20 Homeschool Tips To Rescue The remaining School Year

These homeschool tips were put together to help you through the last half of the school year…

The excitement has waned and summer break is nearing… (well, sorta lol). If you need a few “homeschool tips” to encourage you on, then keep reading!

*Although some of these homeschool tips could be used for any homeschooling age, the main focus here is on elementary age students

20 Homeschool Tips

1.Begin your day with prayer

The first homeschool tip I want to share is to begin your day with prayer. This may sound obvious to some but it is often the obvious that gets over looked. Be sure to take your homeschool struggles to the Lord and remember we can and instructed to pray about all things.

Philippians 4:6 (KJV) Be carful for nothing: but in everything by prayer ans supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known unto God

2. Plan

The second tip of my homeschool tips is to PLAN. Line out and plan your lesson BEFORE you begin the school day. There is no reason to slow your day down or cause stress from lack of planning. I like to plan each day’s lesson the day before, using my clipboard, highlighters, calendar, and so on.

3. Focus on your routine

Whatever your routine is, set it and keep it. Kids seem to be most productive when they know exactly what to expect.

4. Start the day out with your child’s more challenging subjects

That’s right.. the earlier part of the day is proven to be the best time to focus. Take advantage of this time, while your child’s mind is sharp & the school days weariness has yet to set in, by knocking out their greatest challenge. This will also give you both momentum for the rest of the school day, with lack of dread for the remaining task.

5. Take breaks

Don’t be afraid to take breaks. Breaks get the wiggles out and gives your child a good mental “reset”. Even a 10 minute break can do wonders.

6. Practice struggle areas by incorporating fun activities.

Need to work on letters? Dig out the play-doh and make letters together or practice multiplications with old fashioned hand play (Miss Mary Mack anyone ? lol…?) You know you want to lol .

7. Rid of as many distractions as possible

Before you start your school day, make sure to eliminate as many distractions as possible. This homeschool tip is talking about the eliminations of things like hunger, excess potty breaks, thirst, dry lips, etc. Anything that can be attended to beforehand that may distract your child.

Setting these concepts into your routine really helps. Make sure to feed your child a good breakfast before school starts. Set a “potty” break time or ‘drink’ time to keep the child from being distracted by spontaneous breaks to just “get out of work.” Don’t let them fool you, wouldn’t you have done the same?

8. Make plans to Occupy other “youngsters”

One of the biggest distractions to older children can be the younger (non school age) siblings. Make plans ahead of time to occupy these little guys! Coloring pages, play-doh, learning apps on a tablet (tablets like ours linked below), snacks, paint, and so on, are great ideas.

Silencing headphones for the schooling children can also help. I’ll link our compact pair below!

9. Be you

Got new ideas or teaching inspiration ? Try them! You are the teacher and you know your child best.

10. Add hands on activity

If your child has a hard time with school boredom, focusing , or excess energy, try incorporating hands on activities to busy their little minds & bodies.

11. Encourage “school in play”

While “playing in school” may be frowned upon in most cases, “schooling in playtime “should be encouraged! Encouraging learning activities in your child’s playtime is a great way to implement learning outside of school time.

12. Stop stressing!

The first couple months of pre-k, I was fretting like crazy, afraid my child was lagging in some way. After talking to several moms & reading others experiences, I decided to just quit stressing! That’s right, just stop! Yes, do your best. Yes, challenge your child. But don’t flip out if your child doesn’t love math or struggles with reading. Everyone has their strengths , weaknesses, loves, and hates and remember, theirs may be different from yours.

13. Encourage, reward and praise their BEST

It’s seems so natural to praise the A+ above all other. Of course we want ALL of our children to have 4.0 GPA right? Well.. all kids don’t. As I said before, you know your child better than anyone. If you know, without a doubt, your child is doing their BEST then treat their best like you would a A+! Even God expects only our best, and looks down upon the comparing of one another.

14. Don’t fret over a specific curriculum

If your beloved, researched, 5 star, curriculum doesn’t seam to be working for your family or child. Don’t worry, it’s really ok! Be thankful that you are homeschooling and have the liberty and freedom to choose the BEST curriculum for you and your family . This is a blessing not a problem. So get to praying, researching, and talking with your husband, then go make the beat decision for your child. But before u do all of that, make sure it’s the curriculum that’s problem and not just a lack of planning, organization, or commitment, excess distractions.

15. Smile & be fun

“When mama’s not happy, nobody’s happy”. We all agree on that, right? Remember though, “mama” is the teacher now so the same goes for the teacher! Set the tone for your school day early on and you will be happy you did.

16. Keep it new & exciting

“New” may seem a little hard halfway through the school year but use your imagination and add in fun activities throughout the school day.

17. Personalize it

Whatever curriculum you use, be sure to take advantage of the homeschool opportunity by personalizing it accordingly. Everything from your lessons to schedule can be and should be personalized to fit your Childs needs.

18. Be flexible

How exactly can you be flexible while keeping a consistent routine ? I have found, that on days that the normal “schedule” doesn’t work, we can still keep the same routine with only a few adjustments. This helps my children adapt easily on days we need some flexibility. Flexibility, in general,, is a must with homeschool. You are not just a teacher, you are mom which sometimes includes nursing, secretary work, mothering, and who knows what else that contains schooling conflicts. You must be flexible while staying true to your task.

19. Stay true

If anything needs to be reminded towards the end of the school year, it would be to stay true to your task. ‘Homeschool slacking’ is never rewarding. This is probably my most important homeschool tip of all. If we don’t homeschool “right” then all our work is in vain. Do it right and you will never regret the lasting benefits, benefits our children can pass on and use the rest of their lives.

Homeschool is not easy but it is so worth

#20 Of The Homeschool Tips Is To Laminate!

The last of my homeschool tips is to laminate. Laminate those worn out flash cards, schedules, calendars, work sheets, laminate everything! To see more on how to laminate with a heat laminator and how my laminator benefits my homeschooling, watch my video linked below.

https://youtu.be/UGQjmA4wzMQ

I hope these homeschool tips have encouraged and inspired you in some way! You can do this!

A Simpler Life

Homemaking At It's Simplest