 |
|
|||||||||||||||
Tutorial Services For Home Educators Sooner or later in the task of home education most parents will encounter periods when they feel overwhelmed. In most cases, this is more than a mere feeling of being too busy as a parent; it is a genuine reality. After all, any weekly routine that requires teachers to instruct multiple students at several different grade levels, while also caring for a home, preparing meals, etc. will tend to push most instructors to the breaking point. In many cases, home school parents teaching multiple children commonly resign themselves to the fact that they are destined to be heavily burdened, and determine to push ahead in spite of the pain. It has been my observation that home educators are prone to overload their weekly schedules because they too often assume that they are obliged to “ do it all on their own.” There seems to be some unwritten law that says that any home school parent who asks others, even in his extended family, for assistance in teaching has violated some fundamental rule of etiquette. It is past time for parent teachers to reject the prideful notion that they must do all the teaching themselves, or at least die trying. During the early years of the modern home school movement, due to legal pressures and a general lack of support from family members, parents had a genuinely difficult time securing people to act as tutors or teaching assistants. By God’s grace, these obstacles are now largely a thing of the past. For this reason, it makes good sense for parent educators to reach out to others from their local church as well as to those in their extended family for tutorial help. Grandparents are, in particular, an often overlooked and untapped human resource. In too many cases, grandparents and other “senior citizens” in the local community are ready and willing to provide free or low-cost tutorial help---but the phone never rings. How tragic that individuals such as these, with a lifetime of learning and experience at their disposal, are kept on the shelf and cut off from the privilege of helping children to learn. What more parents who are just beginning to homeschool need to recognize, is that a growing number of first generation home educators are now maturing to the point where they are grandparents themselves and will, consequently, be available as mentors/tutors to second generation home school students. Although it is undoubtedly true that not all grandparents or seniors will necessarily be willing or able to teach in subject areas where they are needed, this does not mean that they can not help in other ways. Grandparents or other seasoned friends can still lend assistance by taking students on occasional field trips, providing help with “story hour” reading activities, or perhaps simply taking younger children to the park for an hour or two. All of these support services, and many more that could be mentioned, are of substantial benefit to parents who are willing to work hard, but who also need a helping hand each week. Grandparents, and other mature Christians from your local church/community, can often be a genuine blessing to busy home school parents. Like all human beings, seniors appreciate knowing that they are needed and wanted. Many senior citizens and grandparents, however, will not volunteer unless they are asked. So, go ahead and ask them! Your school and family will be better off as you reach out to others, and you may find a valuable ministry to under-socialized seniors in the process. Copyright © 2006 Michael J. McHugh |
||||||||||||||||
