Schooling at home

The concept of homeschooling is now picking up as a direct result of the pandemic. One-to-one instruction can have many advantages as there are no distractions and learning can happen at the child’s pace, paving way for meaningful learning.

Here are certain aspects to consider while opting for home learning.

Learning styles: Home schooling has its advantages especially in understanding the learning style of the child. Children learn in different ways, some children prefer to receive inputs by listening (auditory mode), others by seeing (visual mode), and many by doing (tactile-
kinaesthetic mode). Watch your child carefully and observe which instructions the child follows more easily. Teach the same concept in multiple ways, read it out, show it, allow the child to practice it aloud as well as visually through practice, a little creativity can allow the child to do a related activity like tracing, phonic exercises for the words, or making a chart.

Alternative approaches: Encourage your child to develop a new set of skills. If your child likes books, now is the time to develop higher reading skills, if your child is weak in math, try to build mental math skills.

Perhaps your child could do with a boost in vocabulary, if so, now is the time to make a collection of words under various categories and teach the child homonyms. This can be done by asking the child questions like ‘what are all sweets called?’ and teaching the child the word ‘confectionery’. Through ordinary activities of the day, many new words can be added to the child’s vocabulary. In the home, flexibility allows for usage of different approaches in a relaxed manner. Simple conversations can build language, helping in household chores can be an opportunity to demonstrate many lessons in science, math and language development.

Making corrections: A vital benefit of homeschooling is the correction of an error. Often children develop incorrect posture and pencil grip, which become stubborn in nature and often remain for life. Teachers are not able to give time to each child to regularly correct this. Parents can use this time at home to gently improve children’s postures.