Here is the best homeschooling advice some seasoned special education homeschooling moms shared with us when we asked for their top tips.

 

Peggy Ployhar– SPED Homeschool Team Member

Here are the top 5 homeschool mom tips:

1. Teach your child, not curriculum. 
2. Take one day at a time. Celebrate a victory, let go of a hurt, and accept grace for a mistake.
3. Trust wherever peace leads you to teach your child and don’t compare it to what anyone else is doing.
4. Take care of yourself even if it means doing less than you think you should be doing.
5. Don’t stop dreaming for your child or yourself.

Homeschooling success has very little to do with the curriculum, but everything to do with what we do every day in our homes.

 

Amy Vickrey– SPED Homeschool Team Member

Give yourself:

1. Time to decide on curriculum, approaches, and learning styles. 
2. Permission to make mistakes, start over new each day, take breaks, and change your mind if something isn’t working. 
3. Permission to use a curriculum or a unit study in a way it was not originally intended by the author. Make the curriculum fit your child. If you can’t make it fit, then change the curriculum.

 

Dawn Spence– SPED Homeschool Team Member

Here are my top three:

1. Use color coding
2. Integrate  games
3. Believe in your children

#3  seems so simple but kids love to hear from you how smart you are and that you believe they can do things which they may have trouble believing they can do themselves. Growing up with an undiagnosed learning disability, I would often hear from my teachers how stupid I was. This is the opposite of what our children’s hearts and minds need to succeed. Daily affirmations and love give our children the encouragement they need to face their mountains with confidence.

 

“Daily affirmations and love give our children the encouragement they need to face their mountains with confidence.“

 

Shannon Ramiro– SPED Homeschool Team Memeber

I find the most important things are:

1. Plan what you are going to do ahead of time.
2. Don’t expect the day to go according to plan.
3. Have everything you need for however long you believe your child can pay attention (materials including all pens, manipulatives, teacher manual, workbook, everything) within arm’s reach because the minute you have to get up to go find or get something you will lose your child’s attention and getting focused again will take even more time away from your lesson.
4. For reading, if they are beginning to read, and can read the level of text but are struggling, take turns. You read 1-2 lines, and then you ask them to read 1 line.
5. Determine how long your child can actively be engaged, then plan your lessons accordingly. Take breaks as needed. Do not attempt to stretch any learning past what they can tolerate.
6. Switch topics and incorporate their interests as much as possible.
7. Add movement throughout their lessons.
8. On days your child can’t focus on lessons, go outside and talk about what was observed.

 

Corinna Ramos– SPED Homeschool Community Member

I use Minecraft in almost every subject because that is what works for my son at the moment.

1. In math I write out my son’s problems, then he goes onto Minecraft and uses squares to work out the problem. It is amazing how well he has learned multiplication through the use of blocks in Minecraft. He can take math word problems and use Minecraft to make the problems into how he can understand them and come up with the right answer. 
2. I also use Minecraft for history by having him build historical sites. It’s like he is walking through history. 
3. Minecraft also teaches my son about science. 
4. When it comes to writing…of course he writes about Minecraft. I have him write in a daily journal about what he did in Minecraft that day and he actually participates.

 

Chrystalina Tosado– SPED Homeschool Community Member

I study my child and make sure school works for him. Here is what I found:

1. My son learns better on the afternoons
2. He can’t have distractions close like toys
3. At certain times he needs breaks. We jump, do an exercise, or just relax
4. In art, we always do crafts that are based on my son’s interest like dinosaurs, or the current season, and then we use these projects to decorate his working space.