10 Tips for Teaching High Schoolers at Home

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We homeschooled all of our children (14 of them) all the way through high school.
And I am so glad that we did. Here are 10 tips that I have learned through the years of homeschooling high schoolers that can help to make these years more enjoyable, effective, and productive for you and your kids.

10 Tips for Teaching High Schoolers at Home

1. Substitute creative subjects for what is usually taught in high school.

Public schools don’t have the one best plan for education. Every young person is unique.
One of my daughters wanted to do biology, advanced biology, first aid, and advanced first
aid for her science credits. That’s fine. Don’t feel like you have to follow a public school
plan.

2. Ask for input from your student when teaching your high schooler at home.

Ask them how they learn best, what they would like to learn, what curriculum looks good to them. The more input they have into what they learn, the more they will invest themselves in learning.

3. Be sure you have an outlet for your high schooler to invest in the lives of others.

Teach them to have a servant’s heart and not be self-focused. Teach them to
look for needs in others and extend themselves in meeting those needs. If you instill
that in them, you’ve been a success. Life is about serving others, not pleasing self.

4. Let your high-schooler get a head start if they have a direction for future plans.

If they know what career they’d like to pursue, let them do it in high school. Let them take
courses that will train them in what their passion is. Let them avail themselves of
opportunities while in high school. My youngest graduated from high school this year,
but she worked and studied to obtain her private’s pilot license and got that before she
completed high school.

5. Interview others who have jobs they might like to consider.

If your student doesn’t have a clear direction for the future, invite people to your home. Ask them about their careers, their preparation for it, whether they went to college, whether they needed the college training. Ask questions about what they like about their work and what they don’t.

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Let them, for instance, volunteer with the rescue squad if they are considering the
medical field, to see if they would really like that line of work. Find someone in a
business they think they might like and let them shadow the person for a week to learn
about the job.

6. Make the opportunity to get to know their friends, invite their friends into your home.

Let your home be a place to hang-out. Our home is ALWAYS open to our kids’ friends,
and some of their friends have become like adopted kids to us. You all will be blessed.
Befriend your kid’s friends. Invest yourself in others.

7. Be available to talk to them (even if it’s late at night!)

Be available to talk about struggles, fears about the future, relationships, goals, etc. Some of my best talks with my kids were late at night when the little guys were in bed and the house was quiet. Kids weren’t given for our convenience. Be available when they need you.

8. Help them as they sort through values.

Don’t be threatened as they set values for themselves. It is normal for them to sort through your values in order to adopt values of their own. Don’t be threatened if they don’t do everything exactly as you did, be open to tell them the whys and how you arrived at your own values.

9. Invest your life in making them successful (and part of that is encouraging them to help others to be successful).

So many of your own goals in life need to be on the back burner while you invest in raising your kids. Lose your life in making them successful in their God-given passions.

10. Be open to their ideas.

Let them try some activities. Don’t be a kill-joy. Enjoy life with them. God has gifted my kids in so many areas that I’m not gifted in, so I appreciate their ideas and let them try things. Be involved as much as they want you to be.

So there you have it! My best 10 Tips for Teaching High Schoolers at Home! What would you add to this list?

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30 DAYS OF THE BEST ENCOURAGEMENT FOR HOMESCHOOLING MOMS SERIES CONTRIBUTOR:

“She’s so ENCOURAGING!” That’s what moms say about Marilyn Boyer, homeschooling author and mother of 14. Marilyn’s heartfelt speaking style is both challenging and comforting, her content based on over thirty years’ experience in homeschooling her own children. Her many years in the trenches have convinced her that the most important part of education is the building of godly character. That’s why she created Character Concepts, a Bible-based curriculum for kids from preschool through high school. Learn more of her resources for teaching character to kids at www.CharacterConcepts.com