I’ve homeschooled my children from the beginning, and have given advice to countless moms who want to begin teaching their children at home. Among the questions I hear are these:
“What is the right way to encourage my children?”
“How do I help them feel motivated?”
“What can I do to keep their interest?”
When I am asked these questions, I always turn to them and say, “You’re the only one who has the answer to that.”
As parents, we know our children inside and out. We know them in ways that no teacher, professor, principal, or friend ever could. As their mothers, they lived under our hearts as well as in our hearts. As their fathers, we have walked the floor with them and played games with them. We know how to motivate them because we know them so well.
Homeschooling your child is no different from teaching them how to tie their shoes, pick up their toys, or deal with their emotions. You’ve already learned what does and doesn’t work when it comes to getting Johnny to feed the dog. You know that Billy will never clean his room if he gets caught up in a computer game. You know that Jenny loves stickers and would do almost any chore if it meant receiving a sticker as a reward. Take what you already know about your children and parlay that into your homeschooling methods.
The trick is remaining firm in the face of criticism. It never ceases to amaze me how other people always seem to know what’s best for our children, especially when it comes to things like homeschooling. If they aren’t telling you you’re a terrible parent for doing it in the first place, they want to add their own two cents into how it should be done. But as the parent of that child, you know what is best for that child, and you should follow your own intuition. I’m sure you can’t tell I have strong feelings about this.
In short, you are the only one who can answer your questions about the right way to teach your child. You can get books on how to teach math, and you can attend seminars on how to teach English, but when it comes down to your child’s emotional needs, you are the expert.
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