How do you get your children to buy into your homeschool curriculum? First, what do I mean by “buy-in”? I am not talking about purchasing or spending money but instead having students engaged and motivated to work through the curriculum.
Deciding What Choices To Offer
Some things in our school are not optional. For example, you are going to learn math, and you are going to learn how to read. However, we often have flexibility in how we accomplish those goals, and allowing students choice whenever we have flexibility helps them buy into their education and be more motivated.
For example, if I want them to compare and contrast a novel and a movie, I can let them choose which novel to read. When doing art history, I can let them choose the time period to study. When it is time for art lessons, they choose the lesson they want to complete.
While there are certain topics I want to cover in science, I often let them choose each year which topic we are going to study from the list.
For history, I might give them options among a variety of activities that accompany the lesson for the week.
Choice on Timing
Another way that I can provide choice is by allowing them to choose the order in which they complete their subjects on a given day. While I do have to control that to some extent based on the subjects we do together and the ones they need direct instruction in (and balancing that with my schedule), they have a list of what needs to get done each day and can do their independent work in any order they so choose.
Benefits of Offering Choice
I have found that these choices reduce the number of battles we have over completing schoolwork. Please note that I did not say it completely eliminated them; we still have those days when they do not want to do any schoolwork. Overall, it has proven to be a simple way for me to give them a voice in their learning while still accomplishing the goals that we have set forth for them.
How do you encourage buy-in in your homeschool? What choices do you give to your students?
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Deals and Freebies
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