Today I'm sharing the ten things I wish I knew before I started homeschooling my children. Thank you to Babbel for sponsoring today's video. Babbel is the #1 language app in the world with over 10 million subscribers.
We are finishing up our fourth year of homeschooling and I am reflecting on the things I've learned and what I wish I knew before embarking on this journey. I elaborate on each of these topics in today's video, which I hope you enjoy.
1. Consistency is key. The #1 tip I hear from veteran homeschoolers is to keep it consistent. We have been very consistent with math and the results show. With other curriculums we have experimented with finding the "perfect" one. What I've learned is that there is no perfect curriculum! Sometimes it's better to stick with the same one. Keep in mind that, over time, the consistent work will pay off.
2. Don’t be afraid of different ways and modes of learning. Desk learning, nature study, learning in the kitchen... there are so many ways and locations to learn. I discuss the Babbel app here as well. I was shocked to discover that 15 hours of Babbel has been proven to equal one semester of college Spanish.
3. Love of learning is the most important goal. The goal is not to score a high grade on a test or memorize this or that. The goal is get your kids to love learning and that they will hopefully stay curious for the rest of their life.
4. Never say never! I used to turn my nose up at online curriculum. Now I have put aside my preconceived notions and we have given it a try for certain subjects and have been pleased with the results. The old adage, "Don't knock it 'till you've tried it" is really true!
5. Don’t be afraid to veer off the curriculum. The longer you homeschool, the more comfortable you get veering off the curriculum. You don't have to follow everything the teacher guide says to the letter. If you want to drive a point home or if your child is struggling with something, don't be afraid to explore a better way to teach the concept.
6. When they show interest, capitalize on it! Some days you might have to set your schedule aside and do a deep-dive into a subject your child is showing interest in. This keeps the excitement alive with learning.
7. Make your life easier with meal planning. This tip doesn't have to do with teaching, but it can certainly help your day run smoother. Figure out a plan for how to provide lunch every day. You can make it ahead of time with meal prep, do a crock pot meal in the morning, or have the children make lunch. Whatever you choose, having a plan for lunch will make your homeschool days run so much smoother.
8. Encourage your students to be as independent as possible. Many parents (me) want to be involved every step of the way with school, but truly fostering independence in our children is the best thing we can do for them.
9. When I took to the community tab on YouTube to ask what you wish you had known, the top comment was by B Brundage, who wrote, "I wish I had known that we could spend more time exploring and not doing so much book work in the younger grades making for more enjoyable days."
10. A second comment that received a lot of support was from Julie, who wrote, "There is a lot of “keep students busy” work in most curriculum; use wisdom to spend time on the very most important things. Life skills, social skills within the family, character and independent learning skills are just as important as learning from books. Julie 🌷"
I hope you enjoy today's video. I would love to know if you would add anything to this list. Let us know and your comment could be chosen as comment of the week on the blog.
📍Please note:I am currently in the process of having my blog not only redesigned, but moved to Wordpress. Please be patient during the process as the blog might be temporarily disabled over the course of this month. You can always stay au courant with me over on YouTube to never miss a video. I'm excited to work on the blog and make it a better experience for you, dear reader!
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Christine M. writes, "Hi from England. i enjoyed the Zoom meeting on Saturday, really fun. Christina Rossetti has been my favourite poet since childhood. We lived in south west Scotland for a couple of years and not far from where we were was a rather grand house. I found out from a neighbour that in the 1800s it was owned by one of the Pre-Raphaelites and Christina and her brother were regular visitors. The icing on the cake, she reportedly wrote In the Bleak Mid Winter whilst she was staying there. The fact always make the poem/carol special. Thank you for doing these videos."
Christine, I would love to visit that house. I was reading up on the home that Dante Gabriel Rossetti lived in when he was in London. How neat to step into history like that. Thanks for commenting!
I hope you enjoyed today's video. I would love to know your thoughts on all of the subjects we discussed.
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I love that you are learning Spanish. Does your mom speak Spanish? I'm from Monterrey, Mexico... so it's nice that you, my favorite youtuber, are interested in speaking my language. :) "Mantenga la calma y mantenga la clase" You can say this in another way... "Mantén la calma y mantén la clase"... this is a more casual way of speaking... like when you are talking to a friend. :) Please keep inspiring us to avoid being dumbed down!!!
I forgot to say something... I'm a mother of 4 and we do homeschool since 2019. Every school day my girls (15, 13, 12) read aloud a small section from your books (Madame Chic's Series) to me ... and I may say that I have a seen a mayor improvement in them. They are more tidy, clean, and tending to our homes. One of them is interested in classical music, opera and reading books, the other two are painting with watercolors. They are more aware of their appearances, and I can see how reading your books has elevated their standards. At first, they thought they wouldn't like them, but now I can see how my girls have being transformed by reading your books. I didn't expected that. First, we read Connoisseur Kids (with my 3 daughters and my son), as part of our Homeschool Curriculum... we read it every Friday. But, then, I started reading the Madame Chic's Series with the girls and I'm so grateful that I did. We even have a whatsapp family group and we called it "Famille Chic." :)
I love that you are learning Spanish. Does your mom speak Spanish? I'm from Monterrey, Mexico... so it's nice that you, my favorite youtuber, are interested in speaking my language. :)
ReplyDelete"Mantenga la calma y mantenga la clase" You can say this in another way... "Mantén la calma y mantén la clase"... this is a more casual way of speaking... like when you are talking to a friend. :)
Please keep inspiring us to avoid being dumbed down!!!
I forgot to say something... I'm a mother of 4 and we do homeschool since 2019. Every school day my girls (15, 13, 12) read aloud a small section from your books (Madame Chic's Series) to me ... and I may say that I have a seen a mayor improvement in them. They are more tidy, clean, and tending to our homes. One of them is interested in classical music, opera and reading books, the other two are painting with watercolors. They are more aware of their appearances, and I can see how reading your books has elevated their standards. At first, they thought they wouldn't like them, but now I can see how my girls have being transformed by reading your books. I didn't expected that. First, we read Connoisseur Kids (with my 3 daughters and my son), as part of our Homeschool Curriculum... we read it every Friday. But, then, I started reading the Madame Chic's Series with the girls and I'm so grateful that I did. We even have a whatsapp family group and we called it "Famille Chic." :)
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