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As a parent, you have embarked on perhaps your most important role ever, nurturing your child to become a great adult. With a goal that they have character, are an impact on society. You also what them to be happy and make you feel proud. Yet, there are so many obstacles we face to derail this. Such as an irrelevant immoral society, feelings of hopelessness in the teen years, schools who do not care or help and pressures from the family who do not understand.
At Method Schools, we are here to help, by providing caring, quality teachers who work with you and a curriculum that is intuitive and is personally geared to each student’s learning level.
So, you have a school that works and really cares for its student to be the best that they can be. But what are we to do as parents? Here are 12 tips based on my own experience, and in working with other homeschool families:
1. Be their Encourager! Help them feel comfortable and in a positive environment. Do not be negative, judgmental, or overreact or put them down when they fall behind or make mistakes. Rather, be optimistic and motivated for them to succeed.
2. Work Together! Let your child know “we” are a team. With your their input, brainstorm ways to do better when things are not going well. Let your child be a part of this, so they take ownership. Give them constructive statements such as, “I see that things did not go so well, let’s brainstorm some ways we can do differently next time.
3. Stay Positive and Believe in your child. Make a positive note and put in on their laptop or a book, think about and say what is helpful, and unique about your child. Inspire your child to learn, change, mature, and succeed.
4. Help your Child Eat Right. Whole grains, lean meats, fresh vegetables, no soda; rather, lots of water or green tea with honey. Stay away from sugar and processed foods as much as possible.
5. Encourage Sleep. Bedtime is 9 pm or when you make it and wake-up time is 7 am or when you make it. Young minds need 10 hours of sleep!
6. Establish a Structure. When will they start their work or log on, how much will be done for that day? When is dinner or homework and when is it lunch for homeschool, when is it break time, extracurricular activities and such? Let them earn game, phone, and TV time.
7. Set, Clear Expectations. Ones that are reasonable for your child’s learning process. Work with your teacher on this. School is needed for a great life and for them to be a healthy vibrant adult. As early bad habits and bad school experiences can lead to poor life choices that can lead to an unhappy and dysfunctional life.
8. Communicate with their teacher. Some schools have one overwhelmed teacher and thirty-five students per class, no aids or help. While Method Schools have an 8 to 1 student to teacher ratio. So, with most schools, you must be very proactive and encourage their teacher not be their antagonist.
9. Take Breaks. For homework or homeschool, have them exercise like jumping jacks, jump squats, jump rope,run in the park or backyard.
10. Set Goals. You do this amount of work this week then we will go to…. (Movie, TV time, game time…)
11. Have them in Extracurricular Activities like sports, music, church, community service, Boy Scouts or Girl Scouts; 4H, and so forth. My son does Music, Karate and Boy Scouts.
And the last tip (Bonus #12), do not sweat the small stuff, kids are kids. Remember, you were one too. So, remember what it was like and be willing to make some concessions. If they did not get what they were supposed to do, then it falls on the next day. If a chore is left undone no big deal, they will do it the next day. Do not be a perfectionist or create an argumentative home, you will only be disappointed and frustrate your child.
About the author: Dr. Richard Krejcir is an Author, Researcher and the Director of a nonprofit that does educational training in third-world countries. He is also a Homeschool Coordinator at Method Schools and an instructor in a STEM program and a father of a son with autism.
