Hello everyone:

When I home schooled the younger of my two sons, there were several things that we did to make the day go more smoothly. Here are the issues that we faced and how we handled them;

Having a schedule was very important, so that he knew what we were going to do and when we were going to do it. For the first year, we kept to the same schedule that he had been on while in a private school. For example, we began with pledges and prayer and worked our way through the day, just like he had been accustomed to. There was one notable exception: he was working at three times the speed of the traditional classroom. As a result, he finished the school year one month early, having completed all of his books. We spent the rest of the year studying anything he was interested in, such as space flight and marine life.

Next, I found that visualization was important. As such, I began each school day by removing all of the books from the home school cabinet and then stacking them according to subject. As we  completed each subject, I put the books back in the cabinet (this included my teacher’s version of each book, so the stacks were quite high). When the table was empty, we were done for the day.

Third, we took a break each day about mid-morning. He could play outside while I walked around and enjoyed the day. We both “got the wiggles out” by doing this. A little fresh air really revitalized us. After the school day was over, we also walked three miles together for PE class.

Finally, we made a point of eating out for one lunch per week, so that we felt like there was something to look forward to (we were very involved in two home school groups where he visited with other kids once a week and he was active in our church youth group, but this was something that just the two of us did). While in the restaurant of his choice, we talked about what it cost to start a restaurant of that type. This continued the learning experience, while also stopping people for turning us in for truancy, since my son was obviously healthy but not in school.

Hope this helps!

Best,

Dr. Sheri