You know that your decision to home school your child is best for both of you. However, to make the task easier and create the perfect learning environment for your child, you need to create structure in your home and day.
Providing a structured home schooling environment for your children will result in a more positive and productive school day.
School work’s special place
All the experts agree that a separate work station for schoolwork is necessary. For one thing, a special place for schoolwork signifies the importance of learning. It is a reminder that when you are sitting at that place, it is time to work and not play. That doesn’t mean that you will be doing grueling and boring work, but it simply tells your child that it is a place for learning.
Many of us don’t have a separate work room for this kind of setup. However, you can easily clear off the kitchen table and use that as your work area. Because it is not in your child’s room, he or she can’t easily be distracted by toys within sight. Also, the kitchen table has the added benefit of being bigger than most desks, allowing more room to have supplies right there when you need them.
If you have the room, having separate work stations for reading, math, science and other subjects helps break up the monotony of sitting in one spot all day and allows you to store materials meant solely for each subject separately at those stations.
The school day
Another way to maintain structure is to keep the same schedule as much as possible. Set times for the school day to begin and end. Don’t do schoolwork when you get around to it in between doing laundry and grocery shopping. When you set a schedule for it, you are sending the message that it is important work and not to be taken lightly. Even if your life is hectic and you are constantly on the go, creating some kind of school schedule helps. If you have to break the school day up into an hour here and there, that’s OK, as long as it is the same schedule every day.
A regular schedule is more readily accepted and easily followed than a hectic one. If your children are used to getting out of schoolwork because you had to run to the store or get a package in the mail, they will resist having to do any schoolwork at all after a while because it has not been a regular part of their lives.
Keep your children in the loop
It also helps to let your child know what the school schedule is. If he knows that math is first, science is every Tuesday and Thursday, and so on, then he will be ready for it. If you allow your child to help you make scheduling decisions, then she will feel more of a responsibility toward it and be much happier doing the work.
Also, letting your children know about upcoming field trips or science projects gets them excited about their schoolwork and may encourage them to get their other work done in a more timely manner.
Cleaning up
In order to get a great start each morning, plan ahead by having your child help you clean up the work area when the school day is done. This allows you to have a fresh start each morning and keeps frustration to a minimum when you don’t have to spend time finding supplies or needed materials. Plus it’s a good habit to get your children into that will benefit them the rest of their lives.
Teaching a good lifelong habit
Maintaining structure in home schooling will not just create a better learning experience for your child, but will also teach him or her the importance of structure in life. Structure is important for all of us to remain organized and get needed tasks done. Teaching your children structure while they are young, will help them develop the skill and use it to their advantage as they get older.