Homeschooling Tips for Parents: How to Engage Your Children At Home

Homeschooling shouldn’t just feel like a daily chore—for parents or for kids!

Homeschooling can be fantastically fun and kids can thrive!

Homeschooling lessons can be a great way for kids to become more autonomous, explore their personal interests, and become well-rounded people, but if the subject matter doesn’t engage them… well, the kids may lose sight of the benefits of learning and some heels may be dug into the ground. It’s easy to get kids back into the swing of homeschooling, though, if you mix up your lesson schedule and come up with some creative approaches to learning. The great thing about homeschooling is that you don’t necessarily have to adhere to a large classroom set-up; you can tailor your lessons to your kids.

Here are a few tips for keeping your kids engaged when they’re being homeschooled.

Let your kids read something fun. If you’re trying to encourage your kids to read more but they’d rather just play video games, try letting them pick out something that they want to read, then set aside 20-30 minutes during the day just for reading. You can even take a field trip to the library at the beginning of the week so that your kids have a wide range of books to choose from. Also consider letting any reluctant readers pick out a graphic novel or comic book (you can even find special Young Readers editions of the popular Adventures of Tintin series). Letting your kids read what they want will show them that reading can be fun and will encourage them to read more in the future.

Don’t be afraid to get messy. Some of the most memorable homeschool projects for your kids might be the ones where they get to make a mess for the sake of learning. A quick Google search offers up an endless supply of easy science experiments you can do with your family, such as Fizzing and Foaming, which teaches kids about chemical reactions using baking soda, laundry detergent, and vinegar. Lay down a tarp if you need to, and get the kids to help you clean up afterwards, but don’t miss out on the opportunity to let your kids learn through play.

Find hands-on projects. Many kids are visual or kinesthetic learners, meaning that information read from a textbook won’t stick with them as long as lessons that they can easily see and touch. If you’re trying to teach a lesson on tensile strength, let your kids build miniature bridges out of materials like popsicle sticks and see how well they hold a stack of washers. If you’re teaching your kids about physiology, Anatomy Now has a wide range of plastic models that make it easy for kids to see how different muscles, organs, and tissues fit together. No matter what the subject, there are plenty of ways to go beyond the textbook and make the lesson more tangible.

Don’t neglect non-academic subjects. Your homeschooling lesson plan doesn’t just need to focus on reading, writing, and arithmetic. Letting your kids explore a wide variety of subjects and activities will increase their breadth of knowledge and show them that there are different ways to learn. Set aside time for crafts and art projects, and take a break to go to the park and run around. Letting your kids learn to play musical instruments is also a great way to help them improve everything from coordination to reading comprehension to cultural history. Also consider setting aside time to teach your kids about practical life skills, such as how to buy groceries, cook a simple meal, or take care of a pet.

Let your kids choose an activity. As the parent and teacher, you’ll have the final say on the day’s lesson, but letting your kids have some input for their activities is a great way to get them more engaged. For example, if you have a child who particularly likes to be outside, they might say that they want to explore a nearby river—and you can turn this into a biology lesson on the wildlife and plants that thrive in or near water. With older kids, try having them write a mini-proposal for a project they want to do before they carry it out so that they can practice their writing skills. Students are most enthusiastic when it comes to learning about things that they already have an interest in, so let your kids use their natural interests to help shape their lessons.

Juliana Weiss-Roessler is a writer along with her husband Josh. Her writing has been featured on high-traffic websites, such as Yahoo.com, and in major publications, such as PARADE and People. Follow her on Twitter, Google+, and Facebook.