Teaching Beyond Our Skill Level

Someone asked: "What you do when your child exceeds your capabilities in a subject?
This was particularly about maths - what if your maths skills are poor, how do you teach a mathematically bright child?"

I'm not very knowledgeable in many areas and my knowledge of the areas I'm passionate about is fairly average. I tackle most things with enthusiasm though, making sure I assemble the resources I need to find out or learn to do something new. That's one of the reasons I buy books, because they are full of information and instructions. There are books, written in plain language and with great diagrams, to tackle just about anything now. And there's always the internet, though I still prefer books. As an unschooler and natural learner I know that books are fantastic guides to just about everything - even text books for school or university. I know I can get to any level of expertise using books as the basis for my learning. At some stage though I may need to call on someone who is more knowledgeable or skilful and that's when I look for a tutor.

There is nothing in homeschooling land that says that mum or dad should be the only tutors! Look around in your family, group of friends, neighbourhood, and community for people who can tutor. My friend, a single mum, found a local dad who loved fixing up old cars. Her son was keen on learning to drive and wanted to be able to repair whatever car he bought himself. Sue knew nothing about car maintenance. She talked to the guy down the road who was only too happy to get to know her son and have him hang around on the weekend and learn about mechanics. Another friend realised that not only did she have no clue about maths beyond what she needed in her daily life, she didn't want to learn either, so from early in their homeschooling life she used a maths tutor, in much the same way as a music tutor, for her children. The woman showed her daughter how to the maths and set 'homework' assignments.

The other way that homeschooling parents tackle this issue is to start learning clubs. Ann Lahrson Fisher writes about this in her excellent book Fundamentals of Homeschooling, available from my Always Learning Books website. We've been involved in group learning for circus skills, art, science, and craft. We've also accessed art and music tutors.

Our experiment with school was based on my fear that my lack of skills and knowledge meant my children were missing out, but as I discovered, schools don't always cover those areas, especially to the depth that our children might want and need. We tried school as I wanted my children to have access to physical education, movement, drama, dance, art and craft, and music. The first year at school there were teachers who specialised in these areas. For the next five years the school community emphasised technological (read computers!) skills and suddenly the school had little focus and few resources for the Arts. In a neighbouring primary school they had an award winning marine biology focus because it was a hobby and passion of one of the teachers: when he was transferred all that excellence went with him. It's easier to find and access these kinds of people in the community outside of school, than to hope and rely on something happening in the school environment.

© Beverley Paine

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