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Advice to Homeschooling Parents from Homeschooled Kids

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Homeschooling advice from a parent to parent is typically helpful and appreciated, but, have you ever wondered what advice a homeschooled kid would give to a homeschooling parent? It’s their education. We need to be asking them what they think.

So, I did. Here’s what they had to say – homeschooled kids’ advice for homeschooling parents.

Advice to Homeschooling Parents from Homeschooled Kids

1. Let your kids have input on what they do for school (curriculum, topics, etc.) – Megan, 13

2. If you help your child through hard times, in other times they might not need your help. – Emma, 9

3. Work at your child’s speed not yours. – Emma, 11

4. Make sure your kids are actually learning something. – Drake, 7

5. Have lots of break time. – Kyrian, 6

6. Tell her that I love her, and she’s very nice to homeschool, and she can do it. – Gannon, 3 (I’m assuming that Gannon is referring to his mom and this comment made me want to hug his little neck. Go look in the mirror, moms. Tell yourself that you’re very nice to homeschool and you can do this.)

7. Daily midday Starbucks run. – Cindy, 16  (In our case, this would probably be a daily Chick-fil-A sweet tea run, but I totally get the sentiment.)

8. Don’t feel stressed. – Genevieve, 12

9. Don’t try to shove too many subjects into one day – even if you were busy the day before! Four to 6 subjects a day is more than enough. – Noah, 14

10. Leave room for life! – Sara, 25, homeschool graduate

11. Be aware of changes since you were in high school and get help teaching subjects you aren’t great in. – Jessica, 22, homeschool graduate

12. It helps children learn if they’re having fun while they learn because it makes them want to learn more. – James, 11

13. Use Legos for learning math because they’re fun. – Manasseh, 6

Advice to Homeschooling Parents from Homeschooled Kids 2

14. Go skiing a lot. – Eli, 11

15. More picnics and days at the park. – Sarah, 6

16. If your child is struggling with math or history or any subject, maybe look at other curriculum with that child and let them pick out what will work best for their learning skills. – Abby, 15

17. Plan the lessons to make it easier for the kid to know what they need to learn. – Candace, 13

18. Make it fun! Make games out of lessons (like multiplication bingo). – Cade, 8

19. Make sure we have time for outdoor fun. – Braden, 8

20. Take lots of field trips because it’s easier and more interesting to learn about something you’ve actually seen. – Zach, 8

21. Go to lots of art museums. You can learn a lot about history and cultures through art. And, you learn why art is important, not just pretty or weird. – Macy, 8

22. Let your kids get involved in lots of extracurricular activities when they’re young and have lots of time. – Brianna, 19

Have you asked your kids what advice they’d offer? Leave their answers in the comments!

This post is linked to the Hip Homeschool Hop and Finishing Strong.

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Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.

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10 Comments

  1. What a great list-responses from the older kids made me tear up! My oldest is in 8th grade & I’ve been having a hard time lately thinking back on what we “should” have done differently (maybe). High school is next for her & I just want to turn back the clock and have her be in third grade again. (Ok, maybe not really but I seems like yesterday she was in 3rd grade!) wonderful list & reminder why we do what we do.

  2. As a homeschool graduate who is now homeschooling my 2 sons, I would say to let your kids follow their interests. I would get interested in a subject and my mom would let me run with it, spent all the time I wanted reading about whatever was interesting to me at the time, was especially effective with history. Being able to read a mix of fiction and non fiction to learn all I could about any person, place, or thing in history made me enjoy it and I still remember so much from that time over 10 years ago. By the way, I love your blog, gives me lots of ideas and encouragement, thank you. 🙂

  3. This is so great! Honestly, I’m terrible about asking my kids what they want from this whole homeschooling thing. But it is THEIR education…shouldn’t they have a say? Thanks for the great reminder! 🙂

  4. #6 made me tear up…. I think mine would add (even the graduates) “We like it when you play with us.” They learn like sponges when mom is down and dirty in the middle of the mess with them.

  5. So I asked to my 8yo 1st grader, and she said: 1) you beter remember that before the school we have to pray God!
    Then I asked more. 2) I’d like after leerning to do some finger-works. (knitting, etc. ) And gave examples. I thought – wow, so much every day!!! (How can I do it!?!) But then she said: “To knit a hat for a doll. 1st day – to knit a hat, 2nd day to sew it together, 3dr day – to make a pom pom, 4th day to sew on the pom pom, 5th day – to make strings and to sew them on. And the hat is ready! And then do another thing.”
    Her response just shocked me! Actually this is so easy! And so small amounts. I must restart my brain and get down to a different level, to a kid’s level 😀

  6. Oh my gosh, those were awesome. Makes me not want to take things so seriously. Lots of breaks, skiing, Starbucks. There’s more to homeschooling than curriculum, isn’t there?

  7. If your child is struggling with something everyday, do some research, find out another way to teach it, because doing it the same way every day just wastes valuable time and interest.

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