Six tips for a successful homeschooling year

A successful year looks different for every student, family, and educator but the homeschooling community all share the same goal. Helping students to enjoy their education and get the most out of their learning time. 

We want to provide you with tips, strategies and resources to make this homeschooling year a little easier and help you get the most out of your lessons. 

Tip 1: Create a learning environment that encourages curiosity and ignites rich thinking  

When we look at a learning environment we often think of creating a visual space that isn’t overstimulating with loud noises and busy decor or underwhelming that lacks life and warmth. Although these are important aspects we also need to consider which learning routines and strategies will have the greatest impact on growth. 

Goal Setting is an effective and timely activity to improve student learning outcomes. According to a study by Marzano (2006), students who clearly understand their learning goals outperform those who don’t. Goal setting increases concentration, motivation and ownership over learning bringing out the best qualities in students and class time. 

Assessment should only exist so learning can take place. Formative assessment allows us to look back before we take a step forward. It provides a clear picture of prior knowledge and helps map an appropriate learning path. Summative assessments will then give us additional information to determine whether students are learning the new content or to identify gaps forming as they move through the learning content. Confidence grows when students are challenged the right amount and have the appropriate prior knowledge to power their learning. 

Feedback is the final step in the sequence. In a review of 71 formative assessment studies, Lane et al (2019) found that effective feedback should be, timely, aligned with your lesson focus, detailed and provide actionable steps. Feedback should include celebrating accomplishments, reviewing work and concepts, and creating strategies to achieve learning and growth goals.

Bonus Hack: Brain Breaks are the perfect way to re-engage with learning halfway through a lesson if you notice your little learners drifting off. We’ve produced seven purpose-built energisers that suit a range of maths abilities and each contains fun and engaging activities. Check them out here!

Tip 2: Outline your daily, weekly, and yearly schedule ahead of time 

You don’t need to cover every subject every day, use your weekly schedule to make sure you have a good balance between each subject. Set brain breaks and outdoor time in your daily schedule so your child has plenty of time to re-energise throughout the day. Take the summer holidays to create a bird’s-eye view of the concepts to be covered in each term.

Tip 3: Find a supportive community that you can lean on and learn from

There are a bunch of great websites, Facebook groups, and resources available, here is a list of some of the most popular: 

1. The Educating Parent
2. Homeschool Resource Finder
3. Home Education Association
4. Home Education Network
5. The Homeschool Life
6. The Homeschool Sweet Spot
7. How Do I Homeschool?
8. Homeschool Hotline
9. Australian Homeschooling Summit

Tip 4: Check that you’re meeting the homeschooling requirements of your state

Every state has its unique requirements for homeschooling, you can find information and the registration process for your state. 

Victoria	New South Wales	Queensland	Western Australia
Tasmania	South Australia	Northern Territory	Australian Capital Territory

Tip 5: Improve your practice with reflection 

Even the most experienced educators take time to reflect on their practice and find room for growth and professional development. An easy strategy is to ask yourself reflection questions. This time can help uncover insights, challenges and opportunities to improve current strategies.

Here are some questions to start with:

• What strategies or routines worked for your child and provided the results to show this? 
• What didn’t make the impact you were hoping for or support your child’s learning goals? 
• What was missing from your toolkit that could have elevated your child’s learning?
• How do your children feel about their progress?

Tip 6: Don’t do it all on your own! 

Find a comprehensive program that offers a personalised approach and supports your child on their unique learning path. 

Maths Pathway Homeschool identifies every child’s learning gaps from the start, so they can work on filling them and creating a solid foundation from which more maths learning can grow!

How to get started with Maths Pathway at Home

1. Head to our website to learn more about our personalised maths program
2. Sign up for a free trial and we’ll create your account
3. Run an adaptive diagnostic test to pinpoint your child’s place along the learning continuum
4. Access your child’s personalised journey with maths content they are ready to learn
5. See your child blossom and build confidence in their maths abilities