Shake Up Your Homeschool Routine with These 5 Unexpected Flips

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Homeschooling parents may rely on routines to keep their children organized and on schedule. After a while, though, even the best homeschooling routine can begin to feel a bit stale. And that’s the time when parents (and children) are the most likely to experience homeschool burnout.

An easy way to break out of a homeschool rut is to shake up the routine. You don't need to overhaul your curriculum or make drastic long-term changes. A simple change or two can breathe new life into homeschooling even if it’s only used for a few days. These five ways to shake up a homeschool are easy ways to get everyone excited about learning again.

1. Reverse the Schedule

If kids are used to doing the majority of their schoolwork in the morning, they may come to dread starting school, especially if they’re not resting well or if they’re struggling with a particular subject. Parents might try teaching lessons primarily in the afternoon instead or dividing lessons evenly between morning and afternoon.

You may even want to do schooling at night or on weekends! The schedule is yours to modify

2. Drop a Subject

Core school subjects, including math, reading, and language arts, are best taught year-round. However, there are plenty of other subjects which can be taught in a more flexible manner. If the kids are used to studying science everyday, they might enjoy dropping it for a few weeks and delving into art instead. A similar rotating schedule could be set up with geography, history, or foreign language.

Shake Up Your Homeschool Routine with These 5 Unexpected Flips3. Swap Schooling Methods

Once a family settles on a homeschooling method, it can be easy to stick with it indefinitely. But trying a different schooling method every now and is a nice way to explore each child’s learning style. For example, a family that practices a classical approach might enjoy trying the unschooling method or a literature-based program for a while.

4. Let the Kids Teach

This tip is one that’s sure to get the kids excited! It can be difficult for parents to allow children to teach a lesson or two, but giving up the reins actually challenges students to learn and master the material before they present it.

Parents might assign a child to write a lesson plan for a specific subject and topic, preferably one that the child is comfortable with, and then ask him or her to teach the class that day while you take notes. Giving her parents a quiz after the lesson is another way to demonstrate mastery of the topic while getting a laugh out of this exchange of normal roles.

5. Do Nothing

Finally, one of the best ways to shake up a homeschool is to do absolutely nothing. Parents might set aside a day or even a week to focus on exploring what they’ve already learned or what they’d like to learn. Some of the conversations kids have during downtime can serve as windows into how they feel about the things they’ve already learned and the topics they may be interested in learning in the future.

Trying a few of these changes can make homeschooling feel brand new again. Whether it’s trying a new homeschooling method, letting the kids be the teachers, or taking a relaxing break from structured learning, shaking up a homeschool may be just what’s needed to keep the homeschooling family happy!

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