Are you homeschooling a child who thrives on directions and instructions? Does your child prefer to work with clear boundaries and structure? Does your child follow instructions in kits and recipes exactly? Is your child eager to please and loves to gain approval from adults and others they respect?

If you answered yes to any of these questions, you are raising what we call a Follower Learner.

Follower kids often thrive in a more traditional school-like setting. This doesn’t mean they can’t be home-educated, though. Today, we’ll offer a few tips for helping your Follower Learner develop a lifelong love of learning.

Homeschooling Follower Learners- Nurturing a Love of Learning Through Structure and Guidance

Unlike Explorers, Follower learners are not necessarily driven by a need to “discover” or question the material. These learners want to do things correctly and succeed by the given standards. 

Usually, these students won’t ask, “Why do I need to know this?” They’ll be motivated by the learning process itself, completing assignments accurately, and getting approval from others. However, outside-the-box thinking may be a bit more difficult for these students. Sometimes, this can be hard for parents who want a more relaxed homeschool. These students often require more effort from parents to provide a setting with clear expectations, schedules, and structure.

Building Skills and Confidence in Follower Learners

One of the best ways to support Follower Learners is to provide materials that cater to their need for clear instructions and guidance. Some of our more open-ended journals will frustrate Follower Learners. Parents may need to provide guidance and direction for these kids. For example, a sticky note with exactly what pages should be read from which book, how long an answer is required, and any other guidelines. We also offer several more structured journals, some of which I’ll mention below. As your student completes these activities, they will build confidence! 

Our journals offer predictable, engaging content and activities that help Follower Learners develop attention to detail, focus, and comprehension skills. Through these resources, your child can develop a love for learning.

Creating a Structured Learning Environment

Your Follower Learner likely appreciates a schedule. Starting the day with something like “circle time” and a visual schedule can be helpful. You do not have to be rigid in saying x activity at x time. Providing them with an expectation for what will occur in what order helps. Many families with Follower kids include pictures of the journals a student will be working in for the day. Have a quick wrap-up at the end of the day. This will give your Follower a chance to see all they accomplished and receive feedback- which they thrive on- from you or another adult! 

Journals like Transportation History and Adventures Around the World will appeal to their love of lists, charts, and historical facts. Each section of these journals is structured the same way, giving your Follower learner a clear expectation and predictability for what’s to come. Meanwhile, topics like Rocks & Minerals, All About Rainforests, and American History Timeline will appeal to their interest in organized, factual knowledge and clear timeframes. These provide a lot of structure and guidance—American History Timeline is one of our most structured journals.

Activities and Projects for Follower Learners

It is essential to have projects and activities that allow Follower Learners to follow instructions. Piano Lessons for Kids gives students a chance to learn to play without needing to hire outside help! They include lots of structure and detailed instructions for your students to learn to play the Piano confidently. The lessons will also appeal to their desire to please others by providing beautiful music for your home. 

Candlelight Brain Games is the most open-ended suggestion I will make today. Though it still appeals to Follower Learners. The goal of our Brain Games is to complete the missing parts of the pictures. Many Follower kids love it when a parent, older sibling, or another adult works on these with them. These allow students to embrace imperfection and creativity. If they become completely stuck, you can complete part of the page to give them an idea of what to do- or let them watch you finish it in your own copy.You can also encourage their love of lists and organization with projects like the Garden Research Handbook, which outlines the steps of planning and cultivating a garden. Through hands-on activities, they can see their plans come to life.

Fostering Independence While Providing Guidance

These learners also LOVE to follow any rules they possibly can. The Top 30 Grammar Mistakes is always a favorite for Follower Learners. It clearly outlines exactly what you should and should not do in Grammar. It is a journal students will sometimes complete once in late Elementary School/early Middle School and then again in High School. No matter your student’s future career or calling, knowledge of proper grammar will be needed. This is an excellent way to provide it in a way they can independently learn.

Our goal is always to help foster independence in our children. Rocks & Minerals and All About Rainforests also include fun hands-on projects for your students to complete. These give them another chance to follow instructions and learn to complete projects independently. Of course, you’ll be there to offer any needed guidance. For the most part, students should be able to complete these projects alone. 

You can also encourage students to create “step-by-step” guides for things they enjoy. By increasing their autonomy, you will help them learn to make decisions while still providing the support and structure they need to succeed. 

Involve Them and Have Fun!

Homeschooling Follower Learners is an exciting journey where structure, guidance, and encouragement are key. Ask for their feedback. See if they need/want more or less guidance, instruction, and lessons. Gradually ease up and see what they do independently after a while. About six weeks is a reasonable length of time to try something out. Then ask for their feedback and see what else would be helpful for them. As always, reach out if we can help at all.  With the right resources, like the We’re Following the Leader bundle and carefully selected books and activities, you can help these learners thrive, develop new skills, and take pride in their accomplishments. By fostering a structured yet nurturing environment, you’ll empower your Follower Learner to reach their full potential and enjoy the learning process every step of the way. 

If you’re homeschooling social kids, we’ve created this bundle just for them. It contains our most popular journals for Friend Learners and a suggested lesson plan. It and many of the journals mentioned above are on SALE for our March 2025 Follower Month.

PEEK Inside THIS BUNDLE – 

Hop over to Facebook and Instagram for a chance to peek inside the bundle. 

Stay tuned monthly as we announce a new secret theme with sales, giveaways, bundles, tips, and more.

Let us know what other questions and resources would be helpful for you to homeschool your Follower kid.