While homeschooling allows for a more customized form of education, it also means that more homework is necessary to keep students on task and engaged. Here are eight tips to help you navigate homework in a homeschool setting so your child benefits from this flexible form of education.
Establish a Dedicated Homework Space
Try to designate an area of the house as distinctly for homework as possible so that your child can start to associate it as a place where learning and completing school work begins and ends. The ideal space will be quiet, well-lit, and possess an adequate supply of pens, paper, textbooks, and other tools needed for learning. It also provides a good opportunity to segment the day into ‘school time’ and ‘home time’, which is essential to the homeschool experience.
Here’s how you set up the perfect homework space at home:
- Keep the space organized and free of clutter.
- Ensure all necessary tools and resources are easily accessible.
- Personalize the space to make it inviting and conducive to learning.
- Consider ergonomic furniture to promote good posture.
Develop a Routine
Ultimately, consistency is the most important consideration in how you manage your child’s homework. Set up a clear routine governing when homework starts and ends. This provides your child’s life with structure, something that will serve them well outside of school as well as within.
Set Realistic Goals
Help your child break down homework into manageable goals. Each homework session should have a clearly defined goal, such as completing five problems from a math workbook or writing three pages of an essay. These goals should be challenging but not so challenging that they’re demoralizing. If the assignment is too insurmountable, your child will start Googling “Who can do my homework for me?”, and be discouraged to do it themselves. You don’t want that, so keep the workload manageable.
Here’s how you can do it:
- Break larger tasks into smaller, manageable parts.
- Use checklists to track progress.
- Adjust goals as needed to keep them realistic.
- Celebrate achievements to maintain motivation.
Use Time Management Tools
Perhaps the most difficult part of homeschooling is how to manage time. To assist with this, you can try using timers, planners, or digital apps to help you monitor how long your child spends on a particular subject or topic, to avoid overload or overwhelm, and to ensure that there is enough time spent on each topic.
Encourage Independence
As they get older, try to foster responsibility by encouraging your child to plan and organize their own homework. Show them where to find helpful resources for school ( check here for a great example) and provide them with tools to organize their own learning. This way, they will develop important thinking and problem-solving skills, which are vital for future academic and life success.
Incorporate Breaks
Frequent breaks are especially relevant for younger children who may have a shorter attention span. They can help prevent fatigue and keep your child motivated. For instance, working for 25 minutes and then taking a 5-minute break (called the Pomodoro Technique) can enhance attention and performance. You can also use breaks as a reward for meeting small goals.
Adjust for Different Learning Styles
Knowing your child’s learning style is the key to making homeschool work. Is your child a visual learner? An auditory learner? A hands-on learner? Take the learning style into consideration when assigning homework. Using diagrams, videos, or props to support homework rather than just asking your kid to read from a boring textbook can make learning much more effective and enjoyable.
Review and Reflect Regularly
Check your child’s homework with him or her regularly to find out what work they are good at and what they need to work on. Talk about what they learned, what they found tricky, and how they might approach similar tasks differently next time.
Creating a Flourishing Learning Environment
Homeschooling homework doesn’t have to be so scary. A structured but flexible space, the ability to have your child play a key part in the process, and an understanding of your child’s learning style will help you move forward with confidence and professionalism. You want your child to be able to say: “I love the way I was taught!” These strategies are all about transforming your homeschool into a lasting and heartfelt learning space.