Home School Heartbeat Radio Program

Mike Smith:
Where would you rather spend a day, a surprise location, or at the Roman Coliseum? In Rome, right? Your students probably feel the same way. It’s easy to anticipate something that you know is fun or exciting, but how can you be sure you’ll enjoy the mystery destination?

Building anticipation in your children is important! Students who are excited about their trip will want to learn!

One way to start is to tell your child what he’ll see. One homeschooling family loves to visit battlefields because Dad tells about the battle on the way there. By the time they arrive, the whole family is eager to learn more.

You can also help your child plan good questions to ask during the trip. This is a great way to help your students retain what they’ve learned! It gives them a purpose for the trip, too. Now they’re on a mission—a quest for answers.

The best questions are specific enough to be interesting without being overly detailed. Yes-or-no questions don’t require much from the student, and questions with too many dates and numbers can be hard to remember.

Be sure to limit the number of questions, so finding the answers isn’t a hopeless task. And don’t give up—if your students can’t find the answers to their questions on the trip, they can still succeed by looking up the information after the trip.

And until next time, I’m Mike Smith.