During my three years of homeschooling two children, there have been many ups and downs. There have been times when I feel such gratitude for all it encompasses, and times I have looked longingly at the yellow bus driving by. However, those overwhelming times can teach valuable lessons. Those times showed me where I needed to make changes.
Today, I’m sharing those lessons with you. Here are 5 tips to make homeschool a little happier.
1. Start your day with laughter.
For the longest time, I wanted to get up and get right to it. Math, check. Language arts, check. Reading, check. I wanted to get through my lesson plans as quickly and efficiently as possible so that we could be done with “school” and get to the fun part of our day. As you can imagine, that didn’t make for a very happy homeschool. I’ve learned that starting our day with laughter makes my children more cooperative, makes us feel more connected, and enhances learning. I like to start with mad libs or a few jokes. It’s so much nicer to start our days in good spirits.
2. Ask them what they want to learn this week.
This may seem like an obvious one, but it was lost on me in the beginning. I had a curriculum and a teacher’s guide, and by golly, we were going to follow it. I liked having it all planned out, but my kids were bored to tears. Our science curriculum told us to study the moon phases but they had zero interest in it at the time. I read the material but I don’t think they retained much of it because it wasn’t interesting to them. It’s still very hard for me to pull myself away from the curriculum, but I make a point to ask once a week “what do you want to learn about?” We set aside our lessons plans for one day a week and follow their interests.
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Related Article: Montessori Education at Home!
3. Just pick a curriculum!
Seriously, the amount of choices is utterly overwhelming. One could spend days researching and reading reviews trying to find the perfect fit. I remember being overwhelmed to the point of tears when I first started homeschooling. Don’t stress about it like I did. Just pick one that looks appealing and give it a try. You’ll know soon enough if it was the wrong fit. Some programs are expensive, and you don’t want to waste money. I totally understand that!
Still, if a curriculum you bought ends up being a poor fit for your kids, you can take the material and tweak it a bit to suit your needs or get you through the remainder of the semester until you find something else. There are many curriculum swap groups online, so you can make some money back off it. Also, there are so many free resources available online and in your library that you don’t necessarily have to spend a lot of money!
4. Let them move.
Please tell me I’m not the only homeschooler who felt like I had to recreate the public school classroom. I had desks and a schedule, which aren’t bad but certainly not be the best option for every child. I have one of those “can’t sit still” kids. Trying to keep him in a seat was exhausting and frustrating. Now I let him bounce on an exercise ball while he does his book work. Schools in Finland let the children take a break every 45 minutes to go out and play. That’s a good model to follow.
5. Read aloud each day.
Story time isn’t just for toddlers at bedtime. Reading aloud to older kids has benefits, too. My eclectic homeschool is at least partly inspired by Classical Education, which values read alouds. I admit, this is an easy one to push away to get “the more important things” done, but when I’m disciplined enough to take the time to gather my children under a cozy blanket and read aloud from one of the classics, we have a happier day.
Here are 7 great chapter books for boys to consider!
What makes your homeschool happier? Leave a comment and tell me your happy homeschool secrets.