How do you teach? What curriculum do you use? What is your daily schedule like? Do you have school in your pajamas? When people find out I am a homeschooler, I'm flooded with a multitude of these questions. Of course, I love to talk about education so I'm happy to answer all of their questions. I can go on and on about what curriculum we use. I can tell you why we love it. I can tell you just as much about the curriculums we don't use and why. I can explain some of my teaching methods. I can give you a summary of our daily schedule. Yes, we occasionally have school in our pajamas, but not regularly. (I think I explained pajama days in a previous post . . . . somewhere)
If you know me at all, you know I am a talker. A friend in college once said, "Rachelle, you have an opinion about everything - what do you think?" Yes, that accurately describes me. I generally do have an opinion about everything and I will gladly share it with you if you ask (and sometimes even if you don't). I can talk about teaching and literature selections and curriculum options all day. However, I think all too often we approach education from the wrong perspective. We, as teachers and parents, approach education from OUR perspective. All too often we teach the way we understand a concept. I explain it the way I understand it, but it isn't always how a student understands the information.
There has, for many years, been a lot of discussion in education about learning styles. We all learn things at our own pace and in our own ways. I was amazed by my experience in the hospital. When the twins were in the NICU the medical staff was charged with not only their care, but also my education. They had to be sure that I understood the goals for the girls while they were in the hospital and what care the girls needed when we took them home. They asked me several times during our stay how I was best able to learn new things. Did I need to see it, do it, hear it, or read it? As a teacher, I was very impressed by how thorough they were in educating me about the procedures and specific needs of the girls. The medical field understands that we all learn differently. Why do we as parents and teachers sometimes forget?
So much of the success of excellent teachers and successful homeschoolers hinges not on a teacher's excellent teaching, but on a teacher's excellent learning. A teacher must be actively learning about her students each day. I spend 24 hours a day with my students and yet, I can become so consumed with the lesson and not the student that I only teach the lesson my way and forget about how each of my students best learn and understand.
The kids have discovered a new favorite PBS Kids show. It is really silly. It is called The Odd Squad. It teaches Math concepts, which is great, but it is geared for a much younger age group than my kids. Still, they love it. On one episode two of the characters are discussing what kind of pet to get. At one point one of the characters says something like 'I feel like we're having two different conversations.' Do you ever feel like you are having two completely different conversations with someone? You are saying one thing, but they are hearing something completely different. Perhaps it is because we as parents and teachers think our main job is talking (did I mention I love to talk?) when our main job should be observing and listening. The more we learn about our students, the better teacher we can be for them. Yes, curriculum matters. Yes, methods and materials matter too. Connecting with a child, teaching them 'their' way and not 'my' way should matter more.
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