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Homeschool Teaching Tip #3: Find a Hook

Homeschool Teaching Tip #3: Find a Hook

This post is part of a series of helpful teaching tips for homeschoolers. If you haven’t yet, check out Tip #1 and Tip #2. There may be affiliate links in this post – click here to learn more. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Imagine you walk into a classroom and take a seat at your desk. There you find a worksheet with a tree diagram. The teacher announces that you’ll be studying trees today. She lists the vocabulary words you should add to your diagram.

Now imagine instead that you walk into a classroom with a three foot wide slice of tree trunk on a table with a few magnifying glasses scattered next to it. The teacher invites you to study the tree for a few minutes and see what you see. 

I’m guessing I’m not the only one who would find the second scenario more interesting. 

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Homeschool Teaching Tip #2: Know Your Objective

Homeschool Teaching Tip #2: Know Your Objective

This post is part of a series of helpful teaching tips for homeschoolers. Check out the first post here. 

If you look up “how to create a lesson plan,” the first thing that most resources will tell you is to “Know Your Objective.”  That is, know what the main point of the lesson is. For example, “after this lesson, the student will be able to name the four largest moons of Jupiter.” 

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Homeschool Teaching Tip #1: Know Your Child

Homeschool Teaching Tip #1: Know Your Child

When I started homeschooling, one of the first things I did was to check out a stack of “how-to-teach” books from the library. I was hoping to find the secrets to successful homeschool teaching.

I found about 30% of the information to be really helpful. The other 70% was geared toward navigating the public school system. They covered things like managing classes of 20+ students, working with parents and school administration, and decorating classroom bulletin boards. 

Don’t get me wrong. A lot of it was good information. But it just wasn’t relevant for me as a new homeschool mom.

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Should YOU Homeschool?

Should You Homeschool? title on background with fork in the road

Has the word “homeschool” caught your attention lately?

Are you curious about it? Feeling called to it? Wondering if it’s something you should explore more?

Do you feel a little crazy for even considering such a counter-cultural concept?

That’s exactly where I was not too long ago. 

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The 3 Worst Things About Homeschooling

The 3 Worst Things About Homeschooling

I’ve never met anyone who loves every single part of their job. 

When I used to work in architectural engineering, the two things I dreaded most were boring business meetings and plumbing diagrams. And if I had to attend a boring business meeting ABOUT plumbing diagrams… well, let’s just say that wasn’t my favorite day. There’s only so long a girl (at least THIS girl) can listen to someone explain the intricacies of sanitary vent lines before she’s forced to mentally escape to Aruba to preserve her mental health.

It’s no different with home education. Not the part about the plumbing and meetings (unless you mean pulling LEGOs out of the toilet and calling a family meeting to determine the culprit).

No. What I mean is, just like every other job, the role of home educator has its downsides. 

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Strategies for Buying Homeschool Curriculum: A Grocery Store Analogy

Strategies for Buying Homeschool Curriculum title on grocery aisle background

Is it just me or has our society overcomplicated things that should be fairly straightforward? 

Take food, for example. The overall process seems like it should be pretty simple. Grow or buy food. Cook food. Eat food. Done. 

But when you get to the grocery store and spend the first 15 minutes just trying to pick a breakfast cereal from the 129 choices available, you quickly realize this might be harder than you thought.

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The Secret to Creative & Resourceful Kids

The Secret to Creative & Resourceful Kids title on yellow toys background

I’ve tried – oh, have I tried – to get the kids to clean up one thing before pulling something else out. “One toy out at a time” I’d call in a sing-songy voice…

Yeah, right. 

After years of trying, I’ve finally accepted that it’s just not going to happen. There just will be lots of things out at one time and you know what…

…the world isn’t going to end!

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