Homeschooling offers many advantages, such as personalized instruction and flexibility in curriculum, but it also presents its fair share of challenges. I feel it is safe to assume that we have all experienced a challenge or two, or 50, with homeschooling our kids.  I am a public-school teacher and I thought I would take an impromptu poll among my colleagues to list the 3 most common deterrents to student learning.  We all teach students and are actively compiling lists of what works and doesn’t work, yet at the same time acknowledging that each learner is different.  As teachers, we need to adjust to the student in order to climb the educational mountain of success. It’s my prayer that reading about these commonalities from public education teachers will help encourage you as educators. 

Students can have a hard time connecting the “why” to their learning.

If the students don’t understand and accept “why” they are learning something, they will not buy into the lesson and will more than likely not be working to their full potential.  This often causes students to:

-          act out in order to focus your attention on behavior rather than their inability to understand and complete an assignment

-          become sleepy because they have given up on the task and physically become tired

-          and/or show defiance in an effort to undermine the assignment and be the boss of their emotions      

Adults often can identify the “why” because of our life experiences.  Our students don’t yet have those same experiences and will need more nurturing, patience, and understanding until they see the meaningfulness of a lesson that matches where they are at in life. Help nurture their understanding of the “why”, and see the positive shift that takes place in their learning.

Meet the students where they are at, and not where you expect them to be.

Allissa and I started our homeschool journey as educators and we thought our kids would have an upper hand thanks to our background. Allissa has a multiple subjects teaching credential and knows the learning benchmarks when she taught in public and private schools, but in some subjects our kids are not where we expected them to be.  With every student comes a different style and speed of learning.  Some take repetitions upon repetitions to remember simple math facts, while others hear it once and they retain it forever. It is important to meet each student where they are at, even if it means relearning concepts and going slower than you think you should be going.

 Pause for understanding, even if it takes a while for your kid to answer.

When you ask a question, pause, and wait for your child to attempt an answer.  This is a very important and easy action to implement in your teaching. Too often we don’t wait long enough for our student(s) to attempt an answer as they process the question.  When we give a hint or even answer the question, the student’s brain is being trained to think that if they don’t say anything, their teacher will help them out and answer it for them.  What we need to do, and I encourage everyone reading this to try, is pause and wait for your student to try and answer the question.  You may have to ask the question again but be sure to encouragingly wait for their response.  This allows the student to mentally struggle, to hit an appropriate wall in learning, and then to break through that wall and go out of their comfort zone to vocalize an answer.  I encourage everyone to try this today.  In my career, it has proven to be a positive attribute to the classroom and students begin to engage in learning now that they have been challenged and their worst fears of not knowing the answer didn’t come true.

I appreciate every one of you that has chosen to educate your kids at home.  It’s a call that you have answered, and you are charging through the joys, fun, frustrations, unmet expectations, and mental challenges of being your child’s teacher.  Thank you for what you do every day.  Remember to ask the Lord for help, strength, guidance, and wisdom as you continue to educate your child.  I encourage you to find comfort in Proverbs 3:5-6, “Trust in the Lord with all your heart, and lean not on your own understanding; In all your ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct your paths.”

by Jake Womack, HCS Board Member