There are many suggestions about time management tips for teachers today, but one stands true to me and I believe to every teacher under the sun.
Trust me on this one, I’ve avoided this one simple, but so valuable time management tip in the past only to become stressed and adding more teaching time to my busy day. No matter what curriculum or home school approach you embed in your home school, you can ask the students this one question….
How does this apply to your life today?
I have found the most valuable tool in teaching is making the subject their own. If one doesn’t see the value in the subject, they aren’t going to remember it. It’s just the way our brain works. We spend time discussing what they can take with them from the topic they studied. There is no right or wrong answer and it makes them use their noodles. It makes wonderful table talk.
In doing this, I have spent less time reviewing the information later down the road. Yes, it might seem tedious in the beginning but they will be gaining so much knowledge by making the subject their own by applying it to their own lives with simple projects.
Here are a few ideas that we implement to make subjects their own.
- Creative Book Reports
- Essay (usually just a few paragraphs)
- Power Point Presentation (this is one of my kiddos favorite)
- Make a video
- Dress up like the character (my little ones love to play or act out the subject)
- Lapbook
- Notebook Pages
- Keeping a daily journal
When completing the projects, the students are required to state how they can apply it to their lives to be a better leader and servants to God.
Now of course, you don’t have to do this for everything you teach your children, but just the topics or subjects you feel are impertinent to their lives.
Today we watched the DVD, John Wesley, as a family. After the movie, we discussed in detail what it meant to be a servant of God. The older ones wrote a short essay about how John Wesley impacted them today to become a better leader. I was highly impressed with their thoughts.
Yes, it would have been easier and less time-consuming if they just watched the movie, but I wanted them to remember how John Wesley lived his life for God.
You will be amazed at the results when your children apply their subjects to their lives and make it their own. Review time will be scarce, but you will have intelligent and real thinkers as students.
Agree or disagree?
This is a great technique. One of the reasons we homesschool is so our children will truly learn. As a former high school teacher, I witnessed students not knowing why grammar and writing were important regardless of their jobs.
I would love some lettering for our school area and for the boys’ bedroom.
I would love to win this to help pull our craft area together! So many great words to choose from, thank you!
lettering for my living room
We are praying about homeschooling for next year. This was a helpful tip for me to keep in mind.
So hard to choose. Something motivational – we love books, so probably relating to that.
Thank you for the giveaway.
Oh where to start…We just moved in our home last year, so my walls are still pretty bare! I would have to check it out and see. Thanks for the giveaway.
How funny! We just moved last week, too!
We are starting to home school next year. ahhh!!!
Yay, Tara!
Jill, you know you rock! Thanks for the great blogging and encouragement!
Thank you, Jody! Oh how I miss everyone!
This is a great post. Thank you for sharing. I’d love to use some decals in the kids rooms. Something reminding them of how cherished they are.
I’d spend it on decorations and letterings for my children’s names -they would love that! Thank you.
I don’t even know where to start with what I would do with home decor items. I have so many ideas running around in my head all the time about what I would like to do.
Just bought our first house about a years ago, so as you imagine the walls are a little bare! Would love to win so we can start decorating soon!
Thanks for the great reminders!!
I forgot to say how I would use the Wise Decor $$. We moved back from an overseas tour and my walls are a vast wasteland. I love having vinyls on my walls, especially verses.
Thank you this chance to win. I would buy letter decals for my children’s names to post in their rooms.
I would love to add some encouraging words to my homeschool classroom and something romantic in my bedroom. I hope I get picked.
Thanks
Great advice. Been homeschooling for 15 years & I still need all the help I can get.
I would love to get some inspirational messages for the kids to have like the one that says, “with God all things are possible.”
I would love to place some of these is the guest bathroom and kids rooms to uplift someone or to just remind us of our blessings.
great idea
Im currently organizing our play room into more structural homeschool area before my due date with our 4th one. This would be great to add some print on the wall.
We just created an accent wall in our living room and I would really love a Scripture quote to put up on that wall!
There are so many–hard to decide! I think I would definitely get “The Lord will fight for you. You need only be still. – Exodus 14:14” and have to think about the other one!
Great Ideas here!! I love the Ben Franklin quote! So true!