3 Major Homeschooling No-Nos
It's common to see the best homeschooling hacks, how tos, and tips to cracking every code for teaching at home.
What advice have you taken on what not to do? How about traits to steer clear of when starting your homeschooling journey?
By choosing to homeschool, you're already regarding your child's best educational interest above societal norms and standards.
Allowing this to lead your homeschooling experience is the biggest YES you can check off for your children. Letting connection, love, and patience guide your daily lives is always key to creating a successful learning environment that operates effortlessly.
No-No No. 1: Comparing your child to the next
Since birth, our babies are compared to the average or median child.
First, weight and height, then whether or not they are talking and walking within a given time frame. While these markers help us to identify potential developmental problems, it causes stress and programs our norm to constantly size our child up to another.
We have all heard the saying: Comparison is the thief of joy
...so why are we always looking for ways to do that?
If there are no markers when it comes to readiness to learn new concepts, read at the next level, or perform to a standard test, what would education in your home look like?
If the answer is that you would not be stressing as much or pressuring your learner to achieve better before they are equipped with tools to do so, then it may be time to revamp your thinking.
How can we do better?
As leaders, we can support our children by meeting them where they are.
Take their existing skills and prepare them with ways to continue building with and onto them.
Empower their perspective of learning new concepts and exploring the world, taking away comparison and unnecessary competitive nature.
When we lift children up, their confidence and motivation has room to skyrocket!
No-No No. 2: Judging your best intentions and effort
It can be easy to get lost in the sea of resources, curriculum, and even advice.
While it may all mean well and provide a variety of options as we explore the homeschooling needs of our families and ourselves, you may find yourself knee deep in paths to pick from.
It takes time to adjust and create a rhythm that works for us to facilitate a learning experience as home, and in the same way, it will take our children time to adjust to new additions to routines or changes in programs.
Our love and best wishes will always prevail, although it may seem we're failing in the process of figuring it all out.
Remember to breathe and treat yourself with grace, the same way in which we treat our children along this adventure with us as well.
No-No No. 3: Restrict your children to one approach
Since we have so many opportunities to pick ways for our children to learn at home, the opposite effect may occur if we stray from the variety.
I have seen families choose one approach or curricula structure and try to force their children into every detail of that program.
What may work one semester, may not have the same outcome the next. This doesn't mean that you have failed, but shows change and growth!
As we navigate the ideal arrangement of learning, life skills, and extra curricular activities, we are providing experiences for our children to learn who they are and what their interests are.
These foundational realizations will help them advance in life and create phenomenal adults with individuality and flexibility.
If we never subject our children to those lessons, we may hinder their growth and acceptance of different ways of life or even ways of thinking.
When we offer safe, trusted options, our children become empowered to choose and in turn will learn to trust their own processes and decisions as they continue growing.
Setting the Best Example
These lessons have come from lots of trial and error.
Homeschooling has not been a journey of complete smooth sailing, but I now feel more skilled than I imagined before.
Allowing myself grace has shown my son to treat himself the same way. That alone is a tool that will follow him for the rest of his life, which is the greatest intention behind wanting to guide him in education and life as a whole.
