How to keep your child focused?

Here is how to encourage focus in your children during homeschooling:

1. Respond and recognize the actions of every child.

Take out time to watch your little ones and observe their weaknesses and strengths.

Do your children focus better when they study alone or do they do better when you are around? Another thing that may work best is when subjects are broken up and spread throughout the day.

You can use these ideas:

• Break the pattern and try a routine that may work well for that particular day or week.
• Ask your children for suggestions to find out what they want.
• Create a suggestion box where family members can put in suggestions for what they think will help improve the experience of homeschooling.

2. Make sure your children have everything they need before the class starts.

Having everything from study material to pencils and notebooks eliminates unnecessary waste of time and disturbance.

Also, it is a good idea to help your children get rid of disruptions by having everyone get a drink or use the toilet before starting the class.

3. Talk about your expectations clearly

Make sure you specify what you want done when you start the day.

A great idea is to create separate time tables and charts for every child. The timetable should list what they need to get done every day. Teach your little ones how to follow the chart. When you’re too busy with other things, your children will remain focused on their work as they will know what to do.

4. Use incentives.

Giving children incentives helps keep them focused and motivated. Find what will work for your child. It could be something tangible such as a toy or perhaps their favorite treat.

Let your children know what they will be allowed to do once the school day is over. Maybe they can watch their favorite T.V. show or play outside for as long as they like.

There are so many creative ways you can make your child more focused towards study and their homeschooling curriculum.

How to start your spring semester?

Spring is upon us and it’s almost time to begin a new semester. Here are a few tips that can help you get a good start!

1. Focus on the positive.

In case your children are reluctant about starting homeschool, remind them of all the great things they are going to do! The thought will make them positive about study. Discuss all the field trips you will take, experiments you will do together and the many treats lined up for them when they complete their lessons on time.

2. Pick a quote every week.

You can either choose a quote on your own or ask the whole family to find it together. Or a different member of the family can choose it each week. If it is a verse, make sure to read the entire chapter together. Incase it’s a quotation, try to find out more about who said it.

It is amazing how only a few words can help set the tone for the whole day!

3. Pray.

Most of us forget to close our eyes and truly pray or we wait until things get completely overwhelming. If you are looking for motivation to drag your children out of a bed in the morning, remember, God’s there. If you feel stressed or burdened, He’s there. If you’re having a hard time, He’s there. Include praying in your routine.

4. Evaluate the previous semester.

Make sure to evaluate the semester gone by. What worked? What did not work? What worked best for your children? What did they hate? What routine worked best for you? Keep all these answers in mind as you enter a new semester.

5. Plan.

Planning the entire course of action is always a good idea. For instance, if you feel that you lose focus during certain times of the day, try to add activity time or break time then. Perhaps, you have always preferred doing school in the afternoon, but you are completely exhausted by the end of the day. It may be better to start earlier.

Maybe, you have always started with the least-favorite subject, but your little ones would look forward to starting with their favorite subject. Trying out new changes in your routine is easier during a new semester. However, do not change just for the sake of it. At the same time, do not feel obligated to keep doing homeschool the same way you have always done it.

Get ready for tomorrow by taking time today. It will really help you if you go ahead and get ready for tomorrow’s lessons (Example, textbooks, materials, quizzes, workbook pages). Review all the work you’ve done today and look over lesson plans from tomorrow.

 

How homeschooling affects marriage?

Homeschooling can affect a marriage in many ways. Primarily, homeschooling offers an opportunity for the couple to have a stronger authority over one of the most intimate and important gifts in their lives, their little children. The society today, puts a lot of emphasis on specialized labor roles. This has removed several roles from the wife/ husband unity and the domain of the family.

Fathers or husbands go off to work in the office and most of the mothers or wives have their own careers, while their children are taught by qualified teachers over whom the parents have negligible influence. The parents have no control over the child’s role models, the kind of information the child will be exposed to, and the beliefs and values with which the child will be instructed for the next twelve years of their lives. Communicating and formulating philosophical, personal and religious beliefs, and collaborating together to fashion the child’s education gives new meaning to one of the most important functions of a marriage— the nurturing, procreation and upbringing of the child. Consecutively, this fortifies the marriage by offering a common goal that the two individuals have increased potential to attain.

Secondly, homeschooling children gives parents something important to do. This is particularly important as a lot of adults in technological and industrialized societies have very little they consider significant in terms of national, communal, or international importance. That most societies consider schooling as an important issue. Teaching their own children increases the sense of personal value and self-confidence in parents, in turn improving the marriage bond.

Thirdly, homeschooling saves the parents from several energy and time consuming tasks. Instead of depending on other people to teach their little ones, they cooperate and create an effective plan to do it on their own. Homeschooling can yield several long-term advantages that can save energy and time. However, homeschooling is hard, especially for one of the parents, usually mothers, who take up the task of daily formal teaching. If not approached maturely, the process may become stressful leading to tension in the married couple’s relationship. Alternatively, the couple may use it as a chance to work together and strengthen the bond of marriage and reap the benefits of raising a smart, emotionally successful and socially adjusted child.

Most homeschool couples believe that the intangible advantages of improved family cohesiveness, marriage unity, and social and academic successes of the child make homeschooling one of the best decisions. Since homeschooling demands one of the partners to stay at home to teach, it offers a sense of security to the family.

Major challenges that public schools face in Canada

There are so many different challenges that lurk around the public education system in Canada, with the educational structure requiring immediate improvements. It is important for stakeholders to identify the issues confronting public schools and try and increase the standards of education. Here are some major issues that are causing the problem.

Family problems and hardships:

Hardships have become a disturbing concern. A big percentage of school-age children live under or along the poverty level. Low-income students are a big part of the public school population. Those belonging to this class are probable to have the greatest ratio of dropouts. Moreover, students who lack proper nourishment are not likely to perform well in the school.

Family problems also add to the plight. The atmosphere the child gets in the house affects the child’s mental state and his or her ability to learn. Family issues include, divorce, separation, lack of guidance, and the like. A big problem is the complete refusal of parents to cooperate with the school teachers and administrators to take care of the needs of children.

Lack of proper technology:

It is very sad that a lot of times the students are savvier with technology in comparison to their mentors. Teachers have a hard time maintaining the focus and interests of children on completing schoolwork. This requires striking the right balance between technology and traditional learning. Meanwhile, a lot of public schools just don’t have any resources to get computers that are required in modern curriculum.

The morale of the teachers:

A big concern is the self-esteem of public school teachers. Few of these professionals are underpaid or do not have incentives that can offer them motivation to do well. Due to this, most efficient instructors seek employment at private institutes or look for jobs in other fields that require higher compensation and profitable career options.

Student Behavior

A big challenge that most public schools are facing is the attitude of children. Some negative traits include tardiness, lack of interest, malingering, and disregard for mentors and other officials of the school. Such issues are less often faced at the primary grades and are more common at the secondary level. This dilemma can be linked with the lack of parental commitment. A lot of parents do not even once visit the school the whole year. The involvement of parents is crucial in the right development of the student.

Public schooling is in need of a quick revamp so that the nation can produce better educated generations. Meanwhile, so many parents are shifting to homeschooling their children because they feel the environment at public schools is not conducive to the right development of the child.