Are you new to homeschooling or already overwhelmed by all the curriculums, different style of learners, and homeschool methods? Are you worried that kids will be missing any of schooling or worried that you will not be enough? Here are basics of how to homeschool your kids for success!
Do Not Worry
in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving
will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus. Philippians 4:6-7
Knowing God will Guide and Equip You
Second is that God has entrusted you with your beautiful children. As the Lord disciplines the one he loves, He has given us the ability to discipline our kids as well. Each child is unique and wonderful, but he/she may be different from you in terms of his or her personality.
I am an introvert and one of my child is an extravert who loves to challenge limits, to persuade and to negotiate. I am generally accepting the terms of others, trying to understand and changing myself to the demands of others. When we have just moved and started homeschool, my son, Sweet Captain, would not sit still but test all kinds of boundaries, first trying to bother his sisters or make all kinds of noise, speaking without raising hands, disrupting every other second. So you can see how this journey is not an easy one for me, but I continue to pray that God gives me wisdom, insight and ability to set clear rules, rewards and consequences for each behavior.
When I was working in school, I have seen new teachers who struggled in classroom management and tenure teachers who are so amazing in their classroom management that they were able to teach the kids so well because they used positive reinforcements and rewards, and clearly communicated the consequences to the kids. It is hard to transition from being new teacher to teachers who have taught 20 years or more, but if we keep going and pray to the Lord to help us, I know that we will soon become amazing teachers for our kids as well.
Set up Vision Statement for your Homeschool
One of important topic that I came across from listening to Pam Barnhill is defining/writing down your vision statement in your homeschooling. What do you want to see in your kids when they become independent? By homeschooling your kids, you can identify what you want to teach your kids. I have listed some of vision statements that I have come up with for our children.
Raise Kids to Know God and Develop Biblical Characters
Teach Them Life Skills by Practicing with Chores
One thing homeschool parents emphasize are life skills, in other words, chores. Teaching them these life skills to clean up after themselves, to fold their clothes, to do their own dishes, and even to help others like throwing away the trash or something simple like arranging shoes.
When I was working in school, I would attend teen retreat and notice that boys would not do their own laundry, just pile them up for a week. Sometimes, they would not even fold or put back their clothes after they wear them. When we ask them to do certain things, they complaint. They were simply not taught that it is their responsibility.
Instill Love of Learning and Teach them to Be Life-Long Learners
Teach them to Love Nature and to Appreciate Things Around Us
Another aspect to homeschool is having an opportunity to explore the nature at least once a week. I wanted to share a story of Helen Keller. One day, she was visited by a very good friend who had just returned from a long walk in the woods, and she asked her friend what she had observed. She replied, ”Nothing in particular.” Helen Keller, who couldn’t see nor hear, wondered how she went to a walk for an hour through the woods and see nothing worthy of note. Helen Keller felt the delicate symmetry of a leaf, pass her hands lovingly about the smooth skin of a silver birth, or the rough shaggy bark of a pine. To Helen Keller, woods were wonders and amazement beyond measure. Then, she wrote, “Three Days to See” as her contemplation of the things that she should see if she had the power of sight for just three days!
Coming to think of it, I was the same. Growing up in big cities until when I was 13, raised in public school, pursuing the goal of getting into a 4 year university and busy working for 20 years or more. I never really realized how beautiful the nature is until I had to teach that to my kids.
For his invisible attributes, namely,in the things that have been made.
his eternal power and divine nature,
have been clearly perceived,
ever since the creation of the world,
So they are without excuse.
God’s handiworks are revealed in every part of the nature that surrounds us. How beautiful would it be to appreciate the sky, change of seasons, animals, and the oceans. It would be sad that there was so much to appreciate and our kids didn’t see or merely missed them.
Homeschooling my kids, I and my kids get to enjoy simple walk around the neighborhood, finding lizards, looking at bunnies and looking at different plants and flowers. My kids just started to raise sunflower and cat grass, anticipating that one day that they will get to own a cat. They see plants growing and rejoicing at each stages of the plant.
Explore their Potentials
as you teach and admonish one another with all wisdom
More resources
With clear goal and vision in mind, you are ready to embark on a new journey and here are 2022-2023 homeschool curriculum choices that we’ve made that can help you on the way. Sarah Mackenzie said, “Curriculum isn’t something we buy. It’s something we teach. Something we embody.. It is the form and content of our children’s learning experiences.” I hope the curriculum choices can help you love your teaching and learning experience with your kids.
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