In the past, tangible materials such as printed or written instructional materials, manuals, and books made it easier for parents to share and be involved in their children’s learning. When the digital age came, parents started consuming the best it could offer..
Technology is a God-given tool to further support the children’s learning today. However, when this inevitable age continues to eclipse the old ways, how can homeschooling parents adjust smoothly to it?
- You can browse through the Internet and see the world in one click. Take advantage of the accessibility and variety of different sites that can be managed in one click. Look through various media useful for the visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learners.
- You can utilize safe and effective learning applications. Many computer applications that incentivize learning and give immediate feedback to learners are now available. Some apps increase reading speed, improve problem solving skills, and provide access to libraries of books, videos, and illustration and creativity apps. With careful selection, parents can optimize the use of these apps.
- You can take suitable or desired courses online. Advanced courses in different categories with professionally produced materials are also available. As a parent, you can continually study, learn, and improve too.
Overall, technology helps you to aid your child to learn efficiently, function better, and grow at his/her own pace. Instead of just keeping up, how can you thrive for more of it?
- Use technology to improve critical thinking. Teach proper management of gadgets and keep your child as natural inquirers and thinkers. Sure, children can Google any information or fact, but life realities are still best taught and shared by parents.
- Use technology to spend quality time with your child. Listen to a podcast together or watch a video or documentary which can be a subject for a healthy discussion. Activities done together encourage conversations and build deeper relationships.
- Use technology to model values. Use gadgets at work, but go offline when at home. Make sure smartphones are moderately used at the dinner table while starting off conversations over meals. Be active in social media while staying sociable and interactive in person. Parents are encouraged not to lose God-founded family values in the midst of these changing times. Written in 1 Timothy 3:4 in the Bible, “He must manage his own household well and keep his children in control without losing his dignity.”
By being firm with your values yet flexible with your methods, you can get the most of the technology and convenience that you have right now. Helping you are some homeschool institutions around like the VCIS HomeStudy™ Program (HSP), a Christian homeschool in Manila that applies suitable homeschooling techniques through the use of technology. VCIS HSP also helps parents to homeschool their children successfully by sharing an online community where they can exchange experiences and lessons with other parents just by mouse clicks.