My Kind of Teacher

Back to School night can be a process of mild manner greetings and yawning through the outline of the day to day activities. One might sit in their children's small chairs and rememeber what it was for us to be in school and get itchy with drudgery. We might high tail it out of there in breath a sigh of relief in the parking lot....Thank God I am not a kid...all those worksheets and the teacher's droning voice would kill me...

This week Back to School Night was different. It may be because Todd and I have really turned around our perspective on education, after seriously considering homeschooling and researching it for several months, I have a whole new gratitude for those who take on educating daily, for 35 kids not even their own. It may also be because we have a joint commitment that learning be fun, so we see it that way. Our perspective seeks out and finds the fun rather than the drudgery. It is most deffinately also because of the teacher.

Mrs. Johnson's energy and way of speaking says "Strap in, we are going for a RIDE!" then she practically shouts with joy, guffaws, screeches, mimics kids moaning, and laughs right along with us through the whole curriculum of second grade. She looks like a Commando Barbie teacher, fun yet firm, and delightful.
She tells us "My goal in giving homework is to give you MORE TIME with Them." She says this like our lives depend in it. And in a way I get that it does. We only have so much time with our kids. They are growing fast and soon they will be living away from home, in their own worlds and we will be stirring our soup and remembering how NOISY the house used to be and how we couldn't get a moment of peace to think....and now all we do is think about those moments.

Mrs. Johnson wants to revel in the moment we have now. She makes learning FUN. She puts a raw egg in vinegar and has it sitting at the front of class for days. Everyday the big exciting question is "What's happening to the egg? Should we put food coloring in it? What are all those bubbles? What does it feel like?" You can imagine the kids all standing around the egg and jumping up and down with uncontrollable glee.

She sweetly commands, before we leave the room to come up and "poke the egg". So after breathlessly blasting through all the fun things the kids are going to do this year, Mrs. Johnson waves us up front and fifty or so adults cautiously approach the vinegary egg and poke it. The shell is completely dissolved..Where did it go? It's rubbery and 2 x bigger than an egg should be. It is fascinating. We are curious about what other experiments we can do with our kids.
We are inspired, excited and have complete faith that our son will love his experience with school this year. We are also inspired by what human beings are capable of...a young Mom rallying and waking up an entire room of adults (at least my husband and I) to how really truly fun learning, "even" in a classroom in a public school can be. If you choose it. If you create it.

I approach Mrs. Johnson to connect, thank her and introduce her to my husband. I find myself excitedly telling her how we did "Terrific Scientific Tuesday" all summer and did experiments like "Will it Freeze? or Will it Float?" and how FUN it was for the kids. I see her eyes light up and we recognize kindred spirits in partnership. FUN! Kids love to learn, we agree, it's the adults who see it as drudgery. And it doesn't have to be that way. Kids want to learn AND play. I shared with her how much I appreciated being able to have time with the kids to do that after school too, and how Bodee would often do all his homework on Monday so he could play all week.
She says "That's my kind of kid."
We certainly are fortunate, because she is "Our kind of teacher."

Zen Honeycutt

To Home School or Not to Home School?

My children go to an excellent school. Rated the best elementary in our area. The teachers are shining examples of patience, creativity and expertise. The Principal is delightful, committed and loved by all. We couldn't ask for a better public school.
And yet....my eldest is doing C level work...which is simply because his preference of learning is very creative...he love science and art and excels at systems and story boarding. The style of learning focused primarily on math and writing, he says, is the same thing over and over again. He enjoys school, he loves his friends and teacher, but he goes because we say so and he does Ok because he needs to.

My middle son is excelling in Kindergarten. He does all his work quickly, somewhat neatly and attacks new concepts with verocity. Everything is a challenge until he has conquered it and then it becomes the most uninteresting thing to endure ever. He has surpassed the standard levels and yet there is no bonus work for him at school, no carrot or opportunity to tutor others or activity to keep him from getting to trouble before his boredom sets in. He complains the homework is for babies and he often grabs his brother's previous first grade leftover math homework and fills it out himself. He loves his teacher and the social aspect of school but puts up with the learning style.

That's just what's so. There is nothing wrong with what their teachers are doing. I love them. I honor them for what they do. They are GREAT at what they do.

AND there is something missing for my sons, not wrong, just something not there that would make a difference for their education. Where I begin to look at what might be missing for my children is in the entire system. The system and structure for learning is in such large groups, 36 now, and focused so much on the material needed to pass the standardized tests for "No Child Left Behind" that the entire context is based on passing those tests. If your child can do that, then great, they are fine. If your child can just barely do that, then great, they are fine. If your child cannot then they might get some extra attention, just enough to get them to the place where they can just barely pass. There simply isn't time within the system as it is for anything else. As much love and care as the teachers give, this is it.
There isn't any extra attention or different teaching style for the kids who are excelling or just barely making it. They just need to do more and more of the same to drill it in. What might really be missing however, is ME. My involvement in their education. Personal care and one on one attention..a guide for their education.

As my husband and I consider moving to an area where we can get a larger yard for gardening and more space for our rapidly growing three boys, I begin to shift my entire perspective on what's important. Where we live is based on the rating of the school, usually....if we are sold on the public school system and committed to the education they will receive there, that is...

This has us ask the question...What kind of education are we committed to our children having? What is our context that we are creating for our children around learning?

Learning is....
What?
Boring? Drudgery? Something to be survived or put up with? Something you rush through to get to the good stuff which is TV or video games? Something we parents put up with? Something we are glad for because it get's them out of our hair?

What if Learning was an Adventure?
What if Learning was an opportunity to connect, to have fun and to create?
Well then homeschooling would show up inside of that context. It just would. Like the context of LOVE creates hugs, smiles and affection....
Learning is an Adventure would look like homeschooling outside, in a back yard with a garden, reading about the history of an area we go on a hike to, math with sticks we broke from branches, art with leaves that we gathered on the hike, and science everyday in between and inspired by everything around us.
Learning as an adventure would be spontaneous, fun and challenging. It would be fast and efficient, scary at times and exhausting other times. It would be immensely rewarding and unforgettably inspiring!

It would require an entire lifestyle shift. It would mean taking on the unknown. It would mean being willing to make mistakes or be unsure....be flexible and creative.
The voice in my head says..For God's sake Zen, just be normal for once! Send your kids to a good school and don't stress yourself out!!!

What if it wasn't stressful though???..(or I mean unbearingly so anyway, I am realistic)...what if it was fun, exciting and creating the kind of education that really works for my children?
What talents could explode from them? What creations?
I wonder what riches could unfold for me if I was plugged into my kids learning and creating it with them...what kind of relationship could we have and what adventures could we go on?? Stay tuned for further pondering on children's education and what's possible.
Either way, whether I homeschool or not, this inquiry to what we want education to be for our children has me being connected and creative in a way I never previously imagined...again coming from this year's context of Courage, Creativity and Contribution!

Zen Honeycutt
www.zenspurplegarden.com