Do you ever worry that your personal preferences influence the amount of enthusiasm you give a particular subject? Is there a subject you absolutely hate...and have to force yourself to teach? I was very enthusiastic about English, Science and Art....and hubby was VERY enthusiastic about Math. But neither of us liked History and we sort of dreaded teaching it. (If I'm honest, we did a really crappy job with it. LOL) As a result...we ended up with a kid who hated history as much as we did. Which makes me feel kinda bad. She still did well in it in High school, but our negative attitude definately rubbed off, and she grumbled her way through it. Anyone else have a subject they just hated teaching, or one they loved teaching? Do you ever wonder if your lack of fondness for a particular subject influenced your child in a negative way?
I am terrible with math. My oldest hates it with a passion (umm oops? :roll: ). I thought it was directly related to me. However, my next two love it! To the point where my 3rd grader will do multiple extra lessons in her free time, just because it is so much fun! Fun?? My favorite "subject" to teach is music. And we definitely all have that much in common
I don't mind teaching most anything up through 8th grade, and most things in high school. I'm naturally inclined toward language arts so I tend to enjoy reading, English, spelling, handwriting. I don't really enjoy high school composition, because "grading" is so subjective. I don't enjoy math much, especially high school after algebra I. Was never able to quite grasp chemistry. Fortunately for me, DH and I can split things up so that he does mostly Bible, math, some science and some history, and I do mostly language arts, some science and some history, and the "administration" tasks - planning, record-keeping, and so on. When our DS was doing school at home, DH was not terribly engaged as the instructor-parent, so I did with DS whatever got done after I got home around 5pm. DS has a natural bent toward life sciences, so he was pretty much free to explore that as he wished. He was resistant to pretty much all else, and I never did get him through pre-algebra. He tells me now how he wishes he'd paid better attention when I was trying to get him through high school. Now that we're homeschooling his son, at his request, he's very supportive of whatever we choose to teach. DGS has a natural interest in mechanical things, and math is the subject easiest for him, so maybe he'll become a well-rounded engineer! it's a little soon to tell, since he's just entering 4th grade.
I love history/Bible. I hate teaching math. Thankfully, Teaching Textbooks takes care of that for me, for the most part.
Favorite subject: History (well I was a History major and had my teaching certification in that ) and then Math (that was my minor and I had certification in that too) Least Favorite: Science I have never liked science but luckily dh does and we have folks at our co-op who normally do science classes. This way I rarely have to do an experiment with dd I do not think it has influenced dd too much. Luckily we have required subjects to teach this way I know have to make sure I get them all in. Art is something I enjoy but I know if it was not required I would put it on the back burner and never get to it. Since I have to turn in a quarterly report stating what I have done it works as an incentive for me to actually do it.
I have found I most enjoy science and history. I don't care for grammar and literature. I love to read and don't mind teaching reading, but high school literature is not my thing!
Math and science are my least favorite, however, I don't believe it has hindered her academic growth in the least.
I am not a fan of any subject! lol..crazy since I'm the primary teacher...personally nothing really gets me excited...it's all stuff you should know..and i don't see a reason you SHOULDN't know it...so I teach it..lol...now how well I am going to do..we will see at the end of the school year when i'm looking at grades lol
From most fun to most dreaded: Bible English (both grammar & writing) Music Elementary/middle Maths Foreign language High school sciences Elementary sciences Spelling Literature High school maths History Handwriting Art
I think I am in the minority here music is my least favorite. I love to listen to music and have it on all day long but I can not carry a tune to save my life. My best friend teases me all the time that I better not teach them singing.haha. I love science , art, and reading! My girls are young so just light history mostly bible based but my dad will be a big help in teaching history once they get older.
Music doesn't have to be singing. Listening to music is great Elle loved learning the recorder when she was little...gave her a great sense of accomplishment to learn to play a basic song. You can pick up a recorder super cheap if you don't have any other instruments available, and they make basic song books that teach VERY simple music reading for little kids. Learning whole, half and quarter notes is a great way to incorporate early fraction work Ya don't have to sing to enjoy music
Certainly not. Don't forget they give credit courses in college and high school for Music appreciation!
Writing. I do not like teaching writing. For history, I pretty much put that in the kids hands. We listen to books on tape. When I see a movie on history that I like, we watch that too. I have plenty of historical books around and I encourage them to read those books. But that is it. I try to keep it as enjoyable as possible, and I don't think reading a textbook and then answering questions will be that enjoyable, or retainable.