 |
Home Schooling - The Free Basics to Getting Started
Author: Jane Saeman  | Posted: 10-01-2008 | Comments: 0 | Views: 14 | Rating: (50)  (?) 
Having made the decision that home schooling is the best learning opportunity for your child, you now need to consider some basic steps in order to create that school environment. Follow the easy steps below and you'll soon have a free basic schoolroom in which to get your home schooling experience off to a great start.
1. Where is your Classroom? One of the easiest things you can do is to decide which part of your home is going to be the "classroom". It doesn't need to be an entire room, but it does need to be somewhere that's seldom - if ever - used for anything else.
A good thing about having a designated area as a classroom means that once your child enters that place, they know that they are there to learn, and not to play. The "tag" of classroom helps them make the mental shift from "home" to "school". This also shows the level of importance you place on education because you are willing to donate part of the home strictly for this purpose. It sends a positive message about your views of education to your child. So think carefully about the usual use and flow of your home and then pick a study area that will be kept out of bounds for anything other than home schooling.
2. Setting up your Classroom: You need to have room to sit down with your child while they learn. There needs to be a table for their books and shelves for reference material. Ideally having a lot of natural light would be good to help your child focus, but if this isn't possible, then adequate electric light needs to supplied. If possible, having at least one wall area that you can pin things on is a great advantage as is the use of a computer within the "classroom" area.
If you don't have space in your home to give an entire area 100% to your classroom, then make sure that the area you choose does have the ability to keep school things such as charts, reference books, etc. in the area at all times so that you don't have to keep pinning things up and moving them around. Some of your other audio visual materials, for example an easel, globe or whiteboard, may have to be stored elsewhere when you aren't actually using them, but the less you need to move things around, the more time you will have for teaching your child.
Your child is going to spend most of his time sitting at the desk or table, so make sure that the work surface is at a good height for him and that the chair is comfortable. If possible, make a storage area beside the desk for him to keep his study materials in so that again time isn't wasted in collecting these each day before school begins.
3. Setting up the Rules: Having set up the physical area, now you need to establish the rules of your school. In a normal classroom environment the rules are there simply to keep order among a large number of students, but that doesn't mean that home schooling should be without rules. Think about the rules a normal school has - such as asking if they may go to the bathroom, or no music, or the correct way to ask a question - and then consider which of the rules you want to keep within your own schoolroom.
Some of these rules may seem petty in a small environment, whereas others may be a good foundation for later in life when your child will be expected to know how to wait his turn for something. Decide which rules your home schooling environment will implement, write these down, discuss them with your child, and then ensure that you enforce them.
4. Setting up the Study: You will need to create your own study timetable, even if you are following a set curriculum offered by one of the home schooling organizations. To do this, read their information carefully and allocate the right number of hours per subject per week. The beauty of home schooling is in its flexibility, but you must ensure that you cover all of the material required for the academic year, and to do that, you must ensure the right number of hours per subject.
You know your child best. You know his strengths and his weaknesses. You know where you're going to find it difficult to keep his focus, and the subject's he'll focus on all day if you'd let him. Use this information when scheduling his study time; it could be that four half-hour blocks in subjects he doesn't focus well on will be more productive than two one-hour ones. Set the initial timetable and run it for a trial 2 weeks to see how it works, and then tweak anything you think could work better.
A successful home schooling experience comes from good planning, organization and a positive, flexible approach to learning. Use the steps above to put the foundation blocks for this into place and you'll be off to a good start.
You need to have room to sit down with your child while they learn. There needs to be a table for their books, and shelves for reference material. Ideally having a lot of natural light would be good to help your child focus, but if this isn't possible, then adequate electric light needs to supplied. If possible having at least one wall area that you can pin things on is a great advantage as is the use of a computer within the "classroom" area.
Rate this Article:
Current: 0 / 5 stars - 0 vote(s).
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/education-articles/home-schooling-the-free-basics-to-getting-started-301541.html
|
Submitting articles has become one of the most popular means of generating quality backlinks and targeted traffic to your website. Join us today - It's Free! |
|
Got a Question? Ask.
Ask the community a question about this article:
Frequently Asked Questions
I am interested in homeschooling my children but ...
By: Cindy | 10-07-2008
I am interested in homeschooling my children but not sure how to get started any help would be appreciated.
Memory tricks
By: tylersmom | 08-07-2008
anyone have any tricks on how to pass the memory portion of the postal exam
What's your favorite place to bike ride around ...
By: jrome | 25-06-2008
What's your favorite place to bike ride around Northampton, MA?
Kodak Printer
By: 4368486 | 22-06-2008
Where is the sereal number on a Kodak AIO printer?
Language, Hindi, conversation, practice, learning, hobby.
By: mdchaskar | 03-06-2008
Hindi (Indian national langauge) is getting more popularity all over the world. How many people - students and professionals are interested in learning Hindi ?
A more than just troubled teen
By: Priya | 30-05-2008
(we live in nevada) We have a 13 yr old son, my stepson. His mother abandoned him some years ago, and his father has full legal and physical custody. We believe that our son has deep and serious mental issues, and is becoming increasingly difficult and violent, even with his grandparents. he has expressed feeling of hopelessness and thoughts of suicide, but he wont talk to a counselor. heck, he wont talk to us. He had trouble in the school we had enrolled him in a few years ago, and we pulled him out to homeschool. he did ok for a little while, but now, as his moods are becoming explosive, he refuses to do any schoolwork we assign. so effectively, he wont do anything we ask him to do, even if it is within reason and legaly expected. he picks verbal fights with everyone in the house, and threatens violence or otherwise insinuates it. We love our son, but really, we cant afford to keep him in our house. I do not feel that counseling will be sufficient. I believe that he needs to be placed somewhere where he can be medicated and have a more structured life than we can provide. the law prevents us from beating him into obedience, he has no other relatives to go to, his biological mother wont take him and his grandparents are too old. We are a low-income family, and cannot afford military boarding school ( our prefered option). I dont know what else to do with him, except lock him out of the house and tell him good luck if he thinks he's so tough.
Q&A Powered by: 
Latest Education Articles
Take Advantage Of Online Accredited Degrees
By: Bercle George | 18/07/2008
The dog-eat-dog nature of the corporate world has elevated the need for numbers of workers to enhance their educational status. There are lots of jobs popping up all over the place that demands an extensive educational background and training hence the rise in the demand for online study programs and online accredited degrees.
Magazines On Academics And Information
By: Victor Epand | 18/07/2008
This article explains how to increase your knowledge and understanding with academic and informational magazines. These magazines publish matter relating to a particular discipline in academics and a particular grade or level of accomplishment.
Magazines - A Good Way To Get Into The Reading Habit
By: Victor Epand | 18/07/2008
Reading is a good way of relaxing. However, most of us do not have the time to read lengthy novels, and hence we do not develop the habit of reading. However, magazines, with their short and interesting articles, can help us to get into the habit of reading.
How To Improve Your Reading Speed
By: Francis Hesse | 17/07/2008
Learning to speed read will enhance your reading experience
Why Online Tutoring Systems?
By: Vince Austin | 16/07/2008
The latest arrival, according to this author, is the blooming and ever enlarging portals that claim to provide online tutoring systems.
My last count of "online tutor" term search on Google showed 636,000 results and there appear to be more... I did not bother because the initial figures are good enough...
Ways of Financing Postsecondary Education
By: Jim Brown | 15/07/2008
The Federal government provides students with many loans to help pay the cost of postsecondary education pursuits.
Solar Pv Cells, Residential Solar Energy, and Doping Silicon for Efficiencies (part 10)
By: Daniel Stouffer | 15/07/2008
Introducing impurities, called dopants, into the silicon making up the solar cell creates the one-way flow of electrons necessary to produce electricity more efficient. Two differently doped silicon wafers are layered together to create this flow.
High-Tech Public Libraries
By: Dave Text | 15/07/2008
The best place to get the information you need is always in a library. Public Libraries are provided by the government in order to provide access for all its constituents. Books can be read and borrowed in Public Libraries without any fees, only incurred penalties for late returns. In addition,...
|
|
Education 
