Shifting from regular school to homeschool requires a fair amount of adjustment for both the new homeschool teacher, as well as the class full of homeschool students. A tool that can help with this transition is deschooling.
What is Deschooling?
It is a period of time taken out to help students understand that their lives may not be governed by school bells, class schedules and teachers anymore. Instead they are encouraged to learn in new and innovative ways. On their own and often at a pace that they wish to set. It is a time when the child learn to de-link from school as a regular institution and link up with the school ways that allow him to learn on his own with the guidance of the homeschool teacher.
How to Deschool your Homeschoolers?
The longer a child has been in a regular school, the more shifts in attitude and behavior will be required. The homeschool teacher should figure in a generous time for the deschooling of the new homeschool student. Patience is a must because often children don’t want to do things the way they had to in regular school, but may object when a new teaching method is introduced by saying that’s not how they did it in school. The children are confused and need to be guided to the new normal by the parent.
Allow them to Indulge their Curiosity and Imagination
These two qualities have little space to bloom in a regular classroom. A student is often asked to stick to the essentials. They are rarely allowed the freedom to be creative in their expression and imaginations are often kept on a short leash. They need to be shown that now they are allowed to indulge in their creativity. That speaking up with a vivid imagination is not a waste of time. The changes will be gradual as the conditioning of the child needs to be overcome.
Give them the time and space they need to make the adjustments for a more productive learning schedule to take shape in the future. The time spent deschooling can help them immensely.