No stress at all - Our 8 homeschooling tips for primary school children
No stress at all — our 8 homeschooling tips for primary-school children
One lockdown follows another. That doesn't only mean organisational effort for us parents — it's also tiring for our children, who need social contact even more than we do. But complaining doesn't help. We have to make the best of this difficult situation. That's why this article gathers a few helpful tips for homeschooling primary-school children.
Develop a homeschooling routine with your children
Just as everyday school life follows a routine, building habits in homeschooling gives children a feeling of security. That doesn't mean children have to get up at six o'clock to be at their desk by eight. Shape the day in a way that's pleasant for the whole family. Get cosy, have breakfast together, and discuss together what's on the agenda for today. A daily plan helps a great deal here.
Create a daily plan together
A daily plan is very important for the daily routine. That way your child knows when learning time is and when they are done learning and can play. Just as we adults don't want to bring our work home, children certainly don't want to be chased around all day by their parents with maths exercises.
Design the daily plan together with your children, but don't plan everything down to the smallest detail. Leave enough time in the morning to wake up and in the afternoon for free time. A few hours in fresh air every day shouldn't be missing. Children need nature and movement just as much as food and sleep.
Reduce homeschooling learning time to a minimum
At school, children usually sit at their desks from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. But they don't need to learn that long at home. At school there are breaks, and even during lessons children don't work intensely for the full 45 minutes. The first 10 minutes are typically spent settling in and opening their books. Many questions are also asked, and learning interruptions through noise are practically built in. With eight lessons a day, children actively learn for about 1.5 to 2 hours. So you don't need to feel guilty if your child isn't sitting at their desk for five hours a day.
Try out different ways of learning
Not all children learn the same way, and that's a good thing. The great advantage of homeschooling is that you can find out together with your child how they prefer to learn.
The kinaesthetic learning type prefers "learning by doing". The visual learning type learns best with the help of graphics and illustrations, and the auditory learning type takes in content particularly well when they can listen to it.
It is perfectly fine to set the boring worksheets aside and instead paint, watch informative videos that match the topic, or experiment with different materials.
Learning letters is child's play with our ABC learning cards. Depending on how you play with the learning cards, they are suitable for all three learning types.
The kinaesthetic learning type can put the ABC learning cards into the right order. If your child is among the auditory learning types, you can help them in conversation to internalise the ABC by showing them the letters and letting them guess which forest animal begins with the relevant letter. The visual learning type will love the cheerful illustrations. How you play with the ABC learning cards is up to you. There are no limits to the imagination. Learning with the ABC learning cards is a game and, alongside the letters, the little ones automatically meet sweet forest creatures and even pick up some English vocabulary.
Build in play breaks
During lesson time, children need breaks. At school they happen on a fixed rhythm. You don't need to keep this fixed rhythm of breaks at home. If your child is currently working in deep concentration, you shouldn't force them to take a break. Breaks during homeschooling can be designed flexibly according to mood. Just like at school, it helps to design the break with movement and play.
Learn what's fun right now
What is your child currently especially keen to learn? Do they prefer maths or English vocabulary? At home you can decide freely what is learned when. Give your child the choice — it strengthens self-confidence and is a big step towards independence.
Stay in touch with classmates
Children need other children, and if homeschooling lessons aren't online but happen with notebook and pen, it's worth supporting your child to stay in touch with classmates via FaceTime, Skype, or WhatsApp. Especially for younger children who aren't yet familiar with the technology, a video call with classmates is sure to be enormous fun!
No stress at all
Especially when we teach our children at home ourselves, we quickly reach our limits. So homeschooling doesn't tip into stress, we parents can pull back a little and simply let our children get on with it. Plan times when the little ones can also solve a few tasks alone, paint, or play independently.
If it really doesn't work and your children have no desire to learn or do homeschooling, that is also completely OK — special situations call for special measures.
Let homeschooling fall away and take a walk in the park or the woods. There's plenty of exciting things to discover in nature, and learning happens automatically.
Watching television or consuming other digital media, however, is not a good alternative. The little ones notice and will insist on it again the next day.