I was pondering this the other day. As a member of an association we get together but never really discuss the nitty gritty of our methods. Sure we know what curriculum so and so uses but not how do they impart the lessons. So my question is thus, how do you teach your children. Do you merely read the material to your kids or do you lecture.? Would you rate yourself as a easy teacher or a hard teacher? And how much do you find homeschooling has become more then just education to you. Has it permiated more then just the lesson books in your home? Do you find yourself thinking about what to do next with exhileration or dread? I was wondering this because so many of the mothers in our group homeschool for various reasons. So whatever the reason for homeschooling aside now that you are in the thick of it, what is your style? I consider myself an firm yet patient teacher. I choose to lecture with dramatic flare to keep them entertained and not find their minds wandering elsewhere. I love to keep my kids happily learning and yet make sure the work is being done correctly.
I guess I am mix of a hard and an easy teacher. I do read some material to my kids but I also lecture. Some days are longer than others and some days I spend more or less time with the kids. Being that they are in 8th and 9th grade I expect them to work more independently but can come to me with questions. Depending on what we are studying determines how much time we spend reading and discussing.
Interesting questions. We interact with information in a manner than would be considered deep and wide. We dig deep into topics and refrain from textbooks for many subjects. We cover a wide variety of topics as well. I wouldn't really say that I lecture or read. I read material and present material, but it is more collaborative or discussion-based. I seek to engage my kids. Sometimes that involves picking the right curriculum, but mostly it is looking at a topic and discovering how interesting it really is. I hate being bored so we have every day different. I used several different materials/resources for each subject and those resources typically involve different modalities. It keeps things interesting for me and my kids. I'm probably a hard teacher in some ways and an easy teacher in other ways. My kids don't know any difference. I rarely give tests or quizzes. We talk. We discuss. If something isn't working we change it. So I'm easy that way. I also have my kids in school for 6 hours a day. I don't allow whining and I expect them to do their best. I keep them challenged. Busy work has no purpose here. So maybe I'm hard Either way I'm enjoying the journey and it appears as though my kids are as well.
We do a lot of different things. For math, we introduce new concepts with activities, then move on to a workbook. My kids are young, so I never just leave them with a lesson and then walk away. I do leave my son with his workbook sometimes and have him tell me when he is done. Most of our learning is hands on. Maybe in conjunction with a workbook page, but usually involving an activity, craft or outing. I always want them to be engaged in learning, so I get their input on what they want to learn about. Right now our socials and science are wrapped up with a book study that will have us learning a bit of geography, native culture, and about whales. Next they want to learn about castles, so I've take that and put together a study of the ganre of "Fairy Tales". We have ideas for language arts, science, visual art, and socials! I love it!
Plain Jane. That's my clothing and hair style and it's my teaching style, too. I learned early on that when I'm doing fancy lesson plans I burn out. I'm just not that kind of person. We follow a routine, but we're flexible for life. We go on rabbit trails sometimes, but since I'm a box checker we never take them too far. We cover the things in the teachers guides, but I do it in my own words and often expound. I am enthusiastic about some things like literature, history and science and that carries over to them most of the time. I am not enthusiastic about math, so I got Teaching Textbooks to fill in for me there. If I take the things I most hate doing and find a way for them to do it independently, or somewhere else (my mom teaches art) I have more energy for the things I like and that keeps me from burning out.
I'm mostly replying so that I'll remember to follow along on this thread, because I'd love to read everyone's techniques. We've just barely begun, but I'm already seeing a tiny tiny pattern emerge. Grammar and Math -- he mostly works on the workbook himself and asks questions from me for clarification (or looks back through the unit text to find out for himself). History -- Lecture; and I give him fill in the blank notes to read along with me. He asks questions, though, so this gives us more of a dialogue than a straight lecture. Reading -- He finds the stories b o r i n g and a bit long. So, I read the story to him for right now. I want him to get to more comfortable reading on his own, though, so this is an area we need to work on. Science, Bible, Economics -- He reads and answers questions as he goes. Science is much more interesting to him than the stories in the Lit book, so this goes a little better for him. Eco and Bible are much shorter, so he's able to concentrate on them a little better on his own vs the Lit book.
I have become more and more eclectic. I started out as a by the book, just like school homeschooler. Now I don't. We go through the lesson but just as a guide to further study. I incoporate tons of art and practical lessons throughout. I've found when doing this with highschool you can add a credit just from the "extras" some of my children don't learn this way specifically my HS DD this year she needs more structure in everything but history thats her real niche, she LOVES IT.
Relaxed, very relaxed, but not without some "have-to's" and boundaries. I have changed from school at home to a more relaxed, lifestyle of learning technique. Here are some ways that this is implemented: 1. I rarely test him. 2. A lot of history is just reading, some conversation and some writing. 3. I don't follow a curriculum's plan to a "T". The only book I plan on finishing is the math workbooks we have (algebra), but even that is not for sure. 4. I count things he does of his own choosing as a class if he is learning and spending a significant amount of time on it. For example: he loves guns and shoots targets just about everyday and he reads about guns and ballistics and watches documentaries on them also. I am going to count this as a class or maybe two. He has just recently started posting on a forum on the web. He has already mentioned that his typing is getting better. If he spends enough time doing that and shows improvement- he will get credit for typing (a semester or a year, depending). While I used to be a person who thought, "curriculum is the key to a successful homeschool", I now think it is more about relationships and having the right motivation when I want him to do something: 1. Am I motivated to keep up with the Joneses or to show that we are better? Or am I motivated by wanting to help my son have the tools he needs to do whatever he chooses in the future. 2. Am I overly concerned that he isn't keeping up the "expected" pace? Or am I working where he can handle, while challenging him in appropriate ways. Anyway, I don't believe homeschooling should be about making our children fit into a pre-molded box, but rather finding their niche and letting them fill it out with some basic parameters.
Love these questions! I try to be fair yet firm. For instance, if the lesson is how to write a sentence, I don't care about neatness (just content). If it's a handwriting lesson, neatness counts. I'm working to allow more 'unschooling' in our sci and ss (it's hard.. I need a schedule to keep us on track and I get frantic if I feel like we aren't quite following it) I never assign busy work, so maybe my kids have fewer math problems than other kids , but that works here. I firmly believe in exposure over mastery right now (2nd and 4th grade), so although we do have tests and quizzes, I help my kids cheat a ridiculous amount. I personally feel like the 'cheating' (but we don't call it that, I just give a lot of hints if needed) teaches them as much about the concept as the previous material. I've always felt that educating my kids about life was my job as a parent, anyway, so that really hasn't changed. Most subjects run in something like this: Lecture/teaching (I write whatever on the board we need to focus on, I explain the concept. OR alternatively, I read the selection/co-read with ds. Discussion Written work/practice (if any). I really am a teacher, in the sense that there is a serious element of school-at-home, but it seems to work out really well for us. I do like workbooks for written practice, but can't really imagine handing my kids anything and walking away. I did try that (in desperation) with ds when I first brought him home, but he didn't like it either. I'm more excited than the kids are about school, I think :lol:. I spent something like 3hrs putting together a little book for our 15min lesson on getting lost in the woods. Pretty typical for me (although I finished that one in one sitting, which isn't usually the case!). That might wear off as time goes on. In another month, I'll have 'officially' been homeschooling dd for all subjects for an entire year (technically, we've passed that mark on phonics/reading though). Adding: I hate anything scripted or too lined up for me. No matter what it is, I'm tweaking it. Probably why I make up so many worksheets/units
LOl totally get that. Nancy sv not sure because computer never implies tone was that sarcasm And by lecturing I mean presenting the idea with a lot of questions about content to gauge what the kids already think they know. And I allow them to question me which sometimes turns from a lecture to more of a discussion. But sometimes we have a wonderful lecture full of funny diagrams and drama to keep them in their seats. I love those days Of course I don't make it too long either since the kids are so young. No more then a half hour of me carrying on
My teaching style is mostly dictated by my son's learning style. We are both very much alike in that we love to read and he loves textbooks! We do alot of discussion and I am one for "seeing the work". Yup...I'm a tester. I like to see that he has not only learned but has retained. Fortunately, he likes to show what he has learned so he is ok with it. Although, my son does say that I am tough. He will try to get out of doing assignments or make excuses for prolonging them occassionally but after 3 years, he knows that isn't going to happen. I am a type A personality but having a child with Asperger's Syndrome has taught me flexability. So while I am fairly strict, my son has taught me to zig and zag a bit.
Great question! I used to have a history professor, who would lecture like he was telling a campfire story. We would all love listening, it was a performance... I always think of that when I teach my own kids..I enjoy lecturing, but never make it boring. I will sprinkle it with jokes, just to make sure they're not falling asleep, lol. They are always allowed to ask questions, which makes most of my lectures turn into a discussion. Any topics that come up unrelated to the subject at hand I write on the board, and we follow up on that later. They actually enjoy listening as much as I enjoy talking I use the teacher textbooks, but make up my own words and examples, and pick and choose as I see fit. For math I follow the textbooks to the letter, since that's my weak point, and I want to make sure I teach it to them correctly. I would say I'm a strict teacher, in that I expect them to always make an effort. For example, I know my 8 yr old has very nice handwriting, so if he comes to me with a grammar or social studies assignment, and it looks horrible, he has to rewrite it, even if the contents were perfect. Sloppy work is a complete no-no. Spelling is also immediately corrected. I'm not that big on formal tests per se, but I do like to do an oral assessment, and if I judge them to be lacking, then we do the same thing again after a few days, until they comprehend it. Homeschooling, even though we've only been doing it for a few weeks, seems very natural now, in that they enjoy learning new things, look forward to the new books I get to research a certain topic, and are all learning about each other as much as we learn about different subjects.
I had a history teacher in high school that taught like this. We were expected to take notes, but she'd sit down in her comfy cushiony chair and our desks were arranged around her. She'd just tell us history stories. I loved it! Sometimes, she would turn out the lights and say "today, I'm going to tell you a story". That was our cue that it was a non-note taking day and we could just listen. Of course, she was a tough teacher, too. Her tests were killer! You had to know the stuff she had lectured on. And every day she would draw names from a jar and ask about current events -- so we had to read the newspaper every morning before getting to school! She is a legend in my high school.
lol!! I think you had the female version of our teacher!! He was a really interesting character, his family escaped form germany when he was a kid during the war, and he'd tell us baout that...his first sentence every time we started would be (translated from dutch) "kiddies, kiddies, who wants to know something??" And we werent kiddies, we were all gangly older teens Well, that translation sucks, but it was funny..BUT no one ever scored an A on his tests!! his whole test about Columbus discovering the americas was this: 'You are aboard one of Columbus' ships. Desribe yourself, the people around you, and a day out of your life." That was the whole test!
WOW! I bet he was fascinating! Gosh, I'd love to go sit through his class now, at my age! lol. Though, I'd rather skip his test! whoa!! :shock: I went into my history class thinking I would hate it. She is well-known for beginning the first day of class talking about evolution. Of course, as rumors go, it was blown out of proportion. She did start with evolution, but she didn't hold you over a fire to believe it, either; which was sorta how she was made out to do. She basically spent 10 seconds saying that's how the world started and then she moved on. I don't even think there was a test question over that. Anyway, now, it just makes me sad that such a fascinating and funny lady doesn't know the Truth.
I'm relaxed, bordering on lazy. If I don't like teaching a boring subject, then odds are they don't like learning it. I try to find practical ways to meet the goals I have in mind for them. No lectures, just answering questions. We may read a book together or even a teacher manual presentation, though. We use a few texts/workbooks like Math-U-See, ACE Biology w/DVD labs for ds15 and Considering God's Creation for ds12, Easy Grammar for dd and Daily Grams for ds. I find that they prefer to dig in to any subject they can pick up on their own by themselves. I use that time to do some of my chores and things and I'm there for any questions. For history, we read books and watch documentaries. I plan on meeting some interviewing and writing goals I have this year for history as well. In general, I have a check-in prior to the beginning of a new concept and daily check-ins to see that they are understanding material. We used to unschool and I so wish we could do that now. I just don't see how my need for variety and go-with-the-flow would serve my kids well. The older the kids get the more I see that there are, in fact, a set of standards that colleges will expect them to have met. The best way for us to meet those is just by gettin' 'er done. But he subjects that interest the kids they dig in to on their own or as a family. They are never at a lack for learning. And I am never at a loss for teaching. So, in summary , they ask a lot of questions and I answer them or we find the answer together.
In a way I think tests like that would be much better than the ones out there most of the time. I do think however it would be better in open book format or even library research type of project for a test grade. If my son felt better about his ability to write, he would do well on a test like that, instead of the random names and dates so many tests ask about.
Well our highest grade atm is 1st and the curriculum I bought for him is very much spoon feeding ME to teach him. So I read the material but I do it in a conversational way to engage him. I will add a task or challenge or ask related questions that aren't in the teacher's guide. And with our FIAR well all bets are off. I read the book and I do the little unit lessons with them but if they take the conversation somewhere I hadn't thought of we go with it. That's the joy of that curriculum for me. I am a laid back and natural teacher. Without much thought or effort I turn pretty much everything into a learning moment so learning and school are fun and natural for them. I can't imagine ever being a lecturer.
