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#Post#: 14574--------------------------------------------------
Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: August 22, 2019, 2:17 pm
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I wasn't sure what to do with this section. I didn't expect to
be adding to it, but didn't want to delete it either, so I
thought maybe I could make these postings here.
I've had a couple of meetings this week about working with the
homeschooling group. It looks like there's definitely enough
interest to make it worthwhile to run something.
My meeting Tuesday was with a guy - let's call him Mr. M for now
- whom is a leader in the homeschooling group. Not much to say
about him, though he did have one interesting comment.
"You'll probably have three groups of people interested in this.
Mom's who don't know how to connect with the fiction their sons
like; religious types who are scared of most fiction; and STEM
types who don't understand why their kids need fiction."
That's not an exact quote, but it's generally correct.
I'd have to double check to be sure, but I think we had 22
families show at the meeting today, which represented 39 kids.
Most of them were boys. Most of them were between 9 and 14.
I am putting together a couple of reading lists over the next
few days for several reasons. First, so I can find out how many
of the kids have read any of the proposed books. Second, so the
religious homeschoolers have a chance to check on how
'appropriate' anything with which they're not familiar might be.
That part shouldn't be too difficult, since I was already
teaching at a Christian school, and I'll mostly be teaching the
books I've already taught in the last two years.
Over the next week or so, I'm going to meet with each of the
families involved, so I can get an idea of exactly what they
expect, and of the needs of each of the kids involved. I think
I might have irritated a couple of people who thought they were
interviewing me, who learned that I not only don't care if they
come or not, but that they have to earn the right to be there.
There are a few kids whom I'll definitely be directing elsewhere
- they're just too young for me to work with. I suppose they
could really shock me, but I'm not interested in working one on
one or babysitting. With the kids back in school, I'll have
some free time again, even though I'll still be working the
stores about 24 hours a week, but that doesn't mean I want to
tie it all up again.
#Post#: 14577--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Zyngaru Date: August 22, 2019, 2:54 pm
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Interesting that you are being drawn back into teaching again.
Since this is homeschooling, would you be doing your lessons
over a computer screen or in person at some location the kids
could get to? I really can't see you as becoming a roving
teacher, going to each homeschoolers home to teach them
individually. Although if you had time it wouldn't be a bad
idea. It would just take a lot of time visiting each homeschool
one day a week for however many hours that would be necessary to
teach your lesson.
As you already know, the most difficult parents will probably be
the religious parents, when it comes to selecting books. I find
it so funny, when conservative Bible Thumping Preachers condemn
Harry Potter and praise The Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe.
Hopefully the religious parents that you have are either
moderate, or if conservative they are at least open to
discussion.
#Post#: 14579--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: August 22, 2019, 3:20 pm
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[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=1442.msg14577#msg14577
date=1566503644]
Since this is homeschooling, would you be doing your lessons
over a computer screen or in person at some location the kids
could get to?
[/quote]
Sorry, I've discussed this elsewhere (maybe just in chat?) so I
didn't do much build up or introduction to it.
We have a local home schooling group, mostly who work together
for field trips, PE classes, and social activities, where more
than just family kids are needed/helpful. I have worked with
this group in the past (it's how I met Joe Mintz), and we offer
a discount for them, for any books/educational material they
order through us.
When they found out I wasn't going to be teaching anymore, they
contacted me to find out if I'd be interested in doing something
smaller scale - similar to what I was doing at BCA, but with
less kids, on a less regular schedule, and not all day.
I mainly quite teaching because of the time demands, especially
that they were keeping me away from the store. I did like
working with the kids, and I was willing to at least consider
the idea.
At this point, we will probably be meeting at the campus store
and running the groups there. It's fairly central for our area,
and the game rooms are never in use during the school day, and
they're already set up to handle a bunch of people, so they're a
great place, and hopefully we'll get some sales since people are
coming in.
#Post#: 14698--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: August 30, 2019, 10:16 am
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I have been able to meet with all the potential families, and it
looks like we have things worked out. Of the 22 that attended
the original meeting, 21 of them followed up, and 19 of those
are participating after the meetings (the other 2 wanted full
control over what I taught, and since I'm not being paid for
this, I had no trouble not agreeing to that). There were also
another five families that hadn't made the original meeting for
one reason or another, but who contacted me later and were
interested.
There are a few kids who I barred from attending - mostly those
well below the age I'll be teaching (I put 9 as the bottom
limit, though I did allow one 8 year old who is a very advanced
reader), who were mostly going to be attending because older
siblings were.
We have one more mass meeting next Tuesday, when we'll be
reviewing goals and intentions, to make sure we all agree on
what's expected. I'm also going to be finalizing a list for the
first few books by then.
#Post#: 14700--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Zyngaru Date: August 30, 2019, 12:53 pm
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[quote author=Jack link=topic=1442.msg14698#msg14698
date=1567178160]
(the other 2 wanted full control over what I taught, and since
I'm not being paid for this, I had no trouble not agreeing to
that).
[/quote]
That didn't surprise me. There are always a few control freaks.
I would imagine that most parents that home school are
controlling to some extent, to have the mentality to actually
home school.
So did these two families decide to not be a part of the
program, are taking some time to think about it, chose to
participate even if they can't control everything?
Obviously I understand why you said NO to being controlled. You
have to be in control if you are going to teach and have any
lasting affect on your students.
#Post#: 14707--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: August 30, 2019, 5:48 pm
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[quote author=Zyngaru link=topic=1442.msg14700#msg14700
date=1567187596]
So did these two families decide to not be a part of the
program, are taking some time to think about it, chose to
participate even if they can't control everything?
[/quote]
Nope, those are two of the families who won't be participating.
I feel bad for their kids, but that's hardly the worst issue
they're facing.
#Post#: 14739--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: September 1, 2019, 4:48 pm
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Our first meeting is Tuesday. It turns out I am going to give
the kids some control, which means the parents will end up with
some.
I'm making a list of the best/most popular novels I've taught in
the last nearly two years, and I'm going to give the kids a
chance to mark which ones interest them the most and which ones
they've already read.
Tuesday is just going to be setting things up.
At this point, I'm going to be doing this on Tuesdays and
Thursdays. Over the next three days, we're going to be talking
about why to read, how to find things one likes to read, and the
purposes of teaching reading. I want to leave plenty of room
for discussions, but also do some stuff, so we'll be reading
short stories. Probably a Sherlock Holmes to start, and maybe
read a Goosebumps book, then watch the video (like One Night in
Horrorland, since many of the Goosebumps seem to be kind of
girlcentric on the main characters).
After that, I'm planning to do first books in series, like
Tarzan, Percy Jackson, Ranger's Apprentice, Magician:
Apprentice, Eye of the World, Hatchet, and Pawn of Prophecy are
all good places to start boys in finding something that interest
them.
#Post#: 14780--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: September 3, 2019, 5:16 pm
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We did have our first meeting today. Everyone showed up. I
mostly talked about how I plan to approach things, what I expect
from the participants, and I handed out a list of potential
reading material. We'll see how things pick up on Thursday.
#Post#: 14814--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Jack Date: September 6, 2019, 3:55 pm
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We've had a couple of meetings now, and it looks like there are
going to be a total of 28 kids participating - 26 of them boys.
As I mentioned before, most of them are the same ages I've been
teaching - between 5th and 8th grade, so about 10 to 14. There
are a couple of 15 year olds and one 16 (those are all three
boys) and my youngest is only 8, but he already reads on a 7th
grade level, his dad's not a reader, and his mom just can't keep
up with him, so she hopes that turning him over to me for
reading will let her concentrate on other things.
The oldest boy, Dwayne, is dyslexic. He's had all the training
for it, and he knows what to do, but he and his mom struggle
with getting him to read. She hopes that being in a group with
other kids and reading 'boys books' and stuff that's maybe more
fun will help him.
I need to spend a minute or two talking to each of the kids. I
might end up doing that outside of our meetings at some point.
Maybe I could invite them over for a pool party?
At this point, we're meeting with all the kids together. None
of them are especially advanced readers (except Hudson, who's
only advanced for his age, not compared to all the other kids).
Since this isn't a school, I don't have to keep them all busy
five days a week, so if they finish sooner, that's fine with me.
What I really hope to do is run things kind of like a book
club, and get them all talking about what they've read. I'll be
able to let their parents know what we're reading and give them
some homework ideas, but all I'm really interested is helping
them get interested in reading and find things they like to
read.
#Post#: 15862--------------------------------------------------
Re: Fall Classes
By: Zyngaru Date: November 9, 2019, 9:29 am
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I thought I would ask about an update for this, since it's been
two months. How are things going? The boys getting into
reading?
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