Things I Have Learned the Hard Way

Here are some of the things that as a young homeschooling mother that I learned the hard way.

1.  Colouring in is not busy work.  It is a great way for a non-writing child to develop fine motor skills.
2.  Drilling for maths facts is not redundant.  A good foundation of facts laid early helps a lot later.
3.  Editing their own work helps them develop an eye for seeing what is truly there rather than what they intended to be there.  This works for Maths and Language Arts.
4.  Work on consistent effort or improvement will be very slow.  Especially in handwriting, see point 1 and 8 for extra help.
5.  Re-reading a book to find comprehension question answers helps train the eyes/brain to skim and find key words quickly.  Don't just allow them to rely on a great memory.
6.  Don't allow days to drift by in the interest of free play.  Make sure there is something you control about their day (even if only fifteen minutes after breakfast and fifteen minutes after lunch) so that when the time comes they accept that someone else does sometimes control their life despite their wishes.  Teach them to accept that with a good attitude.
7.  Set limits.  Life does!  It is cruel of us IMO to not teach our children that there are natural limits in life.  We can't eat as much as we like, we can't sleep as much as we like, and we can't eat anyway we like without consequences.  If we don't give some limits then they find it harder later.  I have certainly learned that with money.
8.  Filling in work sheets creates something that you can show later for them to see improvement when they think they "will never get it".
9.  Don't allow moods to control your days, theirs or yours.
10.  Don't allow disrespect to creep in to your home in the interest of free expression.

These are not necessarily in order of importance.  Just how my brain is working today!

Best wishes
Jen