Since the spring of 2020, millions of families have joined the world of homeschooling.
I know this hasn’t been a comfortable or easy experience for many parents. You may have realized how much your child struggles to stay focused in the online environment of virtual school. Perhaps you discovered your 8-year-old is not reading at an appropriate level. Or your middle school child is reluctant to write a composition that explains an opinion or summarizes a book.
I’m here to reassure you that whatever your experience with homeschooling your children is, YOU ARE NOT ALONE. In Louisiana, over 13,000 families have joined homeschooling support pages on Facebook, and the majority of those have joined in this season of strange school expectations!
Forty years ago, I began my formal journey into education. My path led from “brick and mortar” schools to becoming a clinical reading specialist. Along the way, I enjoyed teaching Boston schoolchildren at the Arnold Arboretum and in after-school programs. When it was time to send my first child to kindergarten, I was sure I wanted to homeschool.
I had learned that the formal education programs, while necessary for many families, were not meeting the needs of children on either end of the spectrum — from gifted to developmentally delayed. I don’t blame the teachers or the system — but it was clear that, given a choice, I would teach my children around the kitchen table.
Kitchen Table Learners is an extension of my private practice as a reading and dyslexia specialist. I have always focused on what parents need to support their children on their educational journey. While my educational consulting and tutoring business has focused on students with learning disabilities, I also have years of experience homeschooling my own children and supervising over 100 homeschooling families when I lived in Canada.
Over the years, I’ve learned several important and crucial lessons about making plans for my children or myself.
- Things rarely, if ever, go according to the plan I envisioned. That DOES NOT MEAN the PLAN is flawed. In fact, it usually means the plan is working — I can see results. However, maybe it’s not what I thought was going to happen.
- Most of the issues with my feeling of success I have created for myself. Lack of consistency, too much overthinking, and not trusting my gut.
- Anticipation can be the foundation of fearful beliefs — I can imagine excellent results just as easily as imagining a negative outcome.
- Procrastination is the language of fear for me. I must ask myself — WHAT am I AFRAID OF IF I DO THIS NOW?
Join me and others to learn how to customize your children’s learning and be successful as a Kitchen Table Learner and Teacher.
- Identify your child’s primary learning styles to match your teaching style.
- Discover fun and cheap activities to do with your children with things you already have at home.
- Connect with other professionals who work as teachers, specialists, and mentors.
- Find balance in homeschooling schedules and daily life.
- Learn how to “Teach the Child, Not the Curriculum™”
1. Identify your child’s primary learning styles to match your teaching style.
We all learn in different ways. You are probably familiar with the ideas of visual, auditory, and kinesthetic learning. But did you know that teaching styles also affect the way a student learns?
Think about your experience in school. I remember classes I enjoyed and teachers who taught with humor, wit, and energy. I also remember being BORED out of my mind in some classes. In fact, most of my college experiences were just” showing up” and taking the required tests to pass. So, how do you figure out your teaching style? And what IS a teaching style, anyway? In future blog posts, we will explore the many different ways people communicate ideas and learn new things.
2. Discover fun and cheap activities to do with your children with things you already have at home.
Choosing a curriculum and deciding how to teach are interrelated. You may be surprised to know that many homeschooling families do not purchase expensive workbooks and subscriptions from online school providers. If your child is in elementary school, grades K–3, you probably have EVERYTHING you need in your home RIGHT NOW to teach all the major subjects.
The explosion in 2020 of online access to amazing resources is one reason so many parents are choosing to continue to homeschool, even when schools are reopening. Why would they do that? Some do so because they have seen their child return to a love of learning without the pressure of daily assignments, tests, and quizzes. You have IMMENSE FREEDOM when you homeschool. If your child wants to learn about Ancient Greece, you can spend weeks learning Greek letters, how the Greek language affects our English roots, how to make “baklava,” and why the Mediterranean diet is so healthy. History, language arts, math, and science — all rolled into one.
3. Connect with other professionals who work as teachers, specialists, and mentors.
I’m encouraged by former teaching colleagues to launch this blog and website. We all have a vested interest as teachers in the success of all children. My network of teaching professionals includes elementary, high school, and university professors. I will share their insights about how school at home can be MORE successful than the brick-and-mortar classes we are all so familiar with from our school days.
If you choose to return your child to” regular” schooling at some point, understanding the expectations of educators at the next level will help you prepare your child for success.
4. Find balance in homeschooling schedules and daily life.
The most challenging facet of homeschooling is finding a happy place between living and learning. You will probably feel required to have school Monday–Friday, a break for lunch, and maybe a recess. But when will you get all the work done that you need to do? If you are working from home or helping to care for family members, how do you make the time to “do school” from 8 to 3?
The answer is YOU DON’T. Understanding why school days are set up the way they are and realizing that you get to decide how best to work and learn at home will be the most amazing revelation for most parents. Every day, I see questions about “daily schedules,” when and how long to break for Thanksgiving, Christmas, summer, etc. The wonderful thing is YOU get to CHOOSE.
5. Learn how to “Teach the Child, Not the Curriculum™”
When I was working on my certification to be an Orton-Gillingham Practitioner, I was disappointed that my first attempt at certification came back refused! I have been a dyslexia specialist, taught hundreds of hours of reading instruction, and helped dozens of children and adults learn to read using the Orton-Gillingham approach. The evaluator commented on the thoroughness and detail of my lessons. She complimented me on my individualization of the instruction. BUT she ended with this statement:
“To teach reading using the Orton-Gillingham approach, you should be able to teach someone to read with only a stick in the sand.” This comment has stayed with me to this day. I believe that we all have the ability to help teach our children. The MOST important thing to remember is that you are teaching the child. Sometimes, that reality gets lost in the world of school as “business.” I want to help people remember that it is the child we are teaching, and that person has a special gift waiting to be unwrapped and presented to the world. Our job as teachers and parents is to carefully help each child recognize and understand their gifts and talents through loving, enriching, and empowering experiences.
So grab a cup of coffee, a mug of tea, or, if you’re like me, a “cold drink,” as we say in the South, and WELCOME TO THE KITCHEN TABLE!
