10 Things Homeschoolers Don’t Have To Do

You might have started homeschooling this year. Or, like many parents, you may have joined the homeschooling ranks not by choice, but by being forced by the Covid 19 pandemic. Whichever way you began, you might have had an idea or two about what homeschooling is all about.

Most parents who use the traditional route of education think that homeschoolers miss out on a lot of things just because kids spend their time at home. You might have of the charge that homeschoolers lack social skills. Whether you like it or not, both the traditional and homeschool routes have their pros and cons.

And now that you are new to homeschooling or a few years of homeschooling experience behind you, here are ten things you don’t have to do.

Things You’ve Got Wrong About Homeschooling

1. You don’t have to know everything. No one knows everything; including teachers. And whatever teachers know is what they’ve studied from books. A Math teacher is only good in that learning area. And you as a parent cannot expect that you’ll be a genius in all subjects. As we’ll see later, you are only guiding your kids but not teaching them.

2. Don’t sit from morning to evening. At school, your kids sit a set number of hours depending on the age. They only leave the classroom at certain periods. But when at home, be flexible. The beauty of homeschooling, of course, is you determining how much you’ll learn in a day. If a child is done with the assigned work two in two hours, so be it. Use that opportunity on something else like going out for a movie or snacks, a picnic, and just being free.

3. You need not designate a specific learning space. In a traditional system, classrooms exist and this is because they handle a lot of learners. For homeschoolers, it’s different. If you lack space, you may have to use the kitchen, bedroom, living room, or balcony for studies. As long as learning takes place, that’s it. This makes learning even more exciting instead of sitting in the same place every day of the learning week.

4. You don’t have to be home all the time. With homeschoolers, learning takes place practically everywhere. It could be on the grassy patch outside your home, in the forest, at the library, or together with other homeschooling parents. Don’t continue staying inside the house for too long. It’s boring. Remember, you’ll be having them 24/7 in the same house which is counterproductive in the long run.

5. No need to get dressed. It should be the least of your concern. If your children prefer sitting at the table in pajamas, who are you to say otherwise? This is not a school setting after all. The goal is for learning to take place, and not to make your house feel classroom-y.

6. What about lesson preparation? In public and private schools, it is a must that a teacher organizes and plans himself before attending lessons. But this is because they are dealing with many learners. For homeschoolers, however, the curriculum is designed in such a way that kids learn by themselves if they already know how to read.

Don’t Feel That You’ve Blundered

No one does it perfectly anyway. Whenever you feel stuck, reach out. At Outstanding Outcomes Tuition, we not only provide helpful information like these, but we also offer practical help through our teachers who have vast experience in their field. Reach out today and we’ll surely arrange a homeschooling timetable that will cater to your child’s needs.