8 Homeschooling Ideas Right in Your Home

You don't need to buy an expensive curriculum to homeschool successfully. There are lots of things that you and your child can do around the house in the name of learning. Here are some ideas -

1) Bake some cookies

Baking is a great way to get emerging readers to try their hand at reading. It is important to choose recipes with simple instructions, both for reading and for following. Baking is also great for introducing your child to measurements such as weight. Allow your child to measure out the ingredients. Your child will soon learn the difference between a teaspoon and a tablespoon, and the importance of using a standard unit of measurement. Imagine how things will turn out if you are using a gigantic cup to measure out a "cup" of flour! A word of advice - if this is your first time baking cookies, using a ready cookie mix would mean a much higher chance of getting it right. And remember to watch the oven.

2) Grow some seeds

You can learn about plants right in your home. Just soak some cotton wool and plop some green beans onto it. The beans should germinate in a day or two. Take pictures or have your child sketch each stage of the germination, and do a little report on the growth process. This is science right in your kitchen (or living room)!

3) Catch a caterpillar

Having a caterpillar and watching it change is how every child should learn about metamorphosis. So when you are out in the park or your garden, be on the lookout for caterpillars. Just flip over leaves that have been partially devoured and you are very likely to find caterpillars on the underside. Put the caterpillars in a large glass container covered using a cheesecloth (make sure this is secured with a rubber band). Add a few branches for the caterpillars to pupate. Add a fresh supply of leaves from the host plant (the plant you took the caterpillars from). This is critical as caterpillars tend to be quite picky and will only eat the types of leaves they started off with. Remove the droppings daily. The reward for all the work would be a butterfly emerging from the cocoon!

4) Fix chicken bones

After a nice chicken meal, collect, wash and dry the bones. You then have your set of skeletons. And these are great for teaching about bones and skeletons. Trying to figure out where each piece fits will be an interesting game! You can find some information on chicken skeletons at http://www.brynmawr.edu/biology/271/Bones_Chick_Human.pdf.

5) Reorganise your home library

Let your child help you when reorganising your home library. This is an excellent opportunity to learn about classification. Discuss with your child the different ways of classification. Should you sort the shelves by the types of books, the size or age groups? Which method is best? Why? This reasoning will help him understand that things can be done in many ways, but some ways make more sense than others.

6) Graph your child's wardrobe

Sort the clothes in your child's wardrobe and help your child make a picture graph of the different types of clothing - shirt, pants, shorts, socks etc. This is also a good time to get rid of clothes that are too small or never get worn.

7) Explore the world

Invest in a large, clear map (or better, a globe) so that each time you watch a television program that mentions a foreign country, you can show your child where it is. Learning about other cultures is an important part of growing up, especially now that our world is getting more and more connected.

8) Keep a pet
Keeping a small pet is a great way to teach about responsibility, not to mention biology and life cycles. Guppies are wonderful as starter pets and because they reproduce fairly easily, your child can also learn about important concepts such as life cycles. Hamsters are also great for little owners although you have to be mindful that once they start reproducing, they find it very hard to stop!

Homeschooling can be such fun!