Children learn anywhere and everywhere they go, regardless of whether we’re trying to teach them. As parents, we should help them in every way we can. That means creating an environment at home that supports learning. One that encourages self-directed exploration and discovery. One that models learning not as just something done in schools, but as a lifelong process.
Here we’ll discuss how to create a learning environment at home along with some handy suggestions for your child’s education plan.
Recognize Your Child’s Individual Learning Needs
The best at-home learning environment for your child is one personalized to them. Every child has a different learning style that supports their specific interests. Your child could have an artistic bent, a scientific one, an athletic one, or one of any of a multitude of others. Kids also prefer certain ways to learn over others. Some favor visual learning, others prefer reading, auditory learning, or even learning through physical activity. When you consider these factors and tailor their environment to match, it can elevate the level of enthusiasm they show and inspire your kids to love the act of learning.
What a Learning Environment at Home Might Look Like
- Remote Schooling
This is often something parents choose when seeking a traditional education if they don’t live near the preferred institution. It could also be an option for parents of children with a physical disability, who may feel more comfortable learning in a household environment.
When trying to find an online school, research is key. Begin with your child. Try and get a sense of which subjects stimulate their imagination. Then find schools with a reputation for excelling in those areas. Don’t worry if an immediate search doesn’t display results you like. Change tack and explore all-around good schools that offer virtual learning. Make a shortlist and then try and interview faculty and parents of children at those schools to get the information you need. The best part about virtual schooling is that you’re not limited by location. Explore schools all around the country, and potentially, even internationally, to find the best fit.
- Homeschooling
If you want to create a learning environment at home that’s entirely structured around your child’s temperament, this is the way to go. It involves a significant time commitment from you as a parent, not just in the time you spend teaching your child every day, but the time you invest in research and learning the concepts yourself. The good thing is that there’s plenty of help for you out there. There are pre-K learning apps you can rely on and social media groups and communities of other homeschoolers you can go to for advice. And there are lessons kids learn best from their parents.
Homeschooling can be a genuinely joyful experience when learning follows your child’s passions. If your child’s suddenly captivated by a note on archeology in the middle of a history lesson, you’re free to follow their interest to see where it leads.
- Supplemental Learning
This is increasingly one of the most popular solutions parents choose when pondering how to create a holistic learning environment at home. It’s often used to provide your child a ‘balanced diet’ intellectually. Supplemental learning is a genuine opportunity to help your child discover a passion or an interest they haven’t come across elsewhere. A cursory search will reveal an abundance of kids’ learning websites out there.