Raising and Praising your Children

Homeschooling children is a no easy task. It requires great love and dedication, and a constant hold to certain values you would like your children to learn while they are at home. But “raising” them becomes more rewarding when you develop a habit of “praising” them. Christian homeschooling combines the practical ways of bringing up children and the power of appreciating them into an effective tool of making homeschooling even worthwhile.

Here are some tips on how you can do both.

Raising your Children

• Set rules. Set reasonable ground rules and consistently enforce them to your children in truth, discipline, and love.
• Teach honesty. Teach your children the importance of telling you the truth and how doing it so makes you proud of them.
• Share optimism. Form happiness habits that give your children a happier, healthier, and more optimistic outlook in life.
• Show empathy. Help your children identify and manage what they are feeling as it helps them know themselves and build relationships with others.
• Encourage playtime. Give your children their own share of playtime. Playing promotes their intellectual, physical, social, and emotional well-being.
• Train self-discipline. Develop self-discipline in your children by lessening distraction or training them to manage the small things in their lives.
• Eat together. Make eating time a sacred and intimate family ritual. Children find this a perfect time to hear you and learn more about life from you.

Praising your Children

• Praise children for effort, not just for ability or achievement. Praise your children for their efforts, either in success or failure, and encourage them to keep trying and learning.
• Be sincere and specific. Give constructive feedback and use sincere, descriptive praise—the praise that pinpoints exactly what you liked about their action or behavior.
• Avoid comparison. Focus on your children’s ability and development instead on their comparisons with others to avoid creating resentment and unrealistic expectations.
• Reinforce rewards. Be spontaneous and intermittent, not too frequent, on giving rewards for the achievements of your children to reinforce motivation in what they do.

These principles can be a great start for Christian homeschooling. As Mahatma Gandhi says, “There is no school equal to a decent home and no teacher equal to a virtuous parent.” So take heart in teaching them, praising them, praying for them, and raising them!