It can often be very difficult to keep a home schooled child focused on schoolwork, especially considering that he or she is being taught at home and not in a school setting.
Parents of home schooled children do not often have the luxury of re-creating the school environment in order to encourage increased focus.
Most parents often find the first few days or weeks to be very difficult in terms of attention and focus.
Usually, the result is parents who are just as frustrated as their children.
All is not lost though.
Here are a few tips for making sure that your home schooled child stays on task and focused on what is being taught, regardless of the setting in which the teaching and the learning is taking place.
oSet realistic goals and outcomes - Too often, parents create boredom or lack of attention by developing lessons and units that are beyond the abilities and needs of their child.
While every parent want their child to know as much as he or she can, sometimes, being too ambitious can result in little to no learning.
Take a close look at the topics being covered, and determine whether or not they are appropriate for the age and developmental level of the child.
oGet to know your student - No two children are alike, especially in terms of their individual learning style.
Take the time to understand how your child learns best.
He or she may be a visual, auditory, or experiential learner.
Develop lessons that take advantage of a child's interests and individual learning styles.
oGo beyond the classroom - Many parents use homeschooling as a method of encouraging different types of learning experience, only to suddenly revert back to a traditional method.
Parents should rely less on lecture-type learning and take advantage of having a child outside of the classroom to create different and unique learning experiences.
oFocus on the "how" and not on the "what" of learning - Too many parents who homeschool their children become focused on the topics they teach.
For many, teaching becomes noting more than a list of topics to be covered and checked off.
For the children immersed in this type of teaching, boredom can come very quickly.
Instead of worrying about the topics and subjects being covered, parents should focus on teaching their children to learn, thus ensuring that they will always be ready to learn regardless of the topic being covered or studied.
oLet them go - Sometimes, parents have to simply cut the proverbial chord that is keeping their children from learning as much as they can.
What does this mean? Essentially, it means trusting a child enough to learn about whatever topics are of interest to him or her.
The topic may not be in line with what a parent might want to teach, but remember that the idea is to learn, regardless of the topic.