Homeschooling families in the Montreal area who are interested in a cooperative effort should read the notice below. The author Mark Cerisano is looking to get homeschoolers together for opportunities to socialize and also to give parents a support network that would allow them to take a bit of a break a few times a week. He told me one of his hopes is that a network such as the one he proposes would potentially allow homeschooled children to take part in team sports, “school” plays, and the like, and in fact to compete as a school in areas such as sports. (Our spelling bee this winter did allow for that, and I can think of other competitive opportunities, such as high school debating or geography bees!)
A ring like this one can also be helpful if you feel you aren’t equipped to teach a particular subject area, or would like your child to take part in a group experience for that subject. As Mark says, it can be helpful in teaching our children to handle the inevitable conflicts of childhood and to work cooperatively in groups.
Several families have already expressed an interest, and a small group is starting out. Please contact Mark directly if you are interested. He lists his contact information and some questions to help match families together, below in his post.
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HOMESCHOOLING RING
Dear Homeschooling Families.
We have started homeschooling our five year old and are enjoying the experience immensely. However, there are a few things that we are worried about:
1) Peer interaction on a regular basis. Learning how to deal with peer conflict. Opportunities to share with other kids his own age.
2) The constant stress of having to find things to keep our five year old interested all day, especially when we are not homeschooling.
I have come up with an idea that will give our son more opportunity to interact and learn while at the same time, offer more time for us as homeschooling parents to have a break. (The break part seems to be the most exciting benefit at this time for us as my wife just gave birth and we have two other little ones at home.)
Here’s how it works:
Three or four children aged 5 or 6 (for our case) are in each ring. (any similar ages would work)
Parents choose a day where they will be homeschooling (or just supervising) the “class”.
The other parents drop off their child(ren) at that home for two or three hours.
Benefits:
The children in the ring class get a consistent group of peers to interact with.
It doesn’t cost anything but there is a commitment. (We have found that volunteer activities tend to be hard to get a commitment if there is no cost. With the ring, the commitment is reinforced because of the benefit of having the peer interaction opportunity, plus the break for the parent.)
Each family gets to drop off their child for a peer activity two or three times a week in exchange for one day a week of hosting their own class.
Each family can use the host opportunity to create unit studies that can be coherent from one week to the next.
The opportunity for “interdisciplinary” or “cross curricular” teaching where each family presents a different subject on the same topic. (This was very big when I was a teacher.)
(There is no expectation to “teach” a subject at every host family’s class. The opportunity to just “play” is also a priority for us. One
family could be the “recess” home for example)
There are infinite possible ways families could mix to give their classes a unique peer learning experience.
If you are interested, please email me at the address below with the following information:
1. Number and age of children interested
2. “Class” you would be willing to teach. (See below)
3. Area you live in. (Because parents have to drop off their children, each ring should be as local as possible.)
4. Day and time of week you are available to host your “ring class”.
5. Any qualifications that you think would be interesting to know.
Possible classes (Other suggestions are possible and encouraged.)
Music
Math
Reading
Recess
Cooking
Writing
English
French
Geography
Science
History
Drama
Arts and Crafts
Smorgasborg (For families who do not want to commit to any specific subject.)
Geo-caching
Outdoor Sports
Games
I have emailed this list previously about my concerns of the limitations of homeschooling and have suggested different ideas like the umbrella school, for example. I am convinced of the superior opportunities for learning and value-based education with home schooling but also searching for a way to “fill the gap” and offer positive opportunities that regular schools have, but in the homeschooling environment. I hope this “ring” idea is the answer. I believe it is flexible enough to provide these opportunities while at the same time being true to the homeschooling philosophy and culture. Any feedback would be appreciated.
Please email mcerisano@sympatico.ca
Thanks and Happy Homeschooling.
Mark Cerisano
P.S. here is my submission
1. One child 5 years old.
2. Willing to teach music(singing and instrumental), geo-caching, math, reading, science3. We live in DDO
4. Available Wednesdays or Fridays.
5. I am a certified elementary and high school instrumental and vocal music teacher. I taught for eight years. I studied Engineering in University and worked for a year. I was a professional musician on a cruise ship for five years. My wife is a nurse. We have four children ages almost 6, 4, 2, and the baby is 2 months old.
For anyone who is interested, I found some sites that have information about something very similar, except it is in the states and they are sponsored by the local school boards.
http://www.mpsaz.org/eagleridge/about_us.htm
http://www.nwrel.org/request/jan00/washington.html
http://cathy.glass.googlepages.com/thegeorgetownhomeschoolgroup
This article has some interesting points to make that I’m sure many of us think about:
http://content.scholastic.com/browse/article.jsp?id=7183
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