As homeschooling parents, we have taken on the responsibility of loving our children unconditionally, providing for their needs, teaching them right from wrong, and helping them achieve their educational goals. This is a monumental undertaking!
Not only are we charged with all the tasks of raising kids, but it’s also our job to ensure their educational success by preparing them for the best future possible. This means we are constantly planning and reevaluating, praying and maybe even struggling. If you’ve got younger kids, high school might seem like it is miles and miles away, but believe me when I say that your children are never too young to start planning for the teen years, high school, and earning dual credit. A little extra thought now will translate into smooth(er) sailing in the years to come.
Here are some great ways to prepare your kids for high school while they’re young.
Teach them to love learning. How? By learning new things yourself! Your kids should understand that learning is rewarding in its own right. It’s not about getting good grades or checking a box. It’s about discovering the world! It also helps to understand your child’s learning style early on and take advantage of it, so that learning doesn’t become frustrating.
Find a routine that works for your family and stick with it. If school is optional as your kids are growing up, they may believe that they can sail through high school while sleeping late and goofing off. Definitely not the case. Even if you’re not hitting the books, you can still have a designated “school” time.
Read, read, and read some more! Read quality books aloud together. Listen to audiobooks. Assign good books for your kids to read on their own. Ideally, your children should spend as much time reading as they do playing on any device.
Develop a good relationship now. High school is not the time to mend a rocky relationship. Passionate Parenting by Cary Schmidt is a great book for helping you build a solid foundation with your kids. Relationship-building takes work, but it’s totally worth it.
Help them explore their passions. It’s our job as parents to discern what direction our kids will most likely lean toward for a vocation/career/etc., and to lead them in that direction. By the high school years, it’s so helpful if we can steer them toward the right courses and experiences, so they will continue to love learning and find the calling that God has chosen for them.
Our kids grow up so fast, and as homeschoolers, we’re so blessed that we have the opportunity to guide them and mentor them every step of the way. Preparing your little ones for high school or a dual credit program doesn’t have to be a monumental task — it’s amazing what you can accomplish with just a little foresight.
