On our Yahoo Group, Rebecca asked:
But
if you don't have any college behind you, wouldn't you feel as
though the teacher who has had 4 years of college to become a
certified school teacher, could likely teach the children some
things that you could not?
Well, I have a BA in Philosophy and something like 100 units
past that, but from too many colleges, so I don't have a masters.
There is a couple of Murphy's Laws of homeschooling at work
anyway:
Whatever you know a whole lot about,
your child will refuse to learn it!
And the corollary:
Whatever you know nothing about,
your child will desperately want to learn it.
Our support group had a mom in it who was literally a rocket
scientist. Did her children care to learn physics? Nope. They
wanted to learn biology! They were real keen on nature! They
wanted to identify trees by their leaves!
My husband had taken German, and I had taken French. Our son
decided with a friend to learn Latin! Even more so when I protested
I didn't KNOW Latin, and besides, Spanish was so much more practical
in California.
David Albert on this list has a story about learning how to
play the violin just so he could talk to his daughters about
music. David's a smart fellow, but he'd never taken up a musical
instrument in his life before homeschooling!
Teachers get a BA first in some subject matter, and then go
a 5th year or longer to get a masters in education. Been there.
Done that. I learned how to manage a class of about 30 kids,
how to create tests, how to use various machines, how to help
a non-English speaking kid learn English, the history of education.
Stuff a classroom teacher needs to know to survive. There is
NO correlation between what is learned at a school of education
and what you need to know to teach your own children! (Well,
it does help to know how to work a computer, but you have all
picked THAT up!)
Want to do something interesting? Google "School of Education"
and take a look at what is being offered at various education
programs. Is there ONE class that would be of use to you trying
to help your kids?
Here's Harvard's
education program --
The Masters Degree will teach the following:
The Ed.M. is designed to be a yearlong intensive program for
students who wish to study a particular field in education, acquire
a general theoretical background for understanding past and future
field experiences, or develop skills for use in professional
work in education. Our program offerings include:
- Arts in Education
- Mind, Brain and Education
- Education Policy and Management
- Risk and Prevention
- Higher Education
- School Leadership
- Human Development and Psychology
- Specialized
- International Education Policy
- Teacher Education Program
- Language and Literacy
- Technology, Innovation, and Education
- Learning and Teaching
Here's a state college's program - San
Jose State University near me in California. Your more "basic"
education college's Masters Degree:
- Health Education for Classroom Teachers
- Mainstreaming the Exceptional Child
- Psychological Foundations of Education
- Social-Multicultural Foundations of Education
- Meeting the Needs of Second-Language Learners
- Curriculum: Reading/Language Arts (2 courses)
- Curriculum: Science
- Curriculum: Social Studies
- Curriculum: Mathematics
- Orientation to Student Teaching
- Student Teaching: Practicum
- Critical Perspectives on Schooling for a Pluralist Democracy
- Classroom Management and Governance
Now I'm not knocking the titles, but the CONTENT of those
courses will be on how to do these things with a whole SLEW of
children in one small room. Yes, it is a "good idea"
to incorporate "Arts in Education," but do you really
need to make your child learn every art available? If you have
an "arty" child, then you just sign them up with the
art museum course! Simple as that! If not available, you just
supply the kid with different art materials and let them have
at it! A book or two from the library may help with project ideas
and technique as they get older. You don't need to know the theories
of art education in the schools to know to go buy your kid some
crayons and paper!
The "Curriculum" classes are a semester long, maybe
3 hours a week. How much science or history do you think a new
teacher learns in one of those? So how do "real" teachers
manage to teach something they know nothing about? They read
ahead, usually in the children's text books, and those are often
very wrong, just plain bad science and history! You, you get
to read real books written by real scientists and historians,
and then share your enthusiasm about the topic with your kids
in any fashion that gives pleasure to both of you, taking hours
or days to explore the subject together. I've heard of families
who have participated for years with historic reenactment groups
or making huge contributions to a specialized science or writing
a novel, just because they've had the time and enthusiasm to
do it.
Your first year will be your ""Practicum,"
so go easy on yourself. There is a learning curve, and it will
take about a year for both you and your children to find a comfort
level for living the learning lifestyle. It doesn't happen over
night.
You have so many advantages that teachers in public schools
do not!
First off you really LOVE your children! Nothing forced or
faked here!
They learn when they are ready, and you can go at a speed
that makes sense, going over or dropping topics, repeating or
moving on. They learn in a sunny room, or even outside! They
are not hungry, but are well fed according to your family's dietary
beliefs. They can go to the bathroom when they need to. They
get all the sleep they need, so are rested. If they need to move
about, they can. They are healthier, as they aren't exposed to
so many viruses, and if they do get sick, they have time to recover.
With all these proven and well researched learning pluses, you
can't miss! You just have to "be there" for your kids,
and give of your time and finances to keep their learning projects
happening!
I also liked Tammy's
reply to the post:
I'm going to surprise all of you and agree with Sarah, in several ways.
I have seen this actually, as a trend - parents who have not had any college experience tend to feel that certified teachers can give their children a better education.
A little (or a lot) of college teaches us that it's not necessarily true.
Also, I do agree that a teacher who has been certified
could likely teach my children things I could not. I also feel that pretty
much anyone we meet could likely teach my children things I could
not. I also feel that anyone we meet could likely teach my children
things a school teacher could not. And, I can teach things other people
could not.
Nobody can give a parent the confidence they need to live
a life of learning with their children. But, after a while, homeschooling
can teach confidence to parents who are nervous. Schools don't generally
teach that to parents.
Tammy
She's so right-on! Just about everyone in the whole world
can teach my child something I cannot! Everyone has such unique
experiences, that it is worth searching out others to find out
just what they can teach your child about life.
Do visit our "A2Z
Mentors" Yahoo Group to locate people and institutions
who wish to reach out to homeschoolers to teach something you
may not know how to teach. Most of these are local folks, which
is why I don't link to them on my site. The subject lines are
supposed to say where they are.
Our Field
Trips section is also a wealth of community resources for
mentors for your children.
In our Table of Contents for this page, check out the pages
under "I don't know how to teach." We're here to help
you understand how you can learn how to be the very best mentor
for your child. The very best! And when you can't be, how to
find others to volunteer or to do it for a fee.
