Your child sits a little taller.
They start explaining details you didn’t even realize they remembered.
They grab a book to show you a picture and correct you when you get something wrong. They might even pull in a sibling because, clearly, everyone needs to know this.
And somewhere along the way, you realize just how much they’ve learned.
This is what happens when we let our child become the teacher in our homeschool.
Why Teaching Helps Kids Understand What They’re Learning
One of the simplest ways to deepen learning is to occasionally switch roles.
Instead of asking your child to answer another question about what they’ve learned, ask them to teach it to you.
“Can you explain how that works?”
“What are the three things I really need to know about this?”
“Pretend I’ve never heard of this before. Where should I start?”
You can even get something totally wrong on purpose and see how quickly they jump in to correct you.
Teaching requires something different than simply remembering an answer. Your child has to decide what matters, organize the information in a way that makes sense, and find the words to explain it.
And you get a front-row seat to what they actually understand.
Unit Studies Make This Easy
When kids spend time immersed in a topic, they naturally begin to develop their own areas of expertise. Unit studies naturally encourage this!
One child may become fascinated by the animals while another remembers every historical detail. And still, another wants to understand exactly how something works.
They can own that knowledge.
At the end of your next unit study, skip the traditional review for a day.
Ask your child to teach you instead.
Simple Ways to Let Your Child Be the Teacher
- Let them draw diagrams on the whiteboard.
- Create a demonstration.
- Give you a tour of their notebook.
- Quiz you.
- Make a poster.
- Explain their favorite discovery over lunch.
It doesn’t need to look like a formal presentation.
It’s simply an opportunity to say:
“You know something about this now. I want to hear what you have to say.”
You might be surprised by just how much they have to teach you.
Shawna Wingert is a special education teacher turned writer, speaker and consultant. She is also a homeschooling mom of two brilliant boys with differences and special needs. Shawna has written four books for parents – Everyday Autism, Special Education at Home, Parenting Chaos and her latest, Homeschooling Your Child With Special Needs. She helps parents of children with learning differences, behavioral challenges and special needs every day at DifferentByDesignLearning.com.