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My Top 5 Best Tips For

New Home Educators

My Top 5 homeschool tips are based on principles that I’ve learned in my now 16-year homeschooling journey. I apply them in my homeschool daily and have given one or all of them as homeschooling advice for years. I hope they bless you, encourage you, and empower you.

Tip#1

Embrace the freedom that you have as a home educator. This freedom allows you to be more flexible and more patient with yourself and with your children. DO NOT try to replicate the structure of public school at home. Relax. Take breaks. Start late. Stop early. Find what works for you and your child.

Tip#2

Personalize your child’s education to include subjects that interest them and teaching your values.It’s important to make room for your child to pursue things that interest them like art, computer coding, sewing, writing, foreign language, music, etc.

As a believer, it is also important for my children to learn from a Christian perspective and to learn history from a black cultural perspective. So we do daily devotionals/bible study and learn black history year-round.

Tip#3

Evaluate your child’s individual learning style, strengths, and weaknesses. Teach them in a way that works best for them. Fortunately for me, my children are all visual and kinesthetic learners so incorporating pictures, videos, projects, and sketchnotes works best for them to learn and retain information.

Tip#4

Encourage free reading and free writing. Allowing them to choose what to read and write about helps them to cultivate a love for reading and writing. During these “free” times allow them to read whatever they want- manga, comics, graphic novels, etc. and write letters, stories, poetry, lists, etc. This is a time free of judgment or correction.

Tip#5

You don’t have to do homeschool during traditional school hours. You can time block hours for homeschooling before, after, or during work from home. You have the freedom to make your 24hrs a day, 7 days a week work for you and your child.

For years I’ve been intentional about not signing up for any classes and keeping our schedule light on Fridays. We normally sleep in then meet with friends, play educational games, or go on field trips on Fridays. More recently, we’ve dedicated Friday mornings to more housework and chores. Additionally, as a business owner, I try to schedule most meetings on Thursday afternoons and Fridays.

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