Homeschool Tips: How to Maintain Balance Between Home and School

The numbers don't lie. More and more parents are choosing to take their children's education into their own hands. They're making the decision to homeschool. According to Janice Lloyd for USAToday.com, the number of students who are schooled at home have continued a steady increase over the past five years. In 2007, the number of children attending homeschool in the U.S. has increased 74% since the U.S. Department of Education started keeping track in 1999.

But there is one problem that homeschool kids and their parents are likely to encounter. The problem of keeping school separate from the home. It's not an easy task, especially if you're new to the whole homeschool process. Parents and students who are so used to the typical public or private school model may have a difficult time adjusting to being educated in the same place where they live. It's not an easy transition, but there are many families who have successfully made the transition and you can, too.

Making a Successful Transition From Home and School to Homeschool

• Set aside a special area. The first thing to do if you have decided homeschool is for you is set aside a certain area, room, or section of your home for school. This area can be a separate room, a space in the garage, or even just a specific corner of a single room in your house. The primary objective here is to make this area for homeschool activities only. This will help you and your kids to know that when people are in this special area, it's learning time. Other great spaces for a homeschool area are a dining room that is rarely used, a basement, or perhaps a guest bedroom.

• Respect the space. Make a special rule with all members of the family to respect the homeschooling room or area. From a practical standpoint, this means that no one may come into this special space or interrupt what is going on in this space. No brothers or sisters running in to ask where something is, or to settle a dispute. No distracting phone calls to be answered. The homeschool area is sacred. If you treat it like this, your kids will as well.

• Make the space a school space. This special space set aside for homeschooling should look like it is a place of learning. Make certain that lighting is good, there are lots of places to sit comfortably, and that there is lots and lots of school supplies. Bookcases filled with lots of books. If you're studying geography, you're going to need a globe. Nothing says school like a globe. Also, a whiteboard is also an excellent addition to any homeschool room. One family even went so far as to purchase some lockers from a demolished school and place them in their special homeschool area. Whatever makes the space a school place, that's what you want to do.

Maintiaining the Homeschool Balance

So, decide to work together as a family and get everyone on the same page with your own individual homeschool plan. Set aside an area, space, or room to be used for homeschool only. Make the space look like a place where kids are going to learn. Make sure you have all the necessary supplies, desks, books, globes, a flag, maps, whiteboard, or anything else that makes your special area a very special homeschool.

Remember, you have set aside special areas for homeschooling, so there should also be other spaces, areas, and rooms in the home that are never to be used for homeschool. Your kid's bedrooms is one of those spaces. There is to be no homeschool related items, books, papers, or anything related to homeschooling in their bedrooms. Their bedroom should be a separate place where they can go to do the things they want to do. Like play a computer game, read a book, or watch a DVD. Kid's bedrooms should be their own space. Let them decorate it and make it truly their own. Good luck in your new homeschooling venture!

Sources:

USAToday.com; "Homeschooling Grows"

EducationBug.com; "Creating a Homeschool Area"

HowToDOThings.com; "How To Create a Homeschool Classroom"