5 Awesome Time Management Tips for Your Big Family6 min read
Time management is an important and need of the hour skill that is not just required by adults but has equal if not more, relevance for students and kids as well. It allows one to stay focused and organized thereby, accomplishing tasks early. It not only lowers stress levels and allows one to be more productive but also that extra time in hand can be used elsewhere with friends or family as well. As a student, it becomes crucial to manage time because of pending assignments, upcoming tests and to be generally aware of the subject, hence, effective time management is a skill they should be familiar with. Moreover, it becomes furthermore paramount in the case of homeschoolers. Since they don’t go to a regular school, it’s slightly difficult for them to understand the concept of time management. Here are a few ways which will help in inculcating this habit in homeschoolers, ensuring better and faster progress.
Contents
1. Set goals
It’s advisable that homeschoolers have a strict routine that they follow when it comes to studying. The primary reason being, that it envelops their entire day into a small table which helps the parents/guardians and the children to look forward to something. It also gives the day a purpose and helps the kids to prepare for it one day before so they don’t get to it without knowing anything about the subject. At the same time, it also facilitates faster and productive teaching because the parents or the guardians also can figure out the best way to make the students understand if they are aware of the topic beforehand. Prepare a schedule, It might become quite hectic and chaotic when there are two or more than two kids who need to be homeschooled and more so when they aren’t of the same grade. Therefore, in such cases creating a schedule that caters to both of their needs is a must. It gives a sense of individuality and responsibility to the students also, which again are rather crucial moral lessons.
Starting in the morning for 3-4 hours and giving an hour break in between or doing the same in the evening, however, it fits into your and the kid’s schedule is the only requirement. In addition to this, in order to not waste time one can also have different timetables for different kids i.e in accordance with their grade. For instance- student A is supposed a toddler while student B is in grade 7th then automatically, the class should be started with the latter because they have got a relatively vast curriculum, and having student A around would only disrupt the teaching and hamper the process.
2. Invent fun and innovative ways of teaching
One of the central arguments in favor of homeschooling is that since the parents teach their kids personally, it becomes rather easier to supervise them by making a customizable curriculum. Hence, this way the parents/ guardians can come up with their ways of explaining topics to the children within a time-effective approach. For instance, using musical chairs for learning won’t only be an interesting approach but also will be a systematic and efficient use of time. In this way, the music playing in the background can be one of the kid’s rhymes facilitating them to remember these and whenever someones get out, they can come forward and either complete the rhyme or just make a sentence from a word in the rhyme which was playing when the music was stopped. Thus, it’ll increase the parent’s credibility as quality teachers.
3. Progress cards
As the name suggests these cards will contain the progress of each student so, at the end of the month, it becomes easier to track their improvement. This also enables one to focus on the areas they are lacking, thereby giving them a clearer view of the field where extra effort is needed. This practice eliminates spending unwanted time which can further be put to some other constructive use. One on one method. This method allows parents to direct their entire attention to a particular child and at the same time not waste the time of other kids also. In simple words, this means that when the parent/ guardian is teaching one child then the rest of the children can either have free time or just do something which doesn’t require that formers’ attention. For instance, when teaching sentence formation to Kid A, Kid B can go and play with the rest of his/her siblings. This will not only sure spending quality time but also strengthen the bond between the two.
4. Teaching similar topics together irrespective of the grade you are in
Honestly, it’s very time-consuming and stressful if the parent/guardian has to teach the same thing more than once to multiple kids. This not only means misusing the short period of time but also it sucks off the energy of the children and they aren’t interested in learning anymore. Instead, what can be done to maintain enthusiasm and participation is to teach the same topic to everyone whose curriculum it is a part of. If Algebra is required by a kid in grade 4 then it is also required by a kid in grade 5. Teaching both of them simultaneously will be high yielding because then the effort from the giving end is gonna be minimized without compromising on the quality of education. Teaching smaller children and older ones separately in an attempt to avoid havoc. In reference to the above point, it will genuinely become extremely taxing for the parent/ guardian if they will teach all the children together at all times. Teaching older kids is different from teaching younger ones. Therefore, in order to avoid chaos and confusion, younger ones can be taught on days different from the older ones, Teaching toddlers and preschoolers four days per week while middle schoolers the remaining days will become more fruitful for both parties.
5. Give a break
This will enhance the efficiency of the students and keep them hooked on studies. Although this may seem like a time waste in the first instance, in reality, it can be a great way to take their minds away from the books while still educating them in a different way. Turning family getaways into educational trips will allow them to thrive on their academic excellence and will also be much more interesting, the next time a related topic has to be studied. So talk about the Roman empire and its downfall the next time you’re in Rome.
