Homeschooling mothers, I doff my hat to thee.
I was overwhelmed. Prob'ly five-six hours worth of schooling with a lot of distractions, interruptions "wait-a-minute"s and a few chores thrown in left me feelin' pretty...tired.
I know a lot about a 4th-graders view on Ancient Egypt now.
I was discouraged, horribly discouraged, as I neared the home-stretch that day. "How on earth," thought me, "Will I ever be able to home school my children AND keep up with my cooking and laundry and shopping and cleaning at this rate? One student and a few chores leaves me feeling wasted. How will I cope with....I dunno...four kids and ALL of the chores?"
Then, as usual, Mum helped to quiet my troubles. "You've got lots of time to practice," sounds pretty good in comparison to "How on earth am I going to manage at this rate."
Optimism, girls, Optimism.
What I've learned:
- A few things that I didn't remember about Ancient Egypt.
- When schooling a boy, teach him how to lead. Don't constantly be stomping down his ideas just because you don't want to do them. (If he wants to do Math, Geography and Spelling when the schedule says "Bible, History and Art" go ahead with his idea. It shouldn't be that bad.)
- Stop and ask questions. Sometimes vivacious young people ('round the age of 9) fall prey to daydreaming during all that reading. I hope it helps them to concentrate and remember things, when they know that the teacher is going to ask what was just read.
2 comments:
I teach a four-year-old and a two-year-old every schoolday for at least an hour...usually more.
The biggest balance I'm learning is maintaining direction and loosing exploration, so I liked your points. I'm not a big scheduled person at all: some days I feel like, "Let's just forget about calendar time and read stacks and stacks of books!"
And sometimes we do.
I feel your second point is applicable both to girls and boys, and more from an academic standpoint. Younger kids are more pliable when their interest is engaged -- thus the fact that we do more science experiments than coloring at the Preschool Zone. ;o) And boys are jittery that way. They don't like sitting still. They like to shake things up. They function in chaos.
You do and will make a fantastic homeschool teacher, dear Anna.
Well thanks, Bailey. :)
I like to hear about you and your students. :)
Who would have thought that we'd be joining our parents in the world of what methods to use/what curriculum/etc. Kinda makes one feel grown up. :D
Post a Comment