By Deborah Kline, MEd, EdS
I remember as a classroom teacher being so excited to get to April. The home stretch. The final quarter. Yet it always felt like the longest month of the school year. So close to May, yet weeks with no breaks – just work, testing, and pulling out all the tricks to keep learners engaged. And when the 5th grade-itis hits, forget all serious learning. Call it “spring fever” or whatever, it’s a tough season for all teachers.
This is the time of year homeschooling becomes as equally grueling.
Moment of honesty, we are ALL tired this time of year.
So, how do we finish strong?
Read your kids’ cues and adjust accordingly. They seem to need more sleep. Simple tasks take twice the time they did earlier in the year. They seem more moody or irritable. These are all signs our kids need a mental health check-in. Adjust to their needs as your schedule allows, but don’t quit all together. Teaching our children to take care of their mental health is about modeling and scaffolding the skill of recognizing their need for rest and effectively balancing work, rest, and play.
Take breaks when you need them. We ALL need breaks. Even if it’s just a few minutes of play or free time: a walk in the neighborhood or playing with a pet. Even few moments of rest refuels the oxygen in our brains, giving us that ability to keep going a little longer!
“Teaching our children to take care of their mental health needs is about modeling and scaffolding how to recognize their need for rest and effectively balance work, rest, and play.“
Deborah Kline, Ed.S.
Authentic learning is not scripted.
Change up your routine. Don’t be afraid to do some things differently! Maybe instead of sticking to the curriculums, you try a new game or take a field trip. Some of our best learning happens in the car! If your schedule allows, switch up when you do school work. Go off script!
Remember: school teachers rarely finish entire curriculums in a year – you aren’t required to either!!!
Change up your instruction plan. This year we chose a ridiculously verbose and boring Geography program – a textbook even I struggled to find interesting. By the middle of the year, when we had only covered a quarter of the curriculum, I realized we would never cover all the material. So, I improvised, picking out the activities from curriculum which they seemed to enjoy and learn the most and supplemented with some Teachers Pay Teachers units. It was what needed to happen to help us get through the spring doldrums. Side note: this is acceptable for non-credit courses; however, I do not recommend this for high school credit courses, especially those needed for college entrance or CLEP exams.
Explore something/somewhere new when you need to remember why you love homeschooling. You set the tone: what do YOU love learning about together? Take a day to go do it. Learn as you explore. Remember that YOU love learning and that authentic learning is not scripted!
Play is an excellent motivator – and ALL ages need play – even parents!
Play is an excellent motivator – and ALL ages need play – even parents! Spring is when we need play the most. Play can be any activity the child enjoys which uses the imagination and engages with others. Use these activities before and after hard work. Dr. Stuart Brown’s research advocates that play prepares the brain for the hard work of learning!
Concepts over content… focus on activities that teach how to learn, not simply what to learn.
Focus on the learning and study skills rather than checking off the curriculum “To do” list. Concepts over content. Our kids live in a world of instant information. The facts they need to know are easily accessed. What they need most are skills in self-regulation as well as self-guided learning and mastery skills. Focus on activities that teach how to learn not simply what to learn.
Good old rewards and consequences
Use rewards and consequences. It seems like common sense, but we often overlook the obvious. If you’re not already, reward students’ hard work with abundant praise, recognition, and activities they love. Joe did an excellent job on his writing assignment, go over the top to recognize his hard work!
And, when distractions abound, take devices or preferred items away until they finish their task(s). I don’t recommend taking things away for days at a time, however. After a few hours to a day, the student focuses on resenting the parent instead of the lesson learned: it defeats the purpose. Always explain why taking away a distracting item helps them learn to manage their time wisely.
“Shift your view of consequences from being a form of punishment to being about teaching time management.”
Deborah Kline, Ed.S.
Use executive function tools.
Use a whiteboard as the task dictator. Whiteboards take you out of the power struggle and makes you appear less nagging. Put all the assignments on a white board each morning. Let the child wipe off the tasks as they are completed and feel the satisfaction of accomplishing the tasks. When we started using this system, the power struggle greatly diminished, giving more learning ownership to the child.
Take it a step farther and have your child write the daily tasks. Challenge your child to write out his/her tasks on the board each day, taking ownership of his/her schedule! We use both a weekly assignment sheet and daily task board. As the student gets older and more efficient, he/she can even plan his/her learning and writing out his/her tasks. You’ll be surprised at how much even a middle schooler with multiple learning differences can learn on his/her own!
Hang in there, parent educators! You’re in the final stretch!!!
If you know a home educator who needs some extra encouragement or guidance, share this blog and encourage them to reach out!
Email me at DeborahKlineConsulting@gmail.com for more information or book a 15 minute free consultation here.
Deborah Kline, EdS 