I am so confused at the moment. This fall we had the opportunity to enroll in a homeschool co-op that meets on Fridays in Boise. The winter class begins the end of January. All new parents are required to teach a class their first session their family is enrolled in the co-op. My four year old is very speech delayed and so I listed the preschool as my first choice for teaching.
Good news! I was assigned to team teach "the human body" in the preschool class. This should work out well since I'm afraid Sam (my son) will need some extra help communicating with others in his class.
Bad news! I have no clue who the other teacher in my team is and the school directors have requested that curriculum outlines be turned in by January 9th! More bad news! I am the 4-H leader who taught cloverbuds (5-8 year old members) in the rabbit project all about reproductive physiology. My six and seven year olds could all diagram (and label) the female reproductive tract (rabbit), discuss the difference between mitosis and miosis (and why they're different), and diagram the development of a kit from zygote to embryo to fetus. Yea! Great 4-H animal science skills for kids who are breeding their rabbits.
Now, how do I figure out what to teach a group of preschoolers about the human body. I need direction (truly, everyone wants me to have direction... I have strange children and no clue about what is age appropriate). I have emailed the directors of the coop 3 times and never received a response. My computer fried a while back and I do not have contact info for anyone in the co-op (since we're new to all of this) except the email address for the directors. What do I do?
I'm afraid that if I don't hear anything this week I need to back out of participating in the co-op this winter. If they don't respond to questions and concerns now- how difficult is it going to be to get along and have a productive year once classes start? We are so new to this. Is it possible that things are much more loosely structured than they look? I hate to be unprepared at the start of a project. It almost always means the entire project will be stressful, unorganized, and not nearly as fun as it could have been.
Jake camping in the living room
5 comments:
Fried computer. Been there. I'm sorry.
I think I can help you a little with your curriculum problem. If you focus on the five senses you can easily structure lessons based on each senses. For example, for sight, you could have a lesson on optical illusions and another to make a model of the eye. For such a young age, I would point out the parts of the eye but I wouldn't sweat memorizing. Preschoolers and Kindergarten are better at hands on, and they might surprise you by how much they absorb. :o)
Peace and Laughter!
Cristina
Cristina has good a good idea ... I'm just guessing, but I think they are thinking more like eyes, feet, tummy, not cranium, penis, pancreas ... simple and basic, plan a little bit, get your feet wet, see how it plays out. Go through what different body parts do for us, different things we do with out feet, etc.
You're awesome, you'll do great.
I really agree with the previous posts, but just to play devils advocate, will you want to be committed to this group for the duration of the class when they can't even answer your basic questions. I can't believe they didn't pass on contact info for your co-teacher. What if you both have completely different ideas on what the class is about. I have to admit I would be getting cold feet in this situation.
However I think you can also handle however this turns out if your committed to it.
I finally took a shotgun approach and sent email to every address I could find for one of the moms who is a director for the group. Luckily she's on my yahoo group and she posted this week.
She responded to my email at her home address and told me she isn't involved in the co-op this year except as treasurer. She had recieved copies of my previous emails but assumed they were being answered by the other director. Apparently the other directore told her she was responding to all requests.
The other director finally emailed me after I'd corresponded 3 times with the treasurer (who isn't involved this year) and told me she HAD responded to my previous emails. She did give me contact info. for my co-teacher (who I haven't ever heard from either). On Monday I'm contacting the co-teacher to find out what she's thinking for this sememster's outline. I think either the internet gods are playing tricks on me or something isn't working well in the leadership for the co-op. Once I contact the other teacher hopefully I'll have a better idea of what the coming semester will be like.
Anyone curious about the co-op can visit www.TEACHcoop.com.
Everyone: Thanks for your suggestions and input! You've given me lots of good ideas!
I finally took a shotgun approach and sent email to every address I could find for one of the moms who is a director for the group. Luckily she's on my yahoo group and she posted this week.
She responded to my email at her home address and told me she isn't involved in the co-op this year except as treasurer. She had recieved copies of my previous emails but assumed they were being answered by the other director. Apparently the other directore told her she was responding to all requests.
The other director finally emailed me after I'd corresponded 3 times with the treasurer (who isn't involved this year) and told me she HAD responded to my previous emails. She did give me contact info. for my co-teacher (who I haven't ever heard from either). On Monday I'm contacting the co-teacher to find out what she's thinking for this sememster's outline. I think either the internet gods are playing tricks on me or something isn't working well in the leadership for the co-op. Once I contact the other teacher hopefully I'll have a better idea of what the coming semester will be like.
Anyone curious about the co-op can visit www.TEACHcoop.com.
Everyone: Thanks for your suggestions and input! You've given me lots of good ideas!
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