It truly does. Each Wednesday when I teach my class and I assign questions for them to answer, every unschooly fiber of my being rebels.
If I had my choice I would just let them knit, play with Bionicles, and do mock Mythbusters experiments the whole time. Each week the ""class time gets shorter. Each week the kids come armed with more of what they're interested in to share with each other.
I don't force "homework" on any of the kids. Some of them LOVE to research and find the answers. Some print out a Wikipedia article that they can barely read. Some never remember to find the answers.
I've had a couple of people ask me how *I* ended up teaching a class. I am doing it because we are trying to create a homeschool resource center for homeschoolers to use as they wish, and one thing a lot of them ask for is the opportunity for the kids to take some classes. And since I'm trying to help get this going, I'm teaching. Since I'm teaching, it's history.
So we'll continue. We have a couple more months to go. The kids are having a good time. My boys wouldn't miss it for anything.
I'm the only one having any trouble.
5 comments:
You are the kind of teacher I wish I had had but never did.
Okay, on the unschooly front....the issue I am wondering about is things like (gasp) multiplication tables. How did your kids get familiar with mulitiplication and such. We've been struggling here, though we are almost done, but as I mellow in my "old age" I'm wondering if I will need to go through this arduous task again with Maggie, or if there is a better way. Or if since she sucks up everything right now with addition, maybe I should just tell her that she is so smart, and have her learn those while she isn't even wondering WHY she would need to do them....or...or....HELP ME JANE!!!
Or tell me on Wednesday over coffee. None of us were in the mood for coffee, so maybe we should meet at Brickhouse again and you can judge....
That's what I would do. :)
When Andrew was littler, he would ask for "homework." So I would make up pages of problems for him, and we started on multiplication as soon as he could add.
We have always spent so much time in the car that most of the learning of multiplication tables happened in the form of car games.
Thanks!!!
Oh Lora, run to Wal-mart and buy a plastic placemat for 98 cents that has the multiplication tables on it - 1-12's. On the back there are some questions and problems. Your Maggie sounds like she would soak that up while eating.
I just got these the other day, a different one for each kid. So we have besides the multiplication, the presidents, the planets (this year's science), and the USA map. They are enjoying pouring over them and we'll switch them around as the weeks progress.
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