10 Principles every Homeschool Mom should Remember

I was really excited to see an article in the  August 1014 Ensign ( an LDS church magazine) about learning at home. The article is titled "Home the Heart of Learning". It is mostly talking about how we need to make sure gospel principles are being taught at home and that the lessons in church are in support of that. At the end of the article is a list of 10 principles every teacher should know as pertaining to teaching gospel lessons at church. I was inspired to tweak it a bit to give guidance to us homeschool teachers. You can read the original list and article here.

#7 "Keep Lessons Alive"
Here we are having an indoor picnic and a read-aloud,
 when the weather was un-cooperative for an outdoor one.

10 Principles every Homeschool Mom should Remember

1. Council with The Lord. Ask Him how He would have you organize and teach in your homeschool. Go to Him with specific questions. Both for the family and each individual. Keep a Notebook near by to write down the inspiration you receive.

2. Be led by the Spirit. Don't let schedules and lesson plans that have already been noted get in the way of the powerful teaching that can come from the Spirit. Let Him guide your day.

3. Teach children not lessons. "Put the little minds of children out of your thoughts. Children have just as big minds as we have."-Charlotte Mason

4. Focus on gospel principles and core subjects. Everything else will fall into place as needed or when interest spikes. 

5. Pick out one or two key topics to focus your lessons on. Many small meals are easier to digest then an all-you-can-eat buffet. "Be faithful in the little by little, day by day approach of reading from great books."-Karen Andreola (A Charlotte Mason Comapanion)

6. Learn as many subjects as possible together as a family. Less prep for mom, more learning for kids.

7. Keep lessons alive with hands-on projects, acting out or dressing the parts, read aloud exciting stories, create memorable note booking pages. Turn your dining room table into a tent on a rainy day to liven things up!

8. Find ways to tie in gospel truths to the other subjects of study wherever possible. Science is full of Gods amazing creations, History is packed full of life lessons and God -fearing heroes. There can always be something found to bring it all back to Him.

9. Create a house of order. This doesn't mean sparkling toilets and a perfectly regulated day set to alarms. Simply, have a routine and a plan for the day with Christ in the center of it and do your best to carry it out. "Organizing is what you do before you do something, so that when you do it, it is not all mixed up." -A.A. Milne

10. Don't dismiss the importance of life's every day lessons. Achedemics are important, but how well have you prepared your child for a life of success if he can do trigonometry but doesn't know how to wash a load of laundry or fix a flat tire? So much is taught on a day to day basis just by involving your kids in the needs of the household. A great little book about teaching kids how to help out is called: From Pampered to Productive by Debbie Bowen. I found mine for my Nook here.

"The future is something which everyone reaches at the rate of sixty minutes an hour, whatever he does, whoever he is." -C.S. Lewis

Happy Day!

For more information on The church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints you can go to www.mormon.org