It seems like all homeschool families have the the same dilemma: How do you get your students EXCITED about homeschooling? Check out my tips and advice from our experiences homeschooling over the past 7 1/2 years.
I recommend evaluating each student individually to come up with a game plan, so if you have multiple kids, think about your answers for each child separately.
Get Your Students EXCITED About Homeschooling
Okay, we’ve all tried to get that little spark going for our kids. We want our children to have fun learning, but it’s not always possible. Sometimes the work is HARD and they lose their motivation to keep going on day in and day out. You need to make sure that they’re excited, or at least motivated, to start their homeschooling days strong and ending them feeling fulfilled. Here are a few things to think about.
What are their Learning Styles?
Whether you’re thinking of offering a reward for working hard, or you’re wanting to add in fun new activities to their actual lessons, the motivational tool won’t be very successful if you are offering something out of their comfort zone – at least not at first!
Which learning style do your students fall under? Keep in mind, more than one of these styles might describe your child. I talk about the different learning styles in more depth in my Choosing the Right Curriculum for Your Family post. I’ve offered a few examples of things that might appeal to them to make their days more interesting, or to use as a reward.
*Auditory
-Audio books
-movie day
-recitation
-learning by song
*Social
-homeschool activities or playdates with other kids
-public speaking
-sports or gaming clubs
-Scouts
*Visual
-movie day or replacing a subject with a film about the topic
-visiting art exhibits, in person or virtual
-zoo field trip
-slideshows to teach the information
*Naturalist
-completing their school outside
-visiting a garden
-camping
-Scouting
*Logical
-worksheets with open-ended questions
-debate club
-games of skill
*Solitary
-New books or magazines of interest
-research on interesting topics (WebQuests would work well here as well)
-art projects
*Kinesthetic
-sports
-board games
-obstacle courses
-free play time
*Musical
-songs for learning (like Classical Conversations uses)
-listening to music during school
-Poetry
-Playing an instrument alone or with others
*Reading/Writing
-creative book report
-lapbooks
-a big library haul
-making Powerpoint presentations to share information
Take their age into consideration!
To find THEIR spark, make sure it’s age appropriate. You may have to do totally different things for different kids.
- Pre-K and below (might like circle time, games, songs, puppet shows)
- Early Elementary (would enjoy new books, games, ways to show off new info)
- Older Elementary
- Middle School
- High School
Older kids often like to have ways to show their independence and competence, enjoy special experiences meant only for older kids, and like to participate in community service projects
What are their Personality Types?
If they’re more Type A and organized, it might stress them out to give them total creative freedom. They crave structure! Give them guidelines to keep school fun for them. You may even want to provide more structured free time and reward choices.
If they’re more Type B, it might bore them to have strict guidelines. Allow creative freedom so they can really shine!
Get connected with other local homeschoolers for playdates and field trips!
Almost all kids enjoy this. You might want to get together on a weekly basis to have a regular gathering. Maybe you’d all enjoy participating in a co-op or field trip group. Other families like taking the private school route where their students go to school twice a week and homeschool the rest of the week. However you get that social interaction in, be sure to prioritize it for everyone’s benefit!