06.07.08
Spice up your Home School Routine with Fun Projects
Homeschooling your children means taking responsibility for their education, but with this responsibility comes many benefits. One of the greatest benefits that you get to set your child’s curriculum according to your family’s values and your child’s interests. Projects are important part of any homeschooling curriculum. Once you’ve set your curriculum outlined goals for each unit, include projects at the end of each unit to provide your child with an effective way to review and implement all they have learned.
Here’s an example of how to organize a project with your child. Let’s assume you’ve just finished a biology unit, a great week long project might be to create an ecosystem in an aquarium. The goal will be to create an environment that can be self-sufficient in the sealed aquarium. While learning about the different cycles of nature, encourage your child to think of the most efficient way to create the ecosystem. Your child can think of ways that nature is efficient and try to mimic these characteristics to create a sustainable and efficient environment.
Do your best to allow your child to do most of the setting up on their own. Many parents are tempted to help their kids so that the project can look more tidy and organized, but it’s more effective to allow kids to learn from their mistakes. Once your child is done setting up, have them come up with a way to track progress on a daily basis. This will be an opportunity for your child to learn all about graphs and charts.
Projects like this have proven effective because they allow children to not only make use of the knowledge they have acquired but to also use their creative and organizational skills. Parents find it easier to capture their children’s attention with hands on activities such as unit end projects. Projects also help children recall facts and ideas from the unit and instil them in the memory more permanently.
Projects can also be a great way to involve the entire family in a child’s education. The ecosystem your child creates, for example, could be placed in the kitchen or family room where all family members can observe and enjoy it. You can have your child present the project to the other family members and even hold a question and answer session. This will surely create a sense of pride in your child and help create positive feelings about his/her education. If your child attends public school, then chances are you only get to see their project when it all done. Homeschooling parents have the advantage of admiring and encouraging their child during every step of the way.
Homeschooling families are not limited by the practicalities necessary in public schools. Project ideas can be as diverse and far reaching as your imagination. For each unit, encourage your child to brainstorm a list of long term project ideas based on what they have learned. Allowing your children to come up with their own project ideas will not only trigger their creativity, it will also make them feel like they have a say in their education. This will make them more enthusiastic and excited about their learning and make for a more successful homeschooling experience.