When the weather turns cold it becomes more of an effort to bundle up the children in warm clothes and take them on educational outings. For most homeschool parents the winter months can drag out, with children becoming frustrated at being trapped indoors and the parents becoming irritated at having to be teacher, recess monitor, lunch lady and janitor without a break. Here are a few things that a homeschooling family can do to ease the pressure and continue learning in a positive and supportive environment.
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Switch Around the Daily Schedule
If you and your homeschool students become bored of the schedule that you have been following on a school day, try and switch it around. If you are used to doing writing work in the morning when they are fresh and craft work later in the day, reverse the process. Do a craft project the first thing in the morning and leave the writing for after lunch. Do away with all classes for a day and substitute them with story telling sessions. It can help a lot just make the daily schedule disappear for the day and take a break.
Hand Over the Day to Your Homeschool Students
Give your home school students the reigns of the classroom for a day. The extra freedom would extend to their setting the subjects for the day and picking the activities that they would like to do. Don’t worry too much if they pick less educational activities than you would. After all it’s just one day. Ask them to balance the work and play when they plan out the day’s curriculum. They must include the core subjects that you would usually cover in a school day, but they can choose the topics that interest them to learn about. It would a good experience for them as they go about planning out a study day.
Once a Week Get Out of the House
Yes, it is cold and you worry about them catching a chill, but they do need some fresh air as well. Plan an excursion to the shopping mall, local library, museum in town or any other outing at least once a week. This break in routine will allow you freedom from the frustration of being tied down in the homeschool classroom.
Article Inspiration: About Homeschooling
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