So, I’ll admit it. I know a lot of things about a lot of things, but science is not my forte! I was hesitant to begin this past week’s unit with my five-year-old daughter because frankly, I don’t know much about the moon and its phases, or anything else related to space in general! Math has always been my passion, followed closely by English and writing. I’m definitely not a scientific thinker, which probably explains why my PhD is in a “soft” science field (Educational Psychology). In my mind, almost anything can be quantified and analyzed with the right statistic. I can collect data and run numbers on it all day long, and feel very confident in my interpretation of the apparent relationships among the variables. But when it comes to explaining the moon phases to a five-year-old, I all of a sudden found myself much less confident!
Somehow we made it through learning the parts of the water cycle the week prior. Have you ever tried to teach the words evaporation, precipitation, and condensation to a five-year-old? Not an easy task! But based on the results of her assessment, my five-year-old retained the information and seemed to learn something about it. Assessment aside, however, she proved to me that she really did learn something just a few days later. She pointed to the eggs I was boiling and said “Look mama! Evaporation!” She was so proud of herself for remembering the word, but I was the one who was really feeling victorious!
We worked through the unit on the moon phases this week, and somehow made it through. I dreaded teaching this concept because it was something I didn’t even understand myself. I will say I learned right along with my daughter and that by the time we were done with the unit, both of us knew the names of the four basic phases of the moon, why exactly the moon is bright, and how long the cycle of the moon lasts, which happens to be 28 days (in case you were wondering yourself). She finished the unit with a small assessment, scored perfectly on it, and I sighed a breath of relief knowing that this unit was over. Next week…simple machines. Not exactly exciting to me, but I think I have a better understanding of this unit than the moon one!
So Friday evening, after a particularly challenging week of homeschool, my husband, kids and I spent some quality family time out on our deck to appreciate the beautiful South Carolina evening and starry sky. In a rare occasion, the humidity wasn’t terrible, and neither were the bugs–thank goodness for some cool weather, finally! As we were enjoying a freshly picked watermelon from my husband’s garden, I decided to turn this time into a teachable moment. I asked my daughter to find the moon and see if she could identify it’s current phase. She quickly pointed it out and told me it was in the first quarter because the bright side of the moon looked like a D. I was so proud of her! She probably didn’t realize the magnitude of what she learned, but I realized what she’s capable of learning even if I’m not confident in teaching it.
This brings me to my point. Even if we are not confident in our abilities to teach the subject matter, our children are still willing and capable of learning from us. Why? Because they know we love them and they trust us. After working in public schools for 14 years, I know the relationship between a teacher and his or her students is one of the strongest determining factors of student success. I watched many of my students meet their goals and accomplishments, and I felt a sense of pride at the same time. But watching someone else’s child achieve learning is much different than watching your own child achieve it, especially when you are the one who facilitated the learning. Homeschooling has reminded me that parents are naturally God’s first choice of teachers, and I’m so blessed to be given this task.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve had days where I didn’t want to teach specific content because it was not my area of expertise, I personally found it boring, or I didn’t think it was terribly important. But I persevered anyway, and some of these times turned out to be our best lessons yet! Because of the relationship that I have with my daughter, she trusts what I teach her and is willing to learn if I set the example that learning is important. I want her to know that I teach her because I love her, and an education is one of the best gifts I can give her in this life. Hopefully she’ll appreciate this one day, but probably not until she has children of her own. 🙂
I want to encourage you to keep doing what you are doing! When you hit a bump in your curriculum or are less than confident in your teaching abilities, remember that your relationship with your child, not necessarily your content-specific expertise, will play a strong factor in much of his or her educational success. So, if you don’t know everything you are teaching, that’s ok! Learn and grow with your child, and make use of the multitude of resources out there (thank you, Internet!). Most of all, believe that you are giving your child the best gift you can through education.
I’d love to hear your comments! What helped you overcome some difficult spots in your homeschooling journey?