Elementary Homeschool Tips: Enjoying Elementary Homeschooling with Your Child

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Enjoying Elementary Homeschooling with Your Child
Elementary-aged children have so many questions. Their curious nature is the driving force behind their desire to learn, and providing direction and guidance at this time in your young child’s life will inspire life-long learning.

To encourage your child to be enthusiastic about learning, approach elementary homeschool with a spirit of excitement, fun and a sense of mystery. For the youngest of learners, the discovery of a new bug can lead to an entire science and language arts unit on insects, guided by research work, spelling of scientific and common bug names, and habitat and lifestyle habits. Each exercise will create an extensive knowledge of vocabulary words, factual data, research skills and general life skills.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: An Elementary Homeschool Tip for Children With ADD

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: An Elementary Homeschool Tip for Children With ADD
Elementary aged children with ADD and ADHD pose special issues for any teacher. If you are homeschooling a spirited child, you can really make a difference in their learning by simply eliminating distractions and giving them choices.

When choosing a spot for the child to sit, don’t pick one by a distraction (like the window) or the urge to pay attention to what is going on elsewhere will be too great. Instead, choose a few spots that you find appropriate and then give your elementary school student an option of choosing one of the places you’ve pre-determined.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: The Great Outdoors

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: The Great Outdoors
Helping your children connect with nature is a wonderful way to incorporate language arts, mathematics, science and social studies into one study unit. After all, c hildren love to walk and investigate outside. Use the simple discoveries made during the daily walk to make comparison and contrasting charts, classify insects, identify and press flowers, count wildlife and keep a nature journal.

If you have the time, incorporate art into the unit by giving each child colored pencils and a sketchbook. Grades two and three often study seeds and plants in the public school curriculum, but as a homeschool teacher, you can choose to include these life skills in your curriculum at any time and extend your outdoor study unit into yet another direction.

When teaching your children about seeds and plants, you can teach them the term “hypothesis” and show them how to create observing and recording charts to use as they monitor the growth of their potted seeds.

If your family is planning on planting a garden in the spring, have your children work on creating a garden blue print. Prior to buying any garden seeds or supplies, have the children research “companion planting” so that they can determine which plants grow better next to one another and which should be on opposite ends of the garden. Once the blueprint for the garden is done, use mathematics to determine its actual size and the width and lenghth of rows. Giving your children a real life situation is a lesson they won’t forget.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Spiritual Growth in the Elementary Years

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Spiritual Growth in the Elementary Years
If your family is shopping for a Christian-based homeschool curriculum, it is important to research the different companies available and ensure you get a program that fits into your family’s faith structure, academic goals and personal learning style.

Textbooks, workbooks, quality manipulatives, educational games and other academic materials need to be top-notch to enhance your child’s education. Ones with a world view will prepare your children to be good citizens and care for people of all racial and cultural backgrounds.

Since most young children are unable to grasp abstract concepts, trying to explain to a young child that people all over the world live very different lives from the ones we enjoy here can be very difficult. Look for a curriculum that extends each child’s awareness of his or her own place in the world.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: An Elementary Homeschool Play

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: An Elementary Homeschool Play
Let’s put on a play! If you live in a community where there are several homeschooling families, why not pick a play and produce it? Choose something from literature, or history and make accompanying costumes and scenery. It’s a wonderful way to teach students not only about theatre, but also to allow them to:

• Practice memorization
• Understand emotions within literature
• Understand context
• Learn about time-appropriate dress and surroundings
• Cooperating with others in a group

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Physical Education for Elementary Homeschooling

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Physical Education for Elementary Homeschooling
No elementary homeschool program should be without a vigorous physical education and recess program. The regular outdoor play that children partake in:

• Contributes to cardiovascular health
• Teaches fundamental motor skills (such as hopping, skipping and jumping)
• Helps them to develop stamina and flexibility
• Helps young children relive stress

Research has shown that free play alone does not provide the level of activity your child needs to reach on a regular basis, so it’s a good idea to add activities like a brisk walk, jogging, bike riding or skating to the mix.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Making a Reading Space

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Making a Reading Space
Reading is so important during the elementary school years. Help your child understand just how special reading time is by working together to organize a cozy place.

Great big floor pillows and a soft rug are a wonderful way to get comfortable for a great story. And, if you always keep some books by those pillows, I bet your student will wander back there on his or her own to read.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Elementary Homeschool Field Trips

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Elementary Homeschool Field Trips
Field trips provide elementary school students with an exciting learning experience—one your child will surely remember. The types of field trips you can take are as wonderful as they are varied. Try some of these ideas:

• The zoo
• A nature preserve
• A local factory
• A printing press
• An historic cemetery or church
• A farm

Almost anyplace can be made into an educational experience that relates to one subject or another. Sometimes it takes no more organization than to get in the car and go. For other trips, you’ll need to make some advance arrangements. Even local businesses will be flattered and happy to show you around at a slow time.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Children’s Picture Book Read-Alouds

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Children’s Picture Book Read-Alouds
Every elementary homeschool program must contain a unit that discusses how to teach writing, and hopefully it inspires the young child to want to learn how to write well. Many children don’t realize how important writing skills are; they view writing as an assignment verses a life skill that will be used on a daily basis.

One way to remove the perceived drudgery of writing assignments is to move the concepts of writing from abstract to concrete. Young children have a difficult time comprehending abstract concepts and will often disregard them entirely because they are confused.

Children’s picture books are a great resource to use when discussing important writing topics such as setting, plot, character and story organization (beginning, middle and end). Children can listen and observe as a picture book is read-aloud; simultaneously the child can be processing the concrete writing steps of story creation.

As you begin your writing unit, be sure to have a variety of different books that explore and explain the different aspects of story creation. If you are unsure what to use, ask a librarian for suggestions. Her list will get you started and then you can supplement your choices with favorite books from home or purchase those you want to keep in your homeschool library.

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Elementary Homeschool Tips: Nutrition Homeschool Unit

November 12th, 2009 Shaka

Careers Jobs Tips >> Home School Tips >> Elementary Homeschool Tips
Elementary Homeschool Tips: Nutrition Homeschool Unit
Elementary homeschool curriculum can be created through the use of many different mediums. Why not make one about food? A thematic unit on nutrition is appropriate and educational on many different levels. The language arts concepts can be explored through the writing of recipes, reading of cookbooks, planning menus and studying the food pyramid. Your child could do an online research project for different fast food restaurants, gathering information about a variety of different menu items from various locations.

These items could then be broken down into their specific nutritional values, which could become a math unit on comparison and contrasting for healthy guidelines. Exploring the differences in fat value, calories, sodium and other classification teaches the child to read food labels, apply healthy guidelines to food choices and to identify a healthy meal all based on percentages and number comparisons.

A fabulous way to experience science for a child is to make homemade bread, butter and ice cream. The scientific interactions that take place while making these three food items are easy to explain, visible to watch and provide for a great snack when you and your child are done.

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