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"Should I, Shall I, Can I, Will I?" Part Two
© Joan Archer
Sep 15, 1999
As many different types of homeschoolers there are, there are also different ways of conducting homeschool. The most useful thing I have discovered is, get any idea of "playing school" out of your mind! Teaching your children at home is in no way related to the way it was when you were a child playing school with your friends on your mom's front porch. For one thing, if your children do not want to pay attention to you, you can't really threaten to punch them to get them back in line. (Well, I suppose you could, but I don't recommend it!) You also can't make them eat bugs or worms or anything else creepy, like you could with your little brother or sister. You can't make them sit in a corner with a dunce cap on, either. It's supposed to be bad for their "self esteem"!
Seriously, homeschool is very different in actual practice from both playing school and the way a formal school system runs things. An example is, not too many students have seen their teacher in her bathrobe. This might not appear significant to the casual observer, but it does represent a certain Achilles Heel in the homeschool setting. Teacher and student both know each other on intimate terms, and know which buttons to push to rev up each other's temper. Students in formal schools also learn how to do this to their teachers, but it usually takes a few months for them to learn what will antagonize the teacher. In homeschool, they are known straight out of the gate.
Another thing to remember is that this student and this teacher have been together forever, and will be together in some sort of bond forever. Your student will not be moving to another home for his next grade level! Sometimes, this makes homeschool a lot easier, sometimes it makes it extremely difficult. For example, I started a few days ago to teach our usual fare of Science, History, Math and English, but first I excitedly announced that we would be going on a field trip the following day, the day my sons normally would be going to their father's house. Well, you would have thought I had asked them to please remove a shoe so that I could insert flaming bamboo strips under their toenails! After a short lesson (three hours) on the Family Values of Graciousness, Cooperation, Gratitude, etc., we were totally burned out on each other and not in any way ready to tackle anything else that day. Formal school teachers do not have these types of family-related teaching problems!
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Dear Terrie-
I agree with you totally on the idea of studying a topic for long periods of time. I think many of us like to teach our kids little bits that stick forever, rather than teach huge chapte ...
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I'm really enjoying your articles. They are the most balenced and honest I've ever read. I also realized reading this article that although I started structured, I've become eclectic over the years. W ...
-- posted by Terrie_Bittner
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