10 Tips for Homeschooling Boys So Everyone is Happy
*This post may contain affiliate links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.*
Some of my favorite homeschool adventures have been instigated by my son. Homeschooling boys might be different to homeschooling girls but it is just as special.
Homeschool moms may pull their hair out wondering how on earth they can homeschool their sons without it being a fight.
Every family and every child is going to be different but I can speak from my own experience and say that homeschooling a boy is very different from homeschooling a girl when it comes to my kids.
One of the most wonderful things about homeschooling is that we can cater to the uniqueness of our children.
Homeschooling boys might be a wild ride but it is one sure to bring lots of joy on the journey as well.
There are things that I’ve had to learn and adapt to and I’ve come to learn some really great tips that help make our homeschool days run more smoothly overall.
The Best Advice for Homeschooling Boys
Homeschooling boys might not look the same for everyone so if these tips don’t work for you then that’s fine. There’s nothing wrong with you or your family.
Homeschool families each get to pick what will fit in their homeschool.
I’m glad to be able to have students of both genders and these are tips shared from my own experience homeschooling a boy and what I’ve found to really help bring connection and make homeschool days run smoothly.
#1 Focus On Each Child
As I touched on earlier, homeschooling allows us the special opportunity to focus on each of our children and exactly what makes them tick.
When it comes to homeschooling boys there is nothing right or fair about comparing them to their female counterparts.
Doing that only leads to frustration and strained relationships. In fact, I would urge you not to even compare child against child, no matter their gender.
Homeschooling boys means focusing on them and embracing them for exactly who they’ve been made to be. Doing this will save you so much stress and will strengthen your relationship overall.
#2 Embrace Their Strengths
Here’s the thing…my son is good at reading but he has to work a lot harder at it than he does at math. Math is something that comes easily to him and he devours all the information he receives about it.
My son is also mechanically minded. He has the patience to sit and figure out how things work but he doesn’t have the same patience when it comes to sounding out words.
While this particular example isn’t specific to boys it is just to show you that each child has their strengths and weaknesses.
Generally speaking, boys love to move and to work things out with their hands. Instead of expecting them to sit and do bookwork for hours, why not embrace their natural need for movement and exercise?
For instance, have manipulatives like these on hand for working out math problems.
When we’re working on memorizing things such as poetry or Scripture I have my son stand up and do actions to go along with the words.
There are so many ways to make learning work for your child instead of trying to fit them into an age-old inflexible model of doing school work.
Embrace the way that your son learns and make as much of his formal learning adapt to that as you can. It really will make life easier.
#3 Don’t Ignore Their Weaknesses
While boys may naturally thrive in some areas there will also be areas of weakness.
My son is good at reading but if I hadn’t been consistent with teaching him and encouraging him to push through the challenges, he would have given up for sure.
I didn’t force him to read but I also made sure that he was consistently exposed to good books that eventually inspired a love of reading in him. Reading great literature to him meant that I didn’t have to fight to get him to learn. He got there on his own.
Strengths should be embraced but weaknesses shouldn’t be ignored. We can all do better when we put in a little hard work.
Another thought is to just rework the way that you teach areas that your child struggles with. Teach the same thing but in a different way.
My son hated working on reading fluency until I stuck the cards up on the wall and gave him a nerf gun to shoot them with as he read them.
Be creative and think how your son might thing.
#4 Rethink Your Schedule
I’m a firm believer in having a rhythm to your day so that your children know when to expect certain things to happen.
Children thrive on having boundaries and in my experience, it lessens meltdowns and resistance because they’re not caught so unawares.
However, the routine you have in your home should cater for the entire family. If your child doesn’t learn best at a particular time then do school at another time.
I find that my son does best if I don’t allow too much free time and play before we do our bookwork. If he’s left to play for a long time then he really struggles to focus his mind on school later on.
#5 Be Flexible With Your Classroom
What do you imagine when you hear the word classroom?
I see desks lined up in row, a chalkboard at the front, different craft projects hanging around the place.
We as a society have a rather narrow-minded view of what the classroom has to look like. We really only ever consider what is presented to us in traditional public schools.
While having a more flexible view of where teaching has to take place will benefit all of your children, you may find it particularly useful when homeschooling boys.
Perhaps your living room works best, sitting around your kitchen table, or under a tree outside.
Consider where learning may happen best for your son and make it happen if you can.
The classroom settings may change depending on the day and that is 100% okay if it helps your son to learn best.
Related: How to Get By Without a Homeschool Room
#6 Adjust Your Expectations
As is with our view of what a conventional classroom looks like, we tend to have a view of how and when children should learn because the learning process won’t look the same for all children.
In much of the western world it is considered normal for children to know how to read at age 5 and parents begin to fret if their child struggles in this area.
Preparing our children for the next stage has started earlier and earlier to the point where parents now feel as though 2-year olds need formal learning instruction.
There are so many studies that show forced early education gives no real value and can even cause damage.
This whole mindset of introducing formal education in the toddler years is not just hurting our children in general but giving place to the labeling of boys who don’t read till after age 7 for instance.
We need to readjust our expectations of what is normal and healthy and not just what everyone else is doing.
Preschool has evolved over time into something that resembles a classroom when it was originally just a place of childcare.
Play is and should be a child’s primary learning mechanism until around age 6-7.
European schools show us just how successful a method this is as their schools only begin teaching children at age 7 and their students are leaders in educational outcomes.
If your son is struggling to sit for a lesson at age five then that is normal. 10-15 minutes of sit down learning is normal at that age.
Do some reading on what is considered normal and healthy and adjust your expectations to those standards instead of the weighty ones society has place upon us in recent times.
#7 Keep to Short Lessons
One of the things that I love about using the Charlotte Mason philosophy to teach some subjects to my son is that she’s a big proponent for short lessons, especially in the elementary years.
Young children aren’t cognitively able to sit still and focus for long periods of time. In my experience, this was even more true for my son than it was my daughter.
Little boys want to please their mamas but they’ll grow frustrated when they just can’t.
It is completely unfair of us to expect our little ones to do something that’s beyond the normal development of the brain in those early ages.
Lessons do not need to take a lot of time and in the elementary grades that may mean that school is over and done with in just 30-60 minutes.
Keeping lessons short is a great way to avoid fighting with them to sit still and best of all, they’re actually going to retain what you’re teaching them.
On that note, make sure you pick a homeschool curriculum that works for you and that you’re not a slave to. You’ll have a hard time making your child fit into a curriculum when you could instead make it work for them.
Related: What to Do When Your Homeschool Curriculum Isn’t Working
#8 Join In On Their Fun
Have you ever noticed when you watch a movie with your kids that they look at you every time there’s a funny part to see if you’re laughing?
They want you to enjoy life with them.
Homeschooling boys is FULL of joy if you only let down your hair a little. Join in on their fun when you can. Laugh at their jokes and indulge their interests.
Doing unit studies has been a wonderful way to connect with my son as he gets so excited to learn about a subject that really piques his interest. Also, finding some humorous books that he loves and we can read together has added so much fun to our days.
You may find you can prompt a really interesting discussion with your son if you just pull out a book they enjoy and start paging through it.
(This is one of our favorite great books!)
Your son will trust you with the bigger things if he can first trust you with the small stuff. Seeing their mom have fun and laugh with them is a really big deal.
#9 Send Them Outside!
There are mornings when it feels as though my children are all wild things bouncing off the walls – my son especially.
In fact, some days I cannot for the life of me get my son to stop fidgeting and so instead of forcing the bookwork at that moment, I send him outside to run laps around the house and get some of that energy out.
We also do our morning basket first and our individual subjects a bit later. In between those times, I send all the children outside to run around, play and get some sunshine and fresh air.
If you have a boy that really needs physical activity before beginning school for the day, you might consider going for a walk first thing in the morning.
We were not made to sit inside and read books all day no matter how appealing that may be to some of us.
And then there are times when you can just pick up all the books, grab a blanket, and do school under a tree in the yard.
Give your son a magnifying glass and send him to find bugs outside. It’s nature study and so good for him!
Wonderful active boys are something we should be striving for, not discouraging.
#10 Talk to Them
The best way to know how your son will learn best is to talk to him and ask him what his thoughts are.
What does he enjoy? What does he dislike? Exactly what is it that is challenging him?
You may think you know but often times our children can put up a front in order to please us, especially when it comes to really young children.
My girls readily share how they’re feeling and what’s bothering them, but the same can’t always be said of my son.
Those of us who homeschool boys should note that just because they might not share as much doesn’t mean they don’t have anything to share.
Take the time to talk to your son and really hear what he has to tell you. You’ll have a much better chance at understanding what makes them tick if they can share what’s on their heart.
Final Thoughts
Homeschooling boys doesn’t have to be the fight that some make it out to be. I love having the time to spend with my son and I so appreciate being the one to teach him to read and learn mathematics.
Your homeschool day won’t always be perfect, but it can become better if you want it to.
The important thing is that we recognize the unique strengths our sons offer and what enrichment they can add to the whole experience of homeschooling.
Once we get past our expectations of what school should like and embrace what it can look like, you’ll find your boys to be a blessing and a joy to teach. They are good students when we put in the time to teach them well.
We need to view homeschooling boys in a positive way instead of dreading the fact that they may not learn like the model student we’ve come to expect.
Home education is such a blessing, but oh what a refining fire for us mamas!
