Teenagers are usually floating in a world of their own most of the time. They don’t have the same priorities or worries that an adult may have. When it comes to getting homeschool teenagers to do their share in the classroom as well as outside it, here are some tips that may come in handy.
Be Specific in Your Instructions
Remember that generic instructions such as “clean your room” and “do your homework” will not work well with your teenage homeschool student. You have to give very specific instructions like “pick up all the books in the room and stack them on the book shelf” or “complete your book report on The Fault in Our Stars by this evening”. The more specific you are the better.
Have a Checklist to Follow
If there are a number of items you would like your teenager to complete, please write it down and give them a copy of the checklist. Now give them an added time frame in which they have to complete the items listed. This will enable them to stay on track better than they would and allow less distractions to take them away from the list.
Rules Should be Clear and Consistent
Giving teenagers threats never works. You have to have very specific rules and define them clearly. For instance if they come home later than their curfew, mark the number of minutes that they were late. These are the number of minutes they need to miss in their play time the subsequent day. Let them know this rule and follow it consistently so that they learn to respect it.
Consequences Should be Forewarned Of
If they have been asked to do something, and have not completed the task they must expect some consequence. While I would not recommend the word punishment, it has to be something that pinches them. Taking away television time, or computer privileges for a fixed time duration would be a perfect example of such consequences. Make sure that they know exactly what they will be missing if they fail to complete the task before hand so that they can’t argue about it later.
