With COVID 19, homeschooling is one of the modes of learning parents are bravely venturing for their children’s continued learning in the time of pandemic. Our family started homeschooling a year ago. We opted for a homeschooling provider to help guide us in the journey. Our coach was very helpful however, I wasn’t prepared with the structure, learning styles among other things. I have limited teaching knowledge and experience as I started homeschooling my children at the same time I enrolled for Professional Teaching Certificate. I was both overwhelmed and underwhelmed on how to tackle my new role. Though we are given a set of textbooks, a learning guide and parent coach, it is very challenging for us. At first, it looks so simple but planning the day to day learning activities and selecting the instructional materials turned out to be complicated. Some of the content of the materials is not applicable or doesn’t fit my daughter’s learning styles.
At first, my teaching style was based on what I was used to, teacher centered, using textbooks in most of our activities. If my daughter’s participation and engagement is a gauge on the effectiveness of our homeschooling, we are failing. I was homeschooling without considering my daughter’s learning style and trying to copy the classroom experience. I wasn’t taking advantage of the individualized approach and flexibility of homeschooling. However, our coach guided us to look for different instructional materials, utilizing several media as a tool in teaching and learning. We started using models, real objects, printed material, videos and visuals to facilitate learning. We went to a fire station and interviewed a firefighter when learning about community helpers. We went to the zoo to learn about different animals. We always go to the library to choose topics my daughter is interested in. By utilizing the different instructional media available for us, we transformed our learning experience.
This school year with the threat of COVID 19, our activities will be different. It is important to be always flexible, creative and adaptive to achieve our learning objectives. There are several instructional media and technology we can explore and utilize in our homeschooling journey. The world is classroom, with or without the pandemic learning continues.
Charry's Teaching Odyssey 