I sat down the other day with my computer, planner, and calculator to determine what supplies we would need for the upcoming school year. I love being able to purchase the next set of books for my homeschoolers. I love giving them the books on the first day of school and seeing all the excitement. It was this was for me as a classroom teacher. Children love beginnings. Something happens along the way, however, and what starts out as excitement and an anxiousness to begin wains as the struggle to compete projects, pass tests and make it through the year takes over the heart and mind of a young learner.
I have this scenario on my mind a lot right now as I plan the next session of school. I also have been pondering a lot why they call it the 'new year.' It's not typically new, except for maybe that the teacher or class is different. The school is the same. The month you start is the same. The fact that you'll be sitting there the same amount of hours and on the same days doesn't change. So isn't it really just another sesson on a path of progressing through school? Does the big focus on 'new' turn it into something that eventually wears off and becomes boring and undesireable?
I want to change that condition, at least in my little school of influence. I want to start to teach about progression and the whole experience and spend less time on the short fireworks of the new year and first day of school mindset. I'll be developing this theme as I work through the summer to make plans for what we will now term (for us) Session 5. Come back and visit and leave a comment -- I'd like to hear your thoughts on this as well.
Thursday, July 14, 2011
Friday, April 15, 2011
Approaching An End...
Is it years of classroom teaching or just the established time frame of a school year that has me wondering about the past and looking ahead to the future school year? April always seems to bring me to a point of reflection, no matter the reason.
For us, we school year round, but the bulk of our curriculum is accomplished in the typical September to May school year. After years of classroom teaching I found that the months of summer caused me to have to spend unnecessary hours in review to bring last years students to this years needful place in order to move forward. We take a day off here and there and lighten the load during summer months, but we continue to learn and study without end or beginning.
This year's course work was accomplished along with many changes and adjustments, including the loss of parents/grandparents. Yet we continue in our educational pursuits. Happily I report math and language are on course. I will need to put a catch up program in place to work on our history course and science is always our summer pursuit having more time to devote to it with less course work. All in all, I feel satisfaction in our accomplishments while I continue to review and look for ways to improve. Such is the way of life of this homeschool mama.
Over the course of my years teaching I have studied many curricula giving me a good handle on what it takes to educate the mind of a child. No matter the course of study used, it takes time to build within each young soul the desire to learn. Self-teaching methodologies have always been my preference as it gives stewardhip to the learner. It encourages a love of learning from withing rather than a compelling to absorb and retain testable data.
My study this year has taken me further into the process of the Robinson course of instruction. It yields nicely to the methodologies I have already in place at present. My summer work will be in gather all the book materials I need to begin the 5th level come September as it is heavily literature based. I'll be reviewing and comparing e-reader vs. printed material reading options.
I am always grateful for the blessings of homeschooling. At times I do question myself when a moment of comparrison with children schooled by other means confronts me. This is not a competition of intelligence, nor a battle of what is right or wrong. It is a choice, made prayerfully not lightly. It is a gift I do not take lightly. I pray that the Lord will always guide this process and be a part of the education of His children in my care.
For us, we school year round, but the bulk of our curriculum is accomplished in the typical September to May school year. After years of classroom teaching I found that the months of summer caused me to have to spend unnecessary hours in review to bring last years students to this years needful place in order to move forward. We take a day off here and there and lighten the load during summer months, but we continue to learn and study without end or beginning.
This year's course work was accomplished along with many changes and adjustments, including the loss of parents/grandparents. Yet we continue in our educational pursuits. Happily I report math and language are on course. I will need to put a catch up program in place to work on our history course and science is always our summer pursuit having more time to devote to it with less course work. All in all, I feel satisfaction in our accomplishments while I continue to review and look for ways to improve. Such is the way of life of this homeschool mama.
Over the course of my years teaching I have studied many curricula giving me a good handle on what it takes to educate the mind of a child. No matter the course of study used, it takes time to build within each young soul the desire to learn. Self-teaching methodologies have always been my preference as it gives stewardhip to the learner. It encourages a love of learning from withing rather than a compelling to absorb and retain testable data.
My study this year has taken me further into the process of the Robinson course of instruction. It yields nicely to the methodologies I have already in place at present. My summer work will be in gather all the book materials I need to begin the 5th level come September as it is heavily literature based. I'll be reviewing and comparing e-reader vs. printed material reading options.
I am always grateful for the blessings of homeschooling. At times I do question myself when a moment of comparrison with children schooled by other means confronts me. This is not a competition of intelligence, nor a battle of what is right or wrong. It is a choice, made prayerfully not lightly. It is a gift I do not take lightly. I pray that the Lord will always guide this process and be a part of the education of His children in my care.
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