There are those who seek knowledge for the sake of knowledge; that is curiosity. There are those who seek knowledge to be known by others; that is vanity. There are others who seek knowledge in order to serve; that is love.
St. Bernard of Clairvaux
Being a mother already makes you a teacher, someone told me once! How true! We parents are the first teachers of our children. We dedicate our lives to the formation of our kid's character, skills, and habits, but at times we go on with life not being aware of it. Our life and experiences are the teaching tools we equip our little ones to face the world in all its forms. We are molding their little souls in every action, word, and deed; we are marking a print on their innocent spirits as they grow. Being a homeschooler is what I see as an extension of that arduous labor of motherhood; in a different context, yes! but in the same spectrum of the mission.
Looking back at my old teacher self, I could clearly see how I evolved and changed my teaching style. I started you may say... stiff. I played safe and limited our learning to the textbooks at first. I was not being as creative and resourceful as I should back then, I had to learn to expand my options and get to the kids level to make learning appealing. Without a degree in education, any kind of tool is a complete discovery and revelation, yes! crafting a method of teaching was the way to communicate and introduce concepts and skills. This new language had to be experienced, not planned. Homeschool was an open invitation to get to know my kid's way of learning and I was on the right track to discover the new and many ways to help them achieve milestones in their own unique way.
The best push to break free as a homeschool mom was to my surprise: obstacles! you heard right, obstacles are frustrating indeed, but they are a wake-up call to creativity. When my daughter began to learn addition and subtraction even the clock we hit various bumps, we had to overcome. I tried the teacher manual's way, my way, dad's way, but nope! none work, so what then? At first pure frustration and the overwhelming feeling of being stuck and powerless, but then came: research!
And with research, my biggest weapons:
I am a visual learner as my daughter, but contrary in the style, I need my learning to be comprehensive, it has to make sense to me before it sticks; for her, it has to stick before it makes sense to her! ufff I said it! I hope it made sense, Because believe me, this was key for me to change "my way" and focus on hers once and for all. Here, exactly here, is where I referred before as the language we had to learn to speak from now on.
The resources mentioned above opened up for me new ways that could support the structure of our curriculum, we had a good frame but now, we had to make it practical. Here is worth to mention, our curriculum invites to expand the lessons with resources to enrich teaching, but sometimes their suggestions are not enough and it is hard to come up with new ones that are effective for your particular child. Thankfully I became familiar with the Montessori method, thanks to Pinterest. Here I was able to include new materials and activities that helped my children explore with their senses all the concepts they were being introduced. I must say: this great resource changed my whole perspective about teaching, in a way made me reflect that it has been there all along. We, people, hear many beautiful words and teachings but it just slips us by. Only until we hear and witness a story we are inspired to model, it stays with us as learning lesson hard to forget. We learn better by experience not by theory alone. They have to go hand by hand in school matters and in life in general.
I have been so far collecting the steps of homeschooling: The why we chose to do it here, the curriculum here, and the room we created here, but without a doubt, this step: the teaching journey of a mother, is the richest and most challenging of all. I have learned to get rid of expectations, to become more patient, to celebrate wins and losses, to be perseverant, to embrace structure as well as hands-on experiences, but most importantly I have learned to constantly reinvent myself and adjust to my kid's needs as they go, unlocking resources and being very observant of my kid's clues on their individual process of learning.
My other kids had brought to my attention another set of needs that brought me to be flexible, for example. My boy a difference to the girls doesn't enjoy sitting at a desk for a period of time, he likes to bounce, run and fiddle, he is my "jumping bean", so I became aware of it and adjusted his desk time only for crafts and handwriting. I allow him to change scenarios for other subjects. He also loves stories even in Math and funny ones, so whenever we are doing Math we bring our counters and I make up for him funny scenarios to help him remember what we have learned. He is lucky I am sort of a storyteller, it works just fine! He also is very sensorial and loves manipulatives, from flashlights to play dough, to pipe cleaners, to army people to add and subtract in battle hehehe 😄. He surely makes me go the extra mile of fun!
Resources such as posters, plays, salt maps, experiments, inventions, allowed my kids to improve retention. My girls are very artistic and love to color, draw and craft away their subjects! It surely forces us to have lengthy weeks, but they do it with such a joy and enthusiasm that I don't mind it at all.
Again I want them to learn not to score. I continue to be attentive to my kid's abilities and strengths and from there I research online the best strategies to complement our learning experience. I have become a more relaxed and open minded mom and teacher, my biggest achievement has been without a doubt to learn and enrich from difficulty and obstacles and to get to know my kids in a more deeper and compassionate level.
Understanding my kid's way to learn is a journey of love, of sacrificing my way for what it works for them, it helps me to celebrate, never to compare and to build on their strengths instead of pushing on my agenda.
Teaching has taught me! I evolved from trying to plan learning to live learning. I continue to evolve as a mother into a teacher and as a teacher into a mother. Hand by hand education meets reason and faith. Love and service. Fear and trust.
The best push to break free as a homeschool mom was to my surprise: obstacles! you heard right, obstacles are frustrating indeed, but they are a wake-up call to creativity. When my daughter began to learn addition and subtraction even the clock we hit various bumps, we had to overcome. I tried the teacher manual's way, my way, dad's way, but nope! none work, so what then? At first pure frustration and the overwhelming feeling of being stuck and powerless, but then came: research!
And with research, my biggest weapons:
- Youtube videos
- Homeschool blogs
I am a visual learner as my daughter, but contrary in the style, I need my learning to be comprehensive, it has to make sense to me before it sticks; for her, it has to stick before it makes sense to her! ufff I said it! I hope it made sense, Because believe me, this was key for me to change "my way" and focus on hers once and for all. Here, exactly here, is where I referred before as the language we had to learn to speak from now on.
The resources mentioned above opened up for me new ways that could support the structure of our curriculum, we had a good frame but now, we had to make it practical. Here is worth to mention, our curriculum invites to expand the lessons with resources to enrich teaching, but sometimes their suggestions are not enough and it is hard to come up with new ones that are effective for your particular child. Thankfully I became familiar with the Montessori method, thanks to Pinterest. Here I was able to include new materials and activities that helped my children explore with their senses all the concepts they were being introduced. I must say: this great resource changed my whole perspective about teaching, in a way made me reflect that it has been there all along. We, people, hear many beautiful words and teachings but it just slips us by. Only until we hear and witness a story we are inspired to model, it stays with us as learning lesson hard to forget. We learn better by experience not by theory alone. They have to go hand by hand in school matters and in life in general.
My other kids had brought to my attention another set of needs that brought me to be flexible, for example. My boy a difference to the girls doesn't enjoy sitting at a desk for a period of time, he likes to bounce, run and fiddle, he is my "jumping bean", so I became aware of it and adjusted his desk time only for crafts and handwriting. I allow him to change scenarios for other subjects. He also loves stories even in Math and funny ones, so whenever we are doing Math we bring our counters and I make up for him funny scenarios to help him remember what we have learned. He is lucky I am sort of a storyteller, it works just fine! He also is very sensorial and loves manipulatives, from flashlights to play dough, to pipe cleaners, to army people to add and subtract in battle hehehe 😄. He surely makes me go the extra mile of fun!
Again I want them to learn not to score. I continue to be attentive to my kid's abilities and strengths and from there I research online the best strategies to complement our learning experience. I have become a more relaxed and open minded mom and teacher, my biggest achievement has been without a doubt to learn and enrich from difficulty and obstacles and to get to know my kids in a more deeper and compassionate level.
Understanding my kid's way to learn is a journey of love, of sacrificing my way for what it works for them, it helps me to celebrate, never to compare and to build on their strengths instead of pushing on my agenda.
Teaching has taught me! I evolved from trying to plan learning to live learning. I continue to evolve as a mother into a teacher and as a teacher into a mother. Hand by hand education meets reason and faith. Love and service. Fear and trust.
