Teaching Meme
08.29.2007 If you have school age children then you are probably gearing up for the school year whether or not you homeschool. During the summer, we don't participate in any learning co-ops or take classes. We didn't even do any camps this year but that doesn't mean learning wasn't happening every day. Something that really impressed me this summer was that my 7 year old son (who will be 8 this Friday) read the entire volume of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Up until this book, I have read all of them to him and then he's listened to Jim Dale read them over and over and over. I'm pretty sure I hadn't read a book of that length at age 7. It is very heartwarming for me to see his inner bookworm flourishing!
Here in Virginia we homeschoolers must notify our district school superintendent of our intent to homeschool each year. We must provide documentation of our qualifications (in my case, I have a B.A.) and a brief description of our curriculum. Mine reads like this:
Learning is a lifestyle in our home and every moment is an opportunity for learning. In addition to this lifestyle of learning, Crux will be doing 3rd grade coursework in the following subjects: Math, Language Arts, Geography, Handwriting, History, Science, Spelling, Art, and Spanish. His studies will include resources such as books, field trips, videos, community resources, our local library,computer curriculum,cooperative learning classes and other resources that we deem useful.
I've never had any issues with the legal hoop jumping here in the city of Richmond. I think they are relieved to know there is one less student to tend to. In addition to notifying them of our intent, we must provide proof of educational achievement each year. This can be done in a variety of ways. We choose to do the easy route by doing the California Achievement Test which is scored by an outside source. The city is only concerned with Mathematics and Language Arts scores. We're done with that this year and all is well. Now we are gearing up for learning co-ops.
This year we will participate in a History co-op based around the book Story of the World. Crux will also be in co-op where he will learn Spanish, do arts and crafts and be in a Roots and Shoots Club. He will also be in a Junior Lego League this year! At home we will study math and spelling...formally. We got a new math book this year because Crux despised Math-U-See. We decided to study spelling mainly because he is forever asking how to spell things ! All the other stuff happens quite naturally in our lives . Heck, I'm feeling we might be too structured. If that happens, we're lucky enough to be able to adjust and tweak as we see fit because homeschooling is so DIY that way.
So, to kick off our Not Back to School celebration I will contemplate this meme sent to me by Kim at Relaxed Homeskool and I'll try and talk my mate into camping one more time this weekend before the books come in the mail :)
Teaching Meme
1. I am a good teacher because…I only have two "pupils" and this gives me a great deal of time to study them, thus I can facilitate their learning creatively and very specifically. Also, comsider myself to be a life learner...a polymath even.
2. If I weren’t a teacher I would be a…family and marriage counselor, Granola Bar manufacturer or a coffeehouse owner or eccentric artist type. I'm counting on having time to do one of these when the kids are little older.
3. My teaching style is…unschooly with a touch of structure here and there. So far, this has produced wonderful results. Our children have a say in how things go and if something isn't working, we change, no problem.
4. My classroom is…Classroom? Our home is a classroom. It is our sanctuary. Boychild proclaimed the other day that our home looks like the Weasley's Burrow. That was a great compliment in my opinion. I'd sure like that magical clock.
When we aren't home, the world is our classroom. I often wish we lived in a more European styled city with outdoor markets and vendors and a town square where the community mingled. This would be very conducive to our way of life me thinks.
5. My lesson plans are… Well, I'm a planner but my plans are often airy and grand ideas that occasionally come to fruition. I believe that I need to teach my children skills like reading and arithmetic. I expose them to many different subjects but I leave them to discover and pursue their own passions and interests.
6. One of my teaching goals… My larger goal as a parent and teacher is to produce people who can take care of themselves physically and emotionally. The academics are important only in that they will help them achieve their goals in life.
7. The toughest part of teaching is…patience. knowing when to begin and when to stop and how far to go.
8. The thing I love about teaching is…sharing the world with my children. Not only do we learn together but our family is so much stronger because of our choice to educate them.
9. A common misconception about teaching is…I do get tired of hearing people say, "You homeschool? I could never spend that much time with my children." This makes me sad.
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