If you have chosen to homeschool your house full of boys this school year, you are in for a wild but fun ride. I feel as though homeschooling a house full of boys is unlike anything you’ll ever experience in your lifetime.
Here are some tips to help you along:
#1. Mornings May be Best
Keeping your boys focused may be one of the hardest parts of homeschooling. Try working on schoolwork in the morning, right after your boys have a chance to wake up. Their brains will be focused and ready to commit to schoolwork. You could also switch this around. If your boys work best in the afternoon, wait to homeschool until then. You know your kids they best and what makes them tick.
#2. Rewards are Key
You may have to do a lot of persuading and a lot of rewarding, when it comes down to homeschooling your boys. The rewards do not have to be big or extravagant, but you will need to be creative. For example: if your family of boys gets all of their work done without any distractions, they get 15 extra minutes of play time. If you think your boys are up for it, then let them help you choose what their rewards will be.
#3. School Room Fun
Make the school room a place where your boys want to be. Let them help pick the décor out and even choose where they will sit. Incorporate lots of greens, blues, and yellows to help your boys feel as though it’s their learning space. You could even consider color coordinating everything. One of your boy’s could be assigned blue and everything they do with homeschooling has to do with blue. Their homeschooling folder will have a blue dot on it, their cubby holes will be blue, and perhaps their pencils could be blue. These are just a few ideas to help make homeschooling more fun for your boys.
#4. Lots of Field Trips
Sitting still isn’t always a child’s strong point, but that’s where field trips come in. You don’t need to sit at a desk all day just because you’re homeschooling your boys. Check out some local places your family can go visit and then GO. Maybe visiting a local train station, or taking a “bug” hike is in your near future.
#5. Let Them Be Boys
Homeschooling is about exercising creativity and letting a child learn at a pace that’s right for them. Don’t forget these principles as you homeschool your boys. There will be days that they do not pay attention and you’ll want to pull out your hair. When you have a hard day, just remember that it’s okay to let boys be boys.
One of my last big tips would be to make a big deal about any learning milestone. You guys are in this together. If someone gets a 100% on their spelling test, celebrate. In my opinion, every learning victory is worth celebrating.
What tips would you add to this list?
Great tips! I am also a mom to all boys-5! One thing that I do that seems to help is let them pick a “manipulative” (usually a toy!) to be there “helper” for the lesson or day. It seems like if they are holding something, there is much less fidgeting & distraction. Rule is that if they are not paying attention, doing work, or playing with toy, it’s gone! “Manipulative” is only a learning helper!
Love this! My 3 boys (grades 7, 4, 2) wander around while I read…and they retain it better than when they are sitting! The baby likes to read upside down on the couch (whatever works, man), and I gave up assigned seating long ago. Sit where you’re comfortable and cozy. On individual subjects, they’ve worked in beds, outside on the trampoline, at the kitchen table, school table, floor. I give them a lot to keep their hands busy…while I read they do word searches on the current topic, build something with wooden planks, Legos (as long as they aren’t noisy with it), and as long as they can give me answers to what was said (they always do). We color coordinate supplies a lot! Blue, Yellow, Green. We take many breaks and they know they get more privileges if they don’t complain on the way back to schoolwork. Field trips are a MUST! I love our boy world. 😀