Have you decided to homeschool this school year?

Whether you have made this decision after much thought in the past months or year even before the pandemic or you were forced to make this decision to help keep your children safe, I’d like to congratulate you.

Why? Because homeschooling brings with it many benefits to the whole family.

This could be one blessing in disguise that this COVID-19 pandemic has brought with it.

We had been homeschooling our eldest for almost 12 years now.

Since we started, we have also homeschooled our two younger children.

Homeschooling is one of the best things that happened to our family!

If you are homeschooling for the first time this year and you feel unqualified, I recommend that you read one of my previous posts titled 10 Reasons Why You are Qualified to Homeschool Your Child.

I mentioned there that one of the reasons why you should not be afraid to homeschool your child is because you grow and learn with your child as you homeschool. You can improve and acquire new skills if you want to become a more effective teacher or homeschooling parent.

I mentioned in some of my previous posts here on the blog that I had been conducting training and designing training programs for decades already. My job entails identifying the competencies required for specific positions in the workplace and helping companies equip their employees so that their employees could improve their performance and achieve the desired level of competence for their positions. This is one of the things I like doing in my job as an HR and Training Consultant and previously as a Training Manager and an HR Manager.

Thus, when I read a lot of posts on Facebook about parents considering homeschooling because of the pandemic and feeling lost on how to start, I thought that I could help somehow by applying my expertise in Training and Development and Learning and Delivery to equip them.

So, just like when I take on some projects with my clients, I have decided to identify the competencies parents need to have to homeschool effectively or successfully.

This is not an exhaustive list. I have just identified basic or core competencies so as not to overwhelm parents who will be homeschooling for the first time.

Some parents may not have some of these competencies when they start considering homeschooling or as they start. But parents can develop these competencies as they go along.

What is important is that homeschooling parents are also lifelong learners and are willing to learn alongside their kids.

What are COMPETENCIES?

Let me define COMPETENCIES first.

Competencies refer to the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes of an individual which have impact on the output or job that is required or needs to be done.

I’m breaking this down into 3 categories to make it easier for the parents to go through them.

KNOWLEDGE

I have identified 5 basic areas or topics that parents who want to homeschool should know in order to homeschool effectively.

• Knowledge of what homeschooling is and as compared to online learning or distant learning
• Knowledge of homeschool laws in the state or country where they will reside
• Knowledge of the child who will be homeschooled
• Knowledge of education philosophies
• Knowledge of learning styles

If you are new to homeschooling, you need to know these things first so you can make the right or best decisions in how you will homeschool your child.

I wrote a detailed blog post on the first bullet in this category to help parents banish the confusion between homeschooling and online learning. You may read it here.

You need to know the existing laws and policies on education in your country because those will affect or define your options.

Knowledge of the needs and interests and the learning style of the child to be homeschooled is crucial. It should be based on this knowledge that the homeschooling parent should choose the educational philosophies or approaches that will be used.

A lot of parents move at lighting speed to choose curriculums and approaches and homeschool providers without first assessing and knowing their child in such a way that they know what are the most urgent and important needs of their child as well as the child’s strengths, weaknesses and interests. I caution you not to make this mistake.

SKILLS

There are many skills that can be part of this list but I want to focus on the most basic requirements.

• Goal-setting
• Planning and organization
• Time, priority and energy management
• Communication
• Observation

Goal-setting is one of the most important things that homeschooling parents need to master. You need to start with a goal. What are your goals for the year? What are your goals for each month or quarter? Then, you need to break it down to your goals for the week and for each day.

You will arrange your activities and tasks as well as your materials based on your goals. Your lessons and activities should support or move you closer to your goals.

You need to learn how to manage your time, priorities and energy well so you and your children do not experience burn out and so you can achieve your goals.

In all these things that you need to do, communication is essential. You teach or homeschooling mainly by communicating with your child.

I included observation skills as one of the core competencies needed by parents who want to homeschool effectively or successfully because any teacher should observe the learner or student being taught so the lessons and methodology or manner of delivery is tailor-fitted to the needs of the learner. That is the secret of the most effective teachers and trainers. That is one reason we conduct training needs analysis first before designing a training program or a curriculum to help address the gap between actual performance and desired performance.

ATTITUDES

There are attitudes that affect or impact the behavior of people and their output. I have chosen or identified specific attitudes that make a big impact in a homeschooling parent’s effectivity or success in educating his/her child.

• Patience
• Persistence/Tenacity
• Flexibility and adaptability
• Resourcefulness
• Creativity

A lot of parents say they don’t have the patience to teach their children. That’s probably true. But that can change IF a parent is willing to learn to become more patient.

I thought I was already a patient person. Then, I had children! I realized that I am not that patient, really.

Through homeschooling, I grew in becoming more patient. I am still a work in progress and I do not claim that I have mastered being patient with my kids.

Parents need to be patient because kids can take time to learn and understand what we teach them. It takes time for them to master the concepts and principles. It takes time before we can see the fruits of our labor.

Parents need to be persistent and not give up easily on their children if they want their children to learn, grow and flourish. By being persistent teachers, we also model grit to our children.

One of the things I shared in one of my previous blog posts on why parents are qualified in homeschooling their children is the love and dedication of parents to the welfare of their children. Let this love and dedication move you to be persistent.

Teachers and homeschooling parents need to be flexible with many things. We need to learn to adapt to the changing environment, times and the changes that our children are going through. Flexibility can first and foremost be applied in the homeschool schedule. Your schedules are not cast in stone. Be willing to make changes if there is a valid reason or need. When you are dealing with children, flexibility is an important attitude to have.

You may not be the smartest parent or teacher there is but if you are resourceful, you can still homeschool your child successfully. When you are resourceful, you open up many possibilities for your child to learn.

Let me share this personal anecdote. When I was a little girl, my mother liked looking for educational resources or materials that I could use to help me to learn and improve. Our budget was tight then. But my mother was one resourceful woman. She discovered an affordable way for me to learn good communication skills through a set of cassette tapes and a book. I used that book to learn and train. People were impressed with the results. They thought that my mother enrolled me in a prestigious school that teaches communication skills. My mother was not well-equipped to teach me in that area but she found good resources that could teach me those skills. I was really blessed to have a resourceful mom!

I added creativity to the list because it takes a lot of creativity in planning lessons and activities that are engaging and appropriate to the needs and interests of one’s students. You also need creativity in integrating a lot of concepts and lessons in one or a few activities and projects to teach kids how different topics are related in the real world and to better manage your time.

There you have it! These are 15 basic or core competencies that you need to have to homeschool effectively or successfully. There are more competencies that can be added to this list. But we can start with this and you could strive to either learn or do better in these competencies this school year.

I plan to tweak my Train-the-Trainers Program and make something similar to help parents acquire and improve on the competencies needed to succeed in homeschooling their children.

If you want to be updated on this and want to learn from me, I invite you to join the support group I started recently to help address the need of many parents who are new to homeschooling. The name of our Facebook group is Homeschooling Parents Support Group PH.

I also recommend that you first read my blog post entitled How to Start Homeschooling: Homeschooling 101 if you are homeschooling for the first time.

I have also launched a new service this week to make my coaching service more affordable to more parents. Registration to the Homeschooling Parents Masterclass with me has started. The first quarter will start in July. Parents who will be part of this masterclass will have access to my training videos or learning videos that will equip them to become better homeschooling parents. They also get to ask me questions in an exclusive Facebook group. This masterclass is perfect for first-time homeschoolers and those who need accountability partners or a coach to motivate and guide them. You can read more details about my masterclass here.