How to Easily Create a Productive Homeschool Environment

The space surrounding us on a daily basis is important. We want to find ourselves in a productive, positive and nurturing environment and as homeschool parents, we want that same type of surrounding for our child. With children and ourselves, the environment can affect our moods and even our productivity.

If we ultimately want our children to enjoy and embrace learning at home, we should take an inventory of the learning environment we provide.

 

Our children’s surroundings can impact their day, their thoughts and their actions. As a parent, how we do continue to create and foster an environment where our children can learn and thrive at home? While it may seem overwhelming, there are ways to do this positively for your children and family.

Here are some suggestions on how to easily create a productive learning environment at home:

Be open. Open minded, open communication and open-eared. If you want to have a learning environment at home, then you need to consider your wants and also the wants of your children. Your vision may vary significantly from theirs, and that is okay. Talk about how they see the home as a way to continue to learn and create. Ask them their thoughts, their opinions, their wants and then together, form a plan.

Give them the tools to succeed. Make certain that your home is full of materials to feed their minds. Books are a great tool to encourage learning and exploring new subjects. There is an amazing amount of knowledge that can be found in books, right at the turn of a page. Beyond books, make sure that you have topics that are of interest to them in the house. Do they love science or outer space? Try to find some interactive kits that they can create or build to learn more. Find alternative ways to go above and beyond the material that they learn in books. There are a ton of great resources out there to incorporate hands-on projects, crafts, and foster child led interests.

Eliminate clutter. It can be hard for us as parents to focus well surrounded by clutter, and too much clutter can also hinder our time management. If you spend too much time each day finding supplies or locating the required curriculum, that may be a clue that you need to organize a bit.

Be interactive with them. No one wants to do homeschool or any learning if it isn’t engaging. Make it fun in your home learning environment. Think of ways to have them learn while doing everyday tasks. Try having your children bake a cake with you and integrate into a math lesson while doing so. Interesting, right? Have them half a recipe and then convert all the measurements to comply. It will help them to think and respond quickly on their feet, teach them how to convert fractions and reward them at the end with a delicious handmade cake.

Be flexible with locations. This doesn’t necessarily mean outside the home; you may need to be flexible with the learning environment location within the home. Don’t expect your children to want to sit at a table doing work all day. While this may be fine at times, use your home to your advantage. Learning can happen from any room in the house. Children can also learn just as well from the couch or a favorite spot under the backyard tree. Have your children measure and calculate the square footage of the shed in the backyard or estimate the distance from one side of your home to the other. Any location, in any room can be turned into a learning environment. Have fun with the possibilities!

Limit screen time. While it may be tempting to have a learning environment at home based on educational games online, it isn’t always necessary. Every once in a while is fine, but there are times (routinely) when having them shut the screens down to interact should happen. By not having the distractions of the screens, the ears are listening, and the mind is ready to work. Not to mention all the exciting topics they may explore when given a chance. It is amazing how quickly children can get used to a new change, scaling back on screen time makes way for more creativity and natural learning.

Show support. Part of having a learning environment at home is to ensure that our children feel supported, praised and loved. There may be days that your child doesn’t want to be a part of the learning environment, it happens. Show support to them and listen to them and their feelings. As a parent, these can be productive moments for you to understand the thoughts and emotions of your child better. Your support can help solidify the bond between you and your homeschooler.

Creating a learning environment at home can be a quick and simple process. Your homeschool doesn’t have to be extravagant to be productive.

One of the most important aspects of the learning environment is to make certain that your children understand the importance of having a strong home environment and that as their parent, you are there to support, love and encourage them through their education.

Once everyone in the family is on the same page, you may find that the environment forms a great support system that all find great comfort and happiness in while home educating.