Teaching in your own home to your own kids is not the easiest job in the world. It takes quite a bit of patience, a lot of love and a ton of organization. Even on your worst unorganized days you can muddle through and your children will actually learn something. Really, they will. You never do as poorly as you think. After some practice and experience soon you are a pro homeschooling mama! Once you get the hang of it in your own home you will soon gain the confidence to teach at your local homeschooling co-op.
Confidently you walk to the front of the room and with eyes staring waiting for you to educate them you realize you were not as prepared as you think. Your jokes fall flat, your teaching is leaving some to snooze, and you want to run for cover.
Teaching in front of a group of children has a different dynamic than teaching to your own children. For some it’s easier while for others they struggle to hold the students’ attention. We all have our gifts and talents but teaching in front of a group is not one which cannot be mastered.
Tips for teaching a co-op class:
1. Find a curriculum that is conducive to class study. Some curriculum is not intended for a co-op and will fall flat if not properly prepared. Find something that engages several students at one time or calls for activities where partners are needed.
2. Keep the lectures to a minimum and plan for student involvement. Have a list of discussion questions planned so the conversation and interest is constant.
3. Plan an activity to correlate with your study. This is easy if you are teaching art or science. However, you will have to be more creative if teaching math or history. Yet, this will be key in the success of your class. Children love being involved in the learning process. There are plenty of books written about math activities and most history curriculums now come with activity suggestions.
4. Instead of teaching a class your first time out try involving kids in on a project. A great project that all kids will enjoy and will be useful in all studies are timelines.
5. Relax. Just have fun and the kids will have fun also. However, remain in constant confident control.