If you’ve ever wanted to give homeschooling a try with your kids, there’s no better time to do it than now. Even if your kids are enrolled in a school and receive education the conventional way, you can easily introduce them to homeschooling and let them have the best of both worlds till their schools resume functioning. And the best way to do it would be through the internet. Yes, the internet is lush with online homeschooling resources for you to employ and enhance your kid’s home learning experience. However, with the huge sea of educational content online, it is easy to get lost. So, we have assembled some online homeschooling tips for parents to sail through and make the most of it.
Also read: Quarantine Parents Guide: Activities for Kids at Home to Fight Boredom
Online Homeschooling Tips for Parents
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Turn Screen Time into Play & Learn Time
Image: rawpixel.com Kids these days are always willing and insistent to play on phones, tablets, and computers. It is difficult to keep them away from these gadgets especially during this time at home. So, instead of forbidding it, you can turn this into an educational opportunity with online games and activities that your kids will enjoy playing and learn a concept or two in the process. Educational games are one of the most relevant online homeschooling resources given their potential to keep kids hooked. You can find many such games in STEMpedia’s basket of learning resources and design your own online homeschool programs with them. Kids can even create their own games following a few simple steps with PictoBlox, a block-based programming software.
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Look Up for Homeschooling Tips on Blogs
An effective way of getting a hold of something new is to refer to how it has been done before. Several homeschooler parents are out to help those who are new to this through their blogs. These insightful blogs can prove to be extremely helpful with their pragmatic advice and recommendations on online homeschooling resources. You may come across some relatable experiences or obstacles and ways to deal with them too. You can have a glance at Simple Homeschool, Confessions of a Homeschooler, Real Life at Home, and other such blogs to better adapt to the world of homeschooling. -
Join Homeschooling Communities
Image: rawpixel.com Another way to be in touch with experienced homeschoolers is to be a part of homeschooling communities on social media platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Along with solutions to your difficulties and online homeschooling tips for parents, you may also find leads to free homeschool resources and online homeschool programs that suit your needs. There are a lot of homeschooling communities out there – Hip Homeschool Moms, The Old Schoolhouse magazine, #homeschool, #hsblogger to name a few.
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Bring Projects into Play
Image: schriever.af.mil Inspired by the STEM learning approach, including projects in your plan is one of the best online homeschooling tips that you can apply for your kids to acquire in-depth knowledge of what they learn. When kids learn by doing, they develop a better understanding of the subject and how its elements work. To begin with easy-to-do STEM projects, you can log on to STEMpedia’s Project Hub, a treasure trove of exciting DIY projects designed to create an enjoyable learning experience. Participants can gain an understanding of several concepts of STEM in the most interesting and practical way possible while making simple machines like DIY Colour Sorting Robotic Arm, RGB LED Lantern, Oscillating Electric Table Fan, Stair Climbing Robot, games like The Hungry Shark, and Space Battle and many such activities. Go on and choose from the huge pile of fun-learning projects here to include in your online homeschool programs.
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Make Use of Online Course
Online courses are the gold of the world of digital learning. Today, there is a sizable stock of courses related to all fields of study available on the web. The ultimate online homeschooling resources, these courses can be taken up by your kids to learn any theory or skill that interests them, in the most stimulating way and that too at their own pace. STEMpedia hosts a few such interesting online courses teaching the fundamentals of robotics, electronics, and programming respectively. The course on Basics of Electronics is for all the curious minds who wish to know how electronic gadgets around them work. It takes them through a well-guided journey of knowing the components of electronics better and leaves them with an ability to create their own electric circuit. The one on Introduction to Robotics takes up the A-Z of basic robotics and is the perfect hatchway into the captivating world of robots. It not only gives lessons on robotics but also lets you apply them through various activities. Last but not the least, the course, Introduction to Programming acquaints beginners with basic programming in a fun and interactive way with the help of live sessions, quizzes, and interesting challenges on the scratch based graphic programming software, PictoBlox. -
Design Your Own Curriculum
Image: rawpixel.com Homeschooling offers flexibility and the freedom to choose and blend different topics and methods of teaching according to your kids’ academic needs. One of the homeschooling tips for parents is to ensure that kids are exposed to a variety of lessons and activities at regular intervals. Boredom is the most common reason why kids lose interest in studies. But when they are learning at home with the abundant online homeschooling resources at aid, you can easily engage them with a smart curriculum that balances fun and studies. Borrow ideas from online homeschool programs and braid together small strands of all the different subjects that you wish to teach them each day to make a personalized syllabus. After all, who knows your kid better than you?
Also read: Useful Online Learning Resources for Kids to Learn from the Safety of Their Homes
In a Nutshell
The process of homeschooling not only nurtures a learner in the right areas but also develops what it takes to reach the right information online, helping them develop the ability to learn on their own. So, what are you waiting for? Put these homeschooling tips into practice and witness how the young ones enjoy their home learning experience.
Feature image taken from rawpixel.com
