Most people can’t imagine how one goes about teaching someone to read and write. It’s true that reading and writing are complicated and good teachers understand the complexity. Not having had formal preparation as a teacher, home educators sometimes find that they don’t know how to navigate the complexity, especially if their child is struggling to read or write well. Workshops and demonstration lessons can assist home educators to enhance their teaching effectiveness. Consider the following stories.
Michael is a 12-year old boy, homeschooled since kindergarten. Up to this point, he has been an okay student as demonstrated by his quiz and test results and he has enjoyed learning experiences. Suddenly, his test scores are dropping and he is resistant to learning at home. Read When Low Motivation Affects Learning.
Marilyn was unhappy with her oldest daughter’s school progress. After several unsatisfactory conferences with school personnel, Marilyn decided to homeschool. Her daughter did well with the commercial program Marilyn used for instruction but when it was time to bring the 4-year-old twins into the process, Marilyn found that the same program didn’t work. She didn’t know why and she didn’t know what to do so she bought another program. Three programs (and several thousand dollars) later, Marilyn was feeling less confident than ever. She needed help but wasn’t sure where to turn. Read Programs Don’t Teach Reading. People Do.
James and Candace thought from the beginning that they would homeschool their children. When it came time for the first of their four children to start kindergarten, they took the plunge into homeschooling. They used a curriculum recommended by a friend but it seemed that their five-year-old was becoming less interested in books and in writing than he used to be. They weren’t sure what happened. Read about Early Literacy Learning.