With overcrowded classrooms and significantly reduced budgets, increasing numbers of parents are opting for home education for their children of all ages. From the earliest ages, right through secondary, parents feel they can do a better job of keeping their kids on task and teaching them what they need to know in ways their children can understand. Perhaps one of the biggest benefits of home education is that you can move your children along as quickly or slowly as they can go because no one knows your kids like you do. Teaching teens can be a challenge but if you learn to intersperse their lessons with subjects they really want to study, you’ll have them as a captive audience!
Spicing up Lessons with Driving Classes
For older teens who are at least 15 years and 9 months of age, you can start teaching them to drive. They can, at this point, apply for a provisional driving licence, which is what you can use as ‘bait’ for getting them to buckle down on their other subjects. Kids all want to learn to drive and parents are all reluctant to teach them. However, if your teen also has difficulty staying on task with home education, you might offer driving lessons as incentive to keep them focused.
Actually, as far as theory goes, you can let them practice the theory portion of their driving test online. This portion of the test must be passed before they can take the practical and that’s why you should take every opportunity to let them take a free driving theory practice test so that they are well prepared for the actual test.
Creative Use of the Internet
If your son or daughter is like other kids in the same teen age bracket, much of their free time is probably spent Instant Messaging or Private Messaging on social sites like Facebook or Twitter. Let them do these activities during their free time but make creative use of the internet at other times during lessons. In fact, you can even incorporate geography with social media by helping them make friends in other countries.
Many parents help their ‘students’ search for friends in countries they are studying. For example, if you are studying about the Middle East, you could do a social search on Facebook with the keywords of a country like Jordan or Israel. Have your teen request a friend you’ve found who speaks English and your child can learn a lot about the country and its people simply by chatting with friends of an age. However, be prepared to monitor the communications because this is, after all, the internet and there is no guarantee that is a real kid on the other end of cyberspace.
Know Your Child’s Biological Time Clock
One of the problems with a ‘normal’ classroom education is that not all kids are on the same biological time clock. There is a specific disorder referred to as Circadian Rhythm Sleep Disorder in which the sufferer is on a schedule where night is day and day is night. Some parents medicate their children at bedtime but this is not the best solution for many. Doctors will gladly prescribe sleeping aids if your child is in a regular classroom, but home educated kids can study at the hours during the day where they function the best.
From little incentives to keep your kids on task to knowing which time of the day is their best for studying, you can learn to educate your child in ways that help them learn best for them. There is a growing number of families who prefer home education, so if you have questions about the legalities and methods best used in your area, talk to your headmaster. You might be surprised at just how easy it is.
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