My husband and I were discussing homeschooling last night and he made a comment that stuck with me: "Basically, you are a first year elementary school teacher." Yeah, I guess I am! Wow. Every day there is something I get down on myself because I didn't get it done, or didn't do it as well as I wished I had with the kids. There are many days when homeschooling feels messy and I am uncertain about if this is the best option for my kids. Like Douglas said, "Teachers are usually not effective the first five years they are teaching." I have been teaching in various capacities for many years, from coaching cross-country skiing while in college, to teaching college now. Yet for some reason I expected to just be able to jump right in and be a super teacher homeschooling. Well, time definitely plays a role here. I do work, teaching 2-3 college classes, so I am balancing that on top of teaching the kids and other commitments.
I guess what that comment did was put this in perspective for me. I'm not an experienced elementary school teacher. I don't always know the answers to questions my kids ask (thank goodness for Google!). Even if I'd had 4+ years of college teaching me to be a teacher, I would still have plenty of questions, uncertainties and rough spots in my teaching if this were my first year in the classroom. Bottom line: I think I'll give myself a break, chill out a little and give myself a pat on the back for doing what I do.
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Michelle,
ReplyDeleteThanks for the link! I think I'll enjoy reading this. It is always nice to know someone else is feeling the same frustrations and experiencing the same worries.
While I will not claim the experience and knowledge Doug has (you all know what I do for a living :-), I will say having taught in both a homeschool setting and a school setting AND having worked many years with children who struggled to learn - you are accomplishing far more than you realize.
I think the best thing for a homeschool mom to do is pull our her old lesson plans every once in a while. It is in looking back we see how far we have progressed (or should I say they have progressed). It really boils down to not being able to see the forest for all the trees.
Besides, what I have read about your children's response to homeschooling, you are bound to make good progress in what really matters because THEY are enjoying (at least for the most part) their homeschooling experience.
You go girl!
Thanks for your encouragement! You're an old pro at this--relatively!
ReplyDeleteI keep reminding myself that good things are happening here, and not everything can be measured by a test score!