoid so that your learning progress is not affected.

Here are a few helpful tips that you can make use of to prevent possible home schooling burnout:

Be aware of your limitations. From the very start, you should already know your limitations and your child’s limitations. You must be capable of taking things slowly sometimes, especially if your child is still young since you have to bear in mind your child’s learning capacity. Most students are average learners, obviously, so you have to give the lessons based on your child’s learning pace. Never expect your small child to read complicated reading selections nor your teen to ace SAT exams.

Don’t adopt strict schedules, as this can put undue pressure on your child. You should just set an interesting routine for your child to follow. Children spend most of their time doing routine activities like getting up, eating hearty breakfasts, reading books, practising writing, doing light chores, etc. You must insist that they finish their routine activities before they can go outside or play with the computer. Even these routine activities change from day to day, but you must ensure that your child completes these routine activities. You can throw in occasional incentives or fun activities if they finish their routine tasks earlier.

You should try to get into the spirit of home schooling with your child, since it is a good way of developing a strong relationship with your child and if you and your child can relate to each other, you will find it very much easier to handle curriculum struggles and motivation issues later on. Besides motivating and guiding your child, you can also follow some of your own hobbies like gardening or cooking. If your child sees you enjoying your own interests, then he or she will also be inclined to do likewise.

Since your child is in a home schooling program, you should not attempt to copy a traditional schools environment. Try to use unusual ways when teaching your child. Home schooling is also about flexibility and creativity, and if you can create a light-hearted but firm atmosphere, you can probably prevent burnout.

Always try to remember that with home schooling, you don’t have to structure your teaching methods in the traditional way. You can just do things in a fun way especially with very young children so that they learn naturally. Just ensure you keep the day in the right perspective to prevent burnout. Although your children might forget some of the day’s lessons, that’s all right too because somehow they grow in intelligence as well as in physique.

Your children will always look back on your home schooling days together and remember with fondness how well you treated them. The old song goes: “… there’s no place like home” and for little pupils, home is the best place to learn the first lessons of life. If your teenagers are already in high school or college, they can still pursue home schooling if they want to. That would also a good idea since you would get a chance to watch your offsprings’ performance.

Parents always look after their children’s best interests, so, if after careful consideration, you still think that home schooling is the best option for your family, then go on with it. Just follow the tips mentioned above to avoid burnout. Have fun activities from time to time to prevent monotony.

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Home Schooling and the Family

Wednesday, April 15th, 2009

If a survey by the National Center For Education Statistics is to be believed, almost 1.1 million children took home schooling in 2005 alone. That is a lot of children. Not so long ago, homeschooling used to be a radical statement - something like a declaration of independence.

It was the (right-wing|conservative Christians who pushed for homeschooling in the 1980’s and legalized it in every State. But the typical homeschooler of today is not religiously motivated.

Later surveys show that parents are actually fed up with the public school system where much of the learning is superficial and compulsory. They are also concerned about the negative environment in school, ranging from drugs and abuse to negative peer pressure.

Because of this, we have a surprising mix of people who form the homeschooling world of today. They cut across all religious creeds and all regional borders. Their main aim is providing meaningful and productive education through a method that strengthens the bond between the various members of the family.

These families all have one main thing in common - a long enduring commitment to the sanctity of childhood. The children of these families are accorded a primary position. Many believe, and, I think, rightly so, that home schooling allows parents to bring up their children in a more natural and caring environment.

Public schools can make a child nervous, diffident and thoroughly nasty. Children who get their education at home are protected from these damaging, negative influences until they reach an age where they can deal with them.

Home-schooling draws the whole family into the quasi religious job of teaching. Everyone is put to work. Both the parents together form a bond with the children. Any experience can be turned into an learning experience. Both the parents are aware of exactly what is going into their child’s education.

Parents also have a greater say over the kind of religious and moral values that the child is taught. Even watching a film together can become an educational experience. Journeys to the libraries, zoos, museums and other places become educational experiences as well as recreational ones.

A home-schooling family is primarily dependent on the income of one earning member. That means that often spending has to be curtailed and proper planning of expenditure is a must. This helps to bring the family members together and everybody gets involved in the task of saving money.

Merely having a parent at home to look after, to nurture and to care for the children brings with it a great deal of love and caring. Even the husband takes part and there is just no room for boredom.

Yes OK, problems still do sometimes crop up, and there will be many misgivings in your mind, but when you know that your children can always rely on you, and your kids know it too, then homeschooling becomes a very rewarding experience.

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