In the craziness that has developed in 2020, many parents are now struggling with the concept of having to homeschool their children while also keeping up with their own daily lives. This gives us insight into the lives of their previous educators- and a lot of respect! The following tips will help to give you some advice on how to homeschool, where to get resources and how to make it a great process for you both!

1. Set a time

This doesn’t have to be your traditional 0800 every day until 3. You can be flexible, and since you are only focusing on your own children- much less than the 20 a teacher has, you don’t need to focus on having it take as long. 

• Set the time for a convenient time when you know your child is awake and happy. Mine is after breakfast for about an hour and then again after dinner for another. 

Making a routine and keeping it similar each day can help you and your family adjust to the new lifestyle until the fall comes around again. Your child will begin to know that in the morning, they’re writing their letters while after dinner is reserved for math. 

• For younger kids, keep it limited and short so they don’t get bored or frustrated. 
• Older children will need more time to review their different subjects and materials, but still don’t need to sit staring at a book for hours at a time. They should enjoy it too!

2. Set up a station

Kids go to school, have their own desks and their materials are located in the same place each day. Do this at home too. Take a section of counter, a box, or even an area in their room and put their school books there, make it comfortable and do your lessons there. The children will associate that place and know to be focused there. 

• You don’t have to build a classroom in your home. Again, just keeping everything together and doing lessons at the same place is helpful, even if it is your kitchen table or on the couch. 

3. Resources

While it may be overwhelming at first, take a deep breath! Believe it or not, there are A TON of resources out there that are affordable or even free to help keep your kid learning. 

• Personally, I found our local dollar store had a plethora of educational books and their own section for learning. If your local store doesn’t have a ‘school’ section, check with the books and crafts. Here you will find workbooks, reading, and even activities to reinforce the lessons you are trying to teach. 
• ABCMouse.com is a great resource that I personally use. You can choose a variety of subscriptions that can be as little as $5 a month. This service does the lessons for you in the form of games. It is tailored to your child, their needs and advances as they do. 
• ABCYa.com is another that teachers recommend. This is very similar to ABCMouse and hosts a variety of games and lessons for your child to learn on the computer, tablet, or phone. It lets them learn while they play and enjoy the process. 
• If you are on Twitter, Instagram or Facebook, look under the hashtag: #Save the Stories. Many actors, musicians, and celebrities have teamed up to set up a fundraiser for kids. They each read a book to the children on camera. Whether you donate or not, there’s nothing like seeing the voice of Ana, Olaf or Avengers reading adventures to your kids. 
  • Other resources of celebrities taking action are Dolly Parton and Josh Gad who are also doing their own campaigns of reading to children. 
  • All of these are FREE to listen to and are very comedic and geared towards kids. 
• The following are also a list of websites that help to give parents and kids fun things to do that help reinforce their lessons. 
  • Scholastic.com/learnathome
  • Lalio.com
  • Youtube: there are A TON of different channels and resources here. But parents beware, you’ll need to supervise so kids don’t wander to other channels. 
  • Bookbotkids.com
  • Ubdavid.com
  • Magickeys.com
  • Biblehub.com- for parents that did religious/private schools. 

 

I hope that these three tips and resources will let you be able to keep learning fun and moving for your family. While these times are hard on us all, sticking together can help us all make it through! I’d also like to add, please FEEL FREE to comment below if you have other resources or experience with any that you would like to share with other parents who are also pulling their hair out.