Last week at the homeschooling meeting we planning out a few activities… a few of them are so-so and don’t really fit in with the kids personalities, or our values so I am not too sure that the boys will be interested… but at least I know about them I can present them with the option.
Because the other moms often spoke about their children being interested in learning English, I thought that it might be a good idea to propose something in English to help them learn and so that my kids would feel like thy can fit in a bit more…
It was supposed to be here but because of the changes in the house I asked to either prospone or find an alternate location and we found a place to do it not far from my house…
It turned out well at first but the room that we were in was too small and there were yoga things that had been left out which made a perfect distraction for the kids…We read a few books out loud making sure that they understood the main words and had them act out some of the things… I had brought some “easy readers” that have new words that they may use and it was fun to see them trying to figure out what the words meant… but after reading and playing out a game…. the combination of so many kids in such a small place with mats and cut up pool noodles turned into moments of total chaos… some needed to go home but two of the moms headed over here after and the kids played in front yard a bit while we taked in the driveway…
We are going to be getting together again in 2 weeks and make sure to have a bigger space and have some more things planned and I have to say that I am totally having doubts about having everyone here because the group is getting bigger and my space really isn’t that big… but overall, the kids seemed to enjoy it and were learning a bit of English and Colin had fun doing a few things and being understood and Xavier started to warm up to some of the things proposed a bit near the end…
I think one of the problems that I found yesterday is that I proposed it so that we could “fit in” a bit more, but they seem to need and want something a lot more structured than I am willing to put effort into…
Great idea to add a little english into the group! If you’re going to “lead” this idea though, it’s going to be at the speed that interests you. They should understand this because if it’s more structured than you’re willing to do than you won’t want to do it for long. Ha! I mean, why the heck would you want to teach structured “lessons” to other kids when you’re an UNSCHOOLING mama. I hope that point gets across and it’s still of interest to the other homelearners.
My thinking, surprise, surprise, along the same line as Annie’s but I know how much easier it is to say that than do it when you’re in a place you feel doesn’t fit. It tires me just reading about your thoughts on this English class. I’m not sure if it’s an option, but maybe it could start with a smaller core group who aren’t as structured and then let it grow. That way you might get more support for your way of sharing and gradually build interest in your initiative and less distractions. I realize it might be too late to try that now but it might be worth a shot?