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Prioritizing self-education


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Making it a priority or picking what area to focus?

Me too, to both.

The first I'm just going to have to do. I think I'll tackle it like I did when I started running again. At first I could only run a little, then I had to walk. I think it will work for self-education, or brain exercise. Start small. If I can put in 15 minutes a day for a while, then I can find ways to increase that to thirty minutes a day. Then maybe an hour some day. I'm also figuring on doing the same thing I did with exercise when I started to do a little cross training. It's simply not going to happen that I can cover everything in one day. Just not. But if I have History Monday, Art on the Weekends, maybe a little Math on Tuesday, Writing and Grammar on Wednesday, maybe I can do that.  At least to start with.

The second is somewhat easier. I could chose to focus on an area of weakness, quickly become frustrated and quit. Or I could pick an area of interest and start there. I think I'll stand a chance with the second. 

Another thing I've done in the past that has resulted in self-education was taking something from work or life that came up and stumped me, and then taking a few minutes at night to pull a book on the subject, or two, and just read up.

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Hmmm.....not entirely sure what type of self-education you are referring to, but I will give it a shot.  Please correct me if I am totally off base.

 

For me, I know my time is so limited that I am keeping my goals for me fairly simple right now.  My 1st goal is to solidify my math before I have to teach it to the kids, so I try to schedule at least 15-20 minutes of math for myself every day.  I forget easily, just like the kids do, if I am not doing at least a little bit every day.

 

Also, I am a lousy cook which affects how healthily we eat and how much we spend on food.  This is something I should have dealt with years ago.  Health is critical.  Being able to provide healthy meals is very important to me but I have not consistently made this a priority.  So I am looking at taking a short term cooking class this fall (once a week for 5 weeks).  It looks like a great fit.  It is to introduce solid cooking techniques to reluctant cooks, and to do it in a fun way.  An added benefit is that the chef's wife has cancer and the cooking class funds are going to help with her treatment.  I think this will be beneficial to me and my family and worth the extra time.  It is a priority for me this year since it is something I feel guilty about on a regular basis, so psychological it will hopefully help me, too.  And I know I do much better on something I am terrible at (like cooking) if I have an outside source for motivation, especially if it is a short term commitment.  

 

So, what are your long and short term goals for self-education?  Why are you wanting to self-educate in the first place?  Are there specific things you really feel are important to work on?  Why do you find them important?  Are they things that could benefit you right now?  Are they things for the future?  Just because you find them important in general?  And how much time can you realistically carve out for doing so each day?

 

 

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When it comes to bring a better teacher I prioritize the things I don't know anything about, which includes how to teach. But I'm finding that the more I focus on what I don't know, the easier it is becoming to teach those things because I'm fresh and I'm excited about the subject. 

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What do you prioritize? I'm having a hard time choosing, 4 younger kids, the smallest under 2.

 

Honestly, with multiple young kids, I wouldn't be able to manage much in the way of organized or intentional self-education. When mine were younger and I was homeschooling in a hands-on way, the best I could do was to try and keep ahead of them. So, if we were going to spend the summer learning about ancient Egypt, I would hit the library in March or April and check out a bunch of books, both kids' books and adults', about Egypt and archaeology and travel. I would read through them over the course of a couple of months while I was planning the curriculum for summer. That way, by the time we actually started those lessons, I had a bank of knowledge at my fingertips and was ready to answer questions and teach more authoritatively.

 

As they got older, I pre-read most of the books I assigned to them and read through lesson plans in advance.

 

I found I got a much better and more thorough education just trying to make myself a better teacher than I had gotten during my own school years.

 

So, I guess you could say that I prioritized whatever I had to teach next. 

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Yes, I agree with just trying to read a bit ahead, study a bit ahead of whatever your kids are studying.  

 

FWIW, half my family are teachers or administrators in the ps system in the U.S.   What they learned and what they do in a classroom full of kids is not the same thing as what I do as a homeschooler.   Homeschooling is very different than standard classroom instruction so just because you have no background in education doesn't mean that you need training in how to teach.    I studied to be a teacher.  The vast majority of the classes I took were more about classroom management than understanding specific curriculum and how to teach them.  While those skills in classroom management may still be helpful in a homeschooling situation, teaching just a few children is SOOOO different than teaching 25-30.  About the only teacher education class I took that actually seems to have been truly helpful for homeschooling was the one where we were learning how to review curriculum to determine if it was well-written/organized.

 

Now as your kids get older if there are areas that you really want to solidify you might look at one or two day training seminars or on-line webinars to help you get more confident.  Or if you have a child that is struggling in a certain area or they are diagnosed with something that might cause learning challenges, then you could look at more targeted training either through webinars or DVD courses or even something local that might be available.  I am looking into more targeted training for myself since both of my kids have some learning challenges.

 

Huge hugs, Soror.  Even teachers with degrees find teaching to be incredibly challenging at times, even with lots of hours of classes in being a "teacher".  :)

 

 

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I focused on what I felt least comfortable teaching, which for me was English. So I spent a good part of a year reading about writing.  It was a very very useful endeavour.

 

I also try to self educate in one subject that each child is interested in that I don't know about because I think that the idea of a community of learners is really helpful to kids.  So for younger, I am learning Mandarin with him, and for older I am learning physics with him. I only start this effort when a child turns 10 and actually has something he wants to learn that I don't know.

 

Ruth in NZ

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I choose a subject at a time to read up on, it is usually a subject either I or one of the kids is struggling with. This year I am focusing on grammar. It is based on our most immediate needs. When I feel more confident going forward with our grammar studies, I will evaluate and decide which subject needs my attention next. My first year homeschooling, I focused my research and studies on mathematics, that was my own weak spot and my oldest son's strongest subject, so I decided it would be my priority.

 

I also try to continually read one book at a time on general educational philosophy or methods in general. Basically something to inspire me. Climbing Parnasuus, Teaching from Rest, etc. I just re-read The Well Trained Mind this summer as a refresher/motivator. The Great Conversation by Adler is next on my list. I don't always have time for this type of reading, it can take quite a while for me to finish a book. I enjoy reading books from a wide variety of perspectives, it helps solidify my own philosophy and teaching style.

 

I have a running list in my Amazon account of books, when one pops up in a thread that looks interesting I add it to the list. Luckily my library has most of the books I've been interested in. When I finish one I pick the next based on what we're dealing with at the time.

 

Simply reading ahead of my kids is a huge way to feel less overwhelmed and better prepared. It is so simple, but when I neglect to do it I can easily start to feel overwhelmed. I love the sound of "open and go" where you don't have any prepping, but I really do need to do some planning.

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SWB has an audio lecture on educating yourself.  I listened to it this year after 12 official years of home schooling.  I wish I had taken advantage of the earlier years to study more.  I did exercise daily in those years and go on Nature walks, garden, and started collecting the "classics" I could find at many used book stores.  I also read a lot of parenting books, subscribed to FOF, listened to audio tapes and read many books on home schooling.  I was happy to use Bob Jones for K for my first son ( a lady loaned it to me).  I had just used cheap workbooks to start him at age 3 and played games for reading.  

 

I do make myself read a few classics each year now and read some 2-3 times to get more understanding.

 

I wish I had studied Latin more in the early years.

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My focus now is on content rather than "how" to teach. "How" to teach won't do me much good if I don't know "what" to teach, KWIM? My priority is re-learning elementary school math (both the procedures and the concepts) and grammar. I'm trying to follow the advice from Elementary Mathematics for Teachers, and do the problems with the perspective of a teacher.

Who is the author of the Elementary Mathematics for Teachers you are reading?

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I ally have found the Circe Institue audio lectures to be extremely helpful to me. They are about keeping perspective on how you teach and to look at the large scale end goals so that you can have perspective.

 

What are your kids into? I focused a lot of myself on my son's passions and interests when he was younger so that I could better facilitate. It allowed for him to really enjoy and talk with me in his younger years.

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Oh, lots of questions. I've studied various things at different times. I've studied on maths when I got started and a lot about various philosophies. Last summer I went on a bender of teacher research books; Willingham, Hirsch, Collins and more. I've dug into Circe, WTM and LCC and various related books, audios and articles at times. Last year I really dove into language arts and history. This year I was studying up on our lit and creating our history and science study but this summer was rough and it seems to have fallen out of my brain and I've lost my notes. 

 

Ds is really interested in engineering type things and I work on providing opportunities and such but he is already over my head, that has been handed off to my husband as it doesnt seem an efficient use of my time since dh is already in that field. Dd1, I'm not sure about yet educationally, still trying to figure her out. I can tell however that all the hands on stuff that ds hates and Im not real great out will be her thing. 

 

Personally I've thought my time is better spent studying skills and how to best teach those first and foremost. I'd like to get a better handle on writing and grammar and lit study would be my highest priorities right now.

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I mostly prioritize the things that help me be a better teacher.  Math, for sure.  It's been too long since I've used much beyond basic algebra & geometry, so refreshing all that stuff is critical.  I also read about teaching math.  I read about teaching writing and read writing books a lot, too.  Other than that, I'm constantly pre-reading books that will be coming up for Shannon for history, lit, or science, or metacognition.  I'm reading things I think she'll use this year currently, then I'm reading "ahead".  Sometimes I read something and realize it's too soon for her, so I push it back on the schedule.

 

I also multitask for self-ed a lot.  If have a long drive, I'm listening to an audiobook.  While I'm cooking or cleaning the bathroom or canning, I'm listening to Coursera lectures.  These may be things I'm previewing that we'll end up doing together, or they may be things to give me a better grasp of subjects, like history or literature, that I don't see using directly with the kids, but they help me to be a better teacher/discussion partner.

 

So, apparently I don't prioritize, I try and do it all!  :001_rolleyes: But to the extent it's focused, it is focused on upcoming subjects I'll be teaching, not just random things I'd like to learn for myself.

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