None of us are perfect, not even professional teachers, so naturally we all mistakes. When it comes to homeschooling no one is perfect and the important thing to remember is that tomorrow is a new day and that it will get easier. Here we will discuss a few things that are common mistakes that are easy to fall into when homeschooling.
- Lack of organization. If you are disorganized not a lot will go right in your homeschool day. You and your kids need to know where your texts, notebooks and other school supplies so that you can function and get the work done. Organization is not just about finding where things are efficiently. People learn better and thrive in organized atmospheres. Is this to say that nothing will ever be a mess? No. Definitely a big no. If you have kids home all day there are bound to be messes all over the place. However if you are clear and firm about who does what chores and when there should be no reason why your whole house has to become disorderly.
- Not listening. When your kids try to tell you what they are interested in or what they would like to see happen in a school year don’t be quick to dismiss their thoughts and ideas. Often you can both get what you want. Perhaps you have already bought a homeschool geography curriculum but you have a child that wants to study Egypt and that isn’t really a large portion of the curriculum you chose. Perhaps you can spark some excitement that the student has by letting them help come up with a unit on Egypt that may fit somewhere in your curriculum or you could just make time on the side to do the unit. Allowing kids to have ownership in their education helps them stay motivated and excited.
- Under/over scheduling. There will always be those over achieving parents that have to have their kids doing a full day of school work and then be scheduled out every minute until bedtime. Over scheduling is a huge problem and kids are under more stress than ever. Don’t forget to let the child be a child, at any age. On the other hand there are homeschool families that tend to fall into a rut of being home too much. There needs to be a full day of learning but at the same time there should be school, church and community activities that they are involved in. Some homeschool support groups offer these activities and have a yearly calendar. You may want to look into such groups and homeschool co-ops to enrich the education of your child. You may be surprised to find that these activities enrich your life as well.
- Unrealistic expectations. I am personally the queen of this. However, I am not alone. Be realistic in the goals that you set for yourself and your children. It is a great thing when a parent can teach a child to set realistic goals so that they feel like they really can make progress and succeed. Repeatedly setting unrealistic goals and then naturally failing to reach them is not good for any one’s self esteem and ultimately leads to not setting goals at all.