HomeSchool Teaching Tips
1.
Tactile Learning If your child is having problems reversing letters, make some large (about 8” to 10” high) letters from sandpaper and glue them on to heavy paper or cardboard. Draw little arrows on them to show the direction they should be written. Then have your child trace them with his finger. It really helps when the child can feel as well as see the direction the letter should go. This works well with learning numbers also.2.
BookWorm Make a long book-worm. On each section the child should write a book he has read. Older children could include the author and perhaps a summary of the book.3.
HomeSchool Yearbook Have your child make a yearbook for each year of his homeschooling. Put photos, drawings, poems, and stories in it. Have him write short essays about field trips and special events. He can also include pressed leaves from a walk, decorations from a party, tickets to special places, and newspaper clippings from current events.4. Be a Reporter Choose a headline from a newspaper and have your child write a story for it.
5. Studying Hemispheres Our earth is divided into four hemispheres -- the Northern, Southern, Eastern and Western hemispheres. Find the lines of latitude and longitude which divide the earth into its hemispheres and find articles in the newspaper from each hemisphere.
6. Acronym Write the word “GEOGRAPHY” down the left edge of a page. How many places can you think of that start with each letter? You can use the names of cities, states, countries or continents. Feel free to look at a globe or a map.
7. Good Use of the Television Keep an atlas, world map or globe near your TV set in order to look up places during the news or documentary programs.
8. How’s Your Heartbeat? Learn how to take a pulse. Count heart beats. Figure how many times the heart beats in one minute, one hour, one day, one week, etc. Record and graph heart rates after various activities. Compare heart rates of different animals. Squeeze an old tennis ball for one minute to see how hard the heart has to work to pump blood. Make a pulse meter. Flatten a piece of clay to a small circle. Stand half a wooden toothpick on the clay. Place it one the wrist and move it around until you find the strongest beat. Watch it jump with each heartbeat.
9. Body Parts To study the location of organs in the human body, have the child lie down on a large piece of newsprint and draw around him. Then draw in the organs using an encyclopedia for reference.
10. Independent Reading Does your child seem “turned-off” by independent reading? Don’t make an issue of it. Just leave “irresistible” books around -- whatever the child’s current interests are. Or read part of an interesting story to him. Quit at an exciting part. The child will want to read on to see what happens.
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