One of the first things you need to consider after you have decided to home school your child is how you want to set up the learning environment. Although a child can get distracted in any type of learning atmosphere, there may be certain things at home that cause more of a distraction than others. Your home school student needs to learn to associate his study place with learning and studying, and nothing else. Establishing this from the very beginning will help pave a smooth road for future learning.
Let your home school child help you set up his study place so that he will feel that he is contributing to his own education right from the start. Although you may already know the answers, ask your child what he thinks should be removed from the home school study area so that he will not be distracted. Encourage him to be honest with you and himself. Does he really think the television will not distract him even if it is turned off? Wouldn't he find himself wishing he could turn it on? Is it really going to help him concentrate if the phone is nearby? Help him to realize the benefits of home school such as the personal attention he will receive, the flexible curriculum, etc. Then remind him that a well thought-out study area will be the basis for his home school learning success.
It is best that your home school student not be in the study area when he is engaged in non-study activities. He should associate the study area with concentration and study, and not visiting with friends or talking on the phone. Even when you and your home school student are summarizing the day's lessons, you should not be in the study area. You home school student will develop better concentration habits if he strongly associates one area with only studying and concentrating. Though most students, especially those in the higher grades, will use a computer to help them with their studies, make sure during study time that the computer content is related only to what your child is studying. Make sure that he has all email or instant message programs and alerts turned off. There may be a bit of grumbling from your home school student about this at first, but he'll thank you later when he realizes that he has developed self-discipline techniques that will help him through his entire life.
________________________________________________________________
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Mimi Rothschild is a homeschooling parent, author, children's rights advocate, and Founder and C.E.O. of Learning by Grace, Inc. She and her husband of almost 3 decades reside with their 8 children in suburban Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Rothschild co-founded Learning By Grace, Inc. because "our current system of education has broken its promise..." Learning By Grace, Inc. delivers Internet-based multimedia education to PreK-12 children in the United States and throughout the world.
Rothschild has authored a number of books about education published by McGraw Hill and others. Her Daily Education News Blog contains feature stories on alternatives in education.