In a homeschooling family the parent is usually none too sure what teaching approach will work best with their children. Many of these homeschooling teachers have studied in traditional classrooms and tend to think that opening out textbooks and going through worksheets is the acceptable way to proceed with learning. While there is nothing wrong in this method of teaching, the fact that you have chosen to homeschool does give you some flexibility to play with. You can still use textbooks as a starting point for studies but encourage the homeschooled students to go beyond what is mentioned in the book.
As the teacher you are aware of the strengths and weaknesses of your student, now all you have to do is help the student identify both for himself. If your homeschool student prefers to have defined goals and set assignments to structure the studies, give him tasks that allow him a sense of accomplishment when he finishes them. If your homeschool student prefers to read up what he likes about a topic of interest when he wants to, you could just suggest a number of useful resources and ask him to come up with a report on what all he uncovered at the end of the week.
If you know that your child will lose interest in the topic if you are not constantly prodding him to get on with it, you may like to have a daily “what I accomplished today” report filled out at the end of the school day. This will help keep your records organized as well as let you know just what your child managed to cover in a day. There is the added advantage of making your child learn how to summarize what they have accomplished in a set period of time.
They can also be asked to set their own goals for what they hope to accomplish on the next day in the same report. This allows them to gain perspective on what a goal can truly entail, and how long it takes to accomplish each individual task. It also teaches responsibility about what tasks they need to cover and how they mean to complete them.
