Thoughts from the "Teacher"

I have been homeschooling for the last 4 years. So far it has been a fun and sometimes stressful learning experience. I have learned new ways of teaching as well as learning, from other home school moms, blogs, conventions, workshops and books. Over the last year, I have become a little bit more “loose” with homeschooling and it has turned into a wonderful experience.

I started out being the “Traditional” home school teacher , where everything had to be “by the book”. That was a nightmare and more often then not, days ended in tears. Mine moreso then the kids. Now, however, I would probably place myself in more of the “Unit Study” style of homeschooling. I have not totally switched from the “traditional” method, but am finding that there are several ways of teaching and learning.

It seems I have two very different type of “learners” when it comes to my boys. Zion, my 3rd grader, is a “Visual” learner, while Azariah, my 1st grader, is a lot like me and tends to be more of an “Auditory” learner.

I have really been looking into different home school curriculums for next school year. The things that work for one child just does not work for the other. Its become quite the learning experience for me. This being said, I am probably going to put Azariah, my “Auditory” learner on a dvd curriculum next year. He really seems to need the extra teaching methods that I am just no good at. So my biggest challenge right now is to find something what will work for my “visual” learner.

Zion is becoming harder and harder to teach as the year goes by. Some of the things he is learning, I have no understanding of. Example: Math: 16 quarts – 2 gallons = ? gallons.
It’s problems like this that bother me. It doesn’t matter how often I have gotten my husband to explain this problem to me, (he understands this with no trouble what so ever) I still have trouble doing these. Zion also has trouble answering the problems because of my lack of knowledge. Another example: Language: Do these words need helping words or not? Sung, Grew, Ridden, Thrown, (and so on). Helping words being had, have, has, is . When you don’t have proper use of English to begin with, this becomes challenging to teach to your child. I sometimes think I need to go back to school.

Any ideas are welcome. Feel free to let me know if you have kids in these categories and what you have found that works for you and them.