Design Many Homeschooling Projects

When you decide to homeschool your children, you need to become knowledgeable on a broad range of subjects so you can prepare an adequate educational plan. Once you have established a plan, which should include targets for different subject areas, you should consider the idea of unit projects. In this article we discuss how to Design Many Homeschooling Projects.

Due to its many benefits, home schooling is a preferred choice for many parents. Home schooling allows for a more flexible educational experience, and curriculum can be easily tailored to your child’s individual needs. As the costs of private schools continue to rise, home schooling becomes a viable economic decision as well.

Projects

You’re probably familiar with projects, as you likely did one or two if you came through the public school system. Projects are a great way to implement and test knowledge acquired through an educational unit. A good plan is to have a multi-week unit set up for a given subject, and at the end of the unit assign a week-long project that will make use of what your child has learned.

For example, if you and your child study a biology unit, a great week long project is to create an ecosystem. This can be done with an old aquarium. Your child’s goal will be to create an environment that can be self-sufficient in the sealed aquarium. He or she will learn about the water table and the different cycles of nature. This is the time to encourage your child to think of the best way to make his or her ecosystem. After your child has come up with a plan, take him to a store to by the requisite materials with which to begin his or her project.

Involved Learning

Once it is started have him track the ecosystem’s progress every day. The reasons that projects like this can be very effective is that they serve multiple educational purposes: your child will not only be learning as he goes, but he will be learning in an engaging way. As an added benefit, your child will most likely learn with a higher level of retention.

A project can also engage other members of the family. The ecosystem, for example, could be placed in a prominent location, and other family members will no doubt take interest. It’s a great educational experience when your child can not only excitedly report on a project’s progress to his parents, but actually show the work at hand.

You Know What’s Going On

Every parent has witnessed a child from the public’s system describing a project they’re doing at the dinner table, but as a home schooling parent you have the benefit of having “home” and “school” being one: you child can not only tell, but show.

No Limits

When you homeschool, you’re not limited by the practicalities necessary in a public or private school system. Project ideas are only limited by you and your child’s imagination.

For each and every unit, encourage your child to come up with long term project ideas and use their learning in a practical way. Not only will the project allow your child to learn more about the subject, it will carry over into the home as a whole: other family members will take interest, and the whole process of buying the materials and planning the project will become part of your child’s educational experience.

Use Your Imagination

When setting out your goals and educational plans, come up with some unit studies to be conducted within a given subject area. For example, let’s say that you have a multi-week time-frame for biology.  You could, within that time-frame, set aside a week for a project to be conducted in a specific area.

Towards the end of your biology unit, for example, you may decide to set up a unit study on building an ecosystem. This could be done using an old aquarium, and would require that your child plan and implement a small self-sufficient ecosystem in the aquarium.

Your Child Decides

The child would decide on plants, soil, and insects that would complement each other, applying knowledge acquired during your biology “unit.” You could then take the child shopping for the items and allow him or her to implement their plan and track its progress.

Besides being a practical way to use and test knowledge, the project engages not only your child but the whole family. The aquarium could be in a prominent place in the household and will no doubt attract interest from other family members. Your child will excitedly respond to questions about his ecosystem, and explain its progress to the wage earner when he or she comes home from work.

Advantages Over the Public or Private School System

In a standard public or private classroom setting, projects are few and far between. This is for practical reasons – not only must the school be thinking in terms of a budget, but they have to be realistic about a modest project that 30 children can do simultaneously in the classroom.

You, however, as a home schooling parent, won’t be held to these constraints. In most cases, projects will be limited only by you and your child’s imagination.

While keeping in mind the desired educational goals, encourage your child to explore a project that interests him keenly. If he’s interested in computers, for example, you could assign him a project of creating an educational electronic presentation on the history of the civil war.

Learn Together

One of the most important things as a teacher is that you enjoy what you teach. Also, that you are interested in the subject you are teaching. We’ve all had the experiences of having both good and bad teachers. If you think about it I’m sure that you’ll notice something different about the teachers whom you loved. All of your good teachers seemed rabidly interested in the subject matter. The bad ones seemed bored.

Nothing is worse than studying topics that don’t interest you. This boredom will quickly rub off on your child. As a result a situation will be created where neither of you are enjoying yourselves.

This doesn’t mean, of course, that in home schooling your children you should simply do whatever you want. There is no way to avoid the fact that the major subject areas must be studied closely. But keep in mind that many of these subject areas have a very broad range of exercises. Exercises that can be done within those subject areas.

Find Topics That Interest Both of You

If you’re studying literature for example, you can read books other than what’s in the curriculum. Remember that you don’t necessarily have to read the “standard book” for your child’s grade level. The subject of literature is about reading and getting familiar with good writing. In many cases one good book can be replaced with another. Think of how much more exciting your literature unit will be then. Especially if you select a work that interests both you and your child. You will be able to enjoy the experience of good literature together. It will help you to have a much more valuable learning experience.

Bonds Are Formed

Home schooling is most valuable when it is a shared educational experience between the parent and child. Learning together not only increases family bonds, but ensures more retention of subjects. So don’t hesitate to select projects or units of study that interest you as well. Many of the readers here went though a public school system. You’ll know that many aspects of certain subjects you now wish you had explored more. Now’s your chance to do that with your child. As you learn together, you’ll realise that doing so is one of the greatest benefits of home schooling.

~.* ♥ *.~

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