Home school students have a definite advantage because they receive one-on-one attention much more frequently than those students who are in a classroom with 20 to 30 others. When you home school your child, you have the time and resources not only to teach her the basic courses that correspond with her age and progress, but also to teach her study habits that can help her in college and throughout her life. As soon as you begin to home school your child, you should start to help her develop effective study habits. A home school student is never too young to start learning how to learn, and one of your most important jobs as a home school parent and teacher is to help her achieve her goals in this area.
Control of your home school student's study environment is essential. This doesn't mean that you have to control it; it means that you need to help your child control her own study environment in a way that teaches her good study habits. It is not necessary to remove everything but study material from the study area in order to keep your home school student from being distracted. Rather, it is necessary to make the study area environment a place that your home school student associates only with studying and nothing else. You and she can plan the home school study area together. If your child feels that she had a hand in setting up her study environment, she is more likely to have positive feelings about it. Even if the home school study area will be in her bedroom, be sure that you and she designate an area in the room where she will do nothing else but study. It should not be the place where she talks on the phone, visits with friends, or watches television.
Other ways to help your home school student develop good study habits is to encourage her to keep "study records." Have her write down her study goals. Start with small goals, like for each individual assignment. Have her set goals such as when she expects to finish an assignment, or when she expects to be done with a particular chapter. Having these goals in mind will help your home school student focus more on studying and completing tasks.
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.