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Teaching Tips December 2010 |
If you have just pulled your child out of public or private school to homeschool, take heart. It doesn’t really matter that you’re starting in the middle of the academic year. Despite what you’ve been told, education is not grade-level-sensitive or calendar-time-sensitive. What does matter is that you recognize some adjustments will be coming.
As the quote of the month suggests, inclement weather requires different gear. The first major adjustment is what is known as decompression. It comes from the analogy of a deep sea diver who must go through a process of decompression that changes the atmospheric pressure around the diver as he resurfaces. He cannot move from the two drastically different environments of the deep sea to the ocean’s surface without it. The situation is the same for many students coming from a public or private group classroom situation to homeschooling. The student is moving from a contained environment with children the same age and maturity level (or lack thereof), where there is little direct personal responsibility, and where the student is treated as a peg that must fit into a specified hole. The student is moving from a broad social environment to a narrow individualized environment where there is no place to hide. There are no teacher/student personality clashes to blame and no classroom distractions to blame. It is make it or break it time. For some students, having the parent also be the teacher is an adjustment in itself, especially if there is not a close relationship to begin with – which is often the case since the public school student spends so much time at school, in the company of peers. In other cases, if bullying or social intimidation were behind the decision to homeschool, there needs to be a time of healing and restoration of self-image in a loving, protective environment. These students are often overly-sensitive to any sort of criticism or correction, even on daily school work. In still other cases, the one-size-fits-all approach to group schooling has convinced the student that he or she is stupid and can’t learn. The joy of learning is long gone. Your initial job will be to undo those thought patterns by totally changing the way your schooling is done. Don’t be surprised if it takes the rest of the school year for your student to decompress. Six months is pretty typical. Before you jump right into homeschooling, consider the situation that brought your family to this point. If your student is struggling academically, consider using supplemental workbooks that keep the lessons short but consistent. These will help you determine what your student really knows and what needs to be covered yet, as well as providing some practice to keep skills current. If your student has lost the joy of learning, consider beginning with only one or two subjects that the student likes, doing a sort of intensive unit study in that subject. Let the student run with the topic. Then bit by bit add the other subjects that are required. Remember, you can go through the summer, and since homeschooling is more efficient, you will probably catch up over the rest of the year anyway. If your student is doing well academically or seems bored with school, consider going to the next grade level. Most skills spiral across three years, so chances are you won’t miss anything vital. The challenge and a fresh new start may be just the spark the student needs. 626 Words To view more 'Teaching Tips' Articles please 'Log In' and visit the 'Achives' page. |
