Homeschooling
I was bullied in school. I know that influenced my decision to homeschool.
The first time was when I was in first grade.
Our home backed up to the school so I walked through the fields to an opening between two houses that allowed me to easily get to my house. It was a really short walk and I had three younger siblings at home so it made sense that I walk home. Until they came after me.
These older kids on bikes started harassing me each day. They would ride around me and yell at me. The last straw was when they started lifting up my dress. I told my mom and then I had to tell the principal. Not fun.
I also had teachers bully me.
In 5th grade, my family moved in the middle of the year. My teacher for some reason thought it was appropriate to humiliate me in front of the class on several occasions. At one point she told me I’d have to go back to third grade because I couldn’t remember what 7×7 is (I STILL have problems with that one!)
I had some amazing teachers too.
They are the reason I became a teacher. Mrs. Holmes, my sewing teacher in middle school stands out. She saw that I loved sewing and allowed me to move forward at my own pace.
Mr. Russe was another teacher in middle school that had a powerful impact on me. He was my PE teacher and I was NOT athletic. He still cared about me and encouraged me. He never put me down and always inspired me to try harder.
I originally wanted to teach at the college level. I wanted to teach people that wanted to learn. And I did for a bit before I had my first son.
It was when this son got to be old enough for kindergarten that homeschooling got on my radar. It took me a couple of years to start but 20 years later I’m still at it.
And one of the reasons I love it is that I get to teach kids that want to learn.
It took me a while to figure out how to adjust things so that my kids and students wanted to learn. It seemed to be more of a challenge when they got into middle and high school but I loved the challenge! Still do!
I love being able to inspire my youngest son and my students by incorporating real-life situations. I show them WHY they need to learn it and HOW they can use what they learn. I also include things they are passionate about in their learning whenever possible.
My son right now is really interested in philosophy so we are spending time on philosophers of the ancient world. I have a student that loves cooking so in world history we are including information about food. As Einstein said:
“I never teach my pupils.
I only attempt to provide the conditions
in which they can learn.”
Today more and more people are interested in homeschooling, especially at the middle and high school levels…
And there are many that feel they really should be homeschooling but they can’t see how.
Maybe they are concerned about what is happening in the public school system right now. Or maybe they don’t feel up to homeschooling the upper grades on their own.
I can help.
If they would like more information please have them contact me at info@realizinggenius.com and we can schedule a call. Thanks so much!