To teach the childerlings
polycounter lvl 7
So my wife and I recently started homeschooling my 2 oldest boys (4 and 5 years old). I've been thinking that since we're aligning ourselves as instructors as well as parents I might start giving them some more structured art "classes". We already draw together pretty regularly, but some actual lessons might be neat. The oldest has always loved drawing anyways.
my question for the wide wide world of Polycount is this:
Does anybody here know of any resources for this pursuit?
My own teaching experience is limited to being a tutor while i was in college.I know we have some real teachers here, so i thought there might be some insights on teaching or lesson planning or something of that nature. not even necessary limited to teaching art, but teaching in general.
Granted the kids are young still so i don't expect it to be anything extravagant but a foundation's a foundation says I.
my question for the wide wide world of Polycount is this:
Does anybody here know of any resources for this pursuit?
My own teaching experience is limited to being a tutor while i was in college.I know we have some real teachers here, so i thought there might be some insights on teaching or lesson planning or something of that nature. not even necessary limited to teaching art, but teaching in general.
Granted the kids are young still so i don't expect it to be anything extravagant but a foundation's a foundation says I.
Replies
do you do it till the kids are old enough for college or, do they not go to college either ?
are you and your wife educated enough to teach them all about language, math, science, physics, chemistry etc. ?
do the kids have a choice, and does it matter whether they might regret it in their future ?
Anyways, I'm curious about this too. I don't plan on homeschooling my kids. I loved going to public school. But I would really like to teach my kids about art as they get older.
Why? You wouldn't keep them imprisoned (I'd hope not). Can still sign them up for sports, maybe football, baseball, or some martial arts or something, art classes, or just buy them a bike. Also, if you're living in a neighborhood that has lots of younger couples with children, I'd think they will find plenty of company. Especially if you hook them up with badass consoles and games.
Of course it wont matter if they're still social outside of being homeschooled
I was homeschooled. I'm currently 21, college Graduate (GPA 3.8 at graduation), I have my own apartment, and I have a nice circle of friends. I may act a little odd but I don't think that's solely because of the homeschooling. I've known plenty of people who have been homeschooled, and honestly, they seem smarter and more well-adjusted than those I know who were not. Some places are better than others, but generally, the public school system is a disgrace and I can understand some parent's desire to avoid it.
To OP: Sorry, I don't really have any resources for you. My dad at one point decided to teach some things to me about drawing, and some of it helped, but I'd say most of it went right over my head. One thing to remember though.. the things you say are bound to make a huge impression, make sure you don't teach them any bad practices or shortcuts.
Quick rundown on how we ended up making this decision:
I enrolled my 5 year old in school. He was going for a few weeks but It came to a point where we couldn't manage the scheduling/transportation at all. My wife and I both work and my mother-in-law, who's our normal baby-sitter lives about 20 minutes east of us while we work to the west. I was having to come into work hours late every day so I could drop him off and my Wife had 0 time to do anything that needed doing because she hasd to get the other kids ready, pick him up, drive them all up to her mom's and go to work every day - making the time it took her to get ready and off to work jump from about 45 minutes to nearly 2 hours. Putting him on the bus wasn't an available option and the whole thing was a painful ordeal.
also from about a week after he enrolled until we took him out he was sick over and over, getting us sick (which meant missing work and income) and the other kids - one of whom was less than a year old.
@Kave - My wife was homeschooled and is significantly less socially retarded than me. The people i knew who were socially retarded and homeschooled growing up were just socially retarded and would have been either way - there are a lot of social retards not in home-school. i was one of them.
@MM -
1. We haven't set in stone how long we're going to do homeschooling. Maybe just intil they're past the Kindergarten stage and transportation/schedule problems are less prominent. maybe longer if we all like the way things are going.
2. We're going through a curriculum provided by the school my son is no longer attending. If we continue doing it into the higher levels we will still use a curriculum. and yes, we can both manage highschool level subject matter well enough to tutor along side the aforementioned curriculum.
3. My oldest was asked if he would like to try it (when it became apparent we weren't going to be able to continue getting him to the campus) and he said he would. the younger can't technically start school yet anyways, so this is his ONLY option if he wants to participate - which he does. We have no intention of barring them from attending a regular school later on if they want to.
@teejay - as I said, they already enjoy drawing, I'm just hoping to introduce some structured instruction into it - nothing strict or rigorous, really.
Mostly i'm just trying to figure out where to start. I always loved drawing, but I learned the more technical practices from my mom - who did commisions in pastels until she quit art and went into medicine to support her kids.
I mean would you ask an Asian kid why it is that hes somehow managed to be good at driving?
School is responsible for making people socially awkward. they are made fun of their whole lives and therefore have no self-esteem and are constantly seeking approval from others.
One reason I feel people have this Stereotype (and it is a stereotype) I think is because of the number of kids who are taken out of school by there parents and homeschooled because they're made fun of so much at school.
Kids who are raised homeschooled have MORE opportunities for beneficial socialization with communities like Martial Arts, Community Art classes, and even specific homeschooling groups.
We need too stop being okay with sweeping generalizations like this just because its not about a racial group or "recognised" minority.
I would think it should come from within. And I don't know how capable you are with an instrument, but maybe music could work as well.
I was thinking about these kids who's parents get them on the violin before they can even read and by the time they're 16 they're a virtuoso.
Again - i know that if i regulate it too strictly i'll kill the spark that makes them want to draw in the first place.
i was thinking i might just start with practicing deliberate shapes and aranging them to make something. squares and triangles -> make a house. something simple that pushes the muscle memory/silhouette recognition as that's probably the basest fundamental i can think of. I used to make ninja turtles out of strings of circles when i was a kid.
@ace - pff. the ladies love my boys, man.
@bigjohn - i don't know any instruments. I'd love to get them into that, but it'd require finding something they've got an interest in and getting them lessons - which is something i'm likely to invest in down the road when my life is a little less hectic.
One thing I really liked about growing up homeschooled is how much I could read and play games
It is always funny to see threads like this come up filled with people spewing doom and gloom about homeschooling. They really want to believe so hard that all the bullshit and suffering they went through in public school somehow benefited them.
There are benefits on both sides - people learn primarily through pain and the social interaction i was subjected to until i dropped out at 17 was invaluable in determining how i define myself as a person.
yes, i dropped out. I later got a diploma to join the military, then a GED for college as the diploma i got didn't have the propper accreditation. Now i've bot a bachelors...Honestly, high school was the main factor in me NOT going to college right away.
The story's different for everybody.
It's really a matter of who you are, who your parents are and how you're percieved by your peers/ who they are and who their parents are etc. Incredibly complex social systems like that don't have predictable results for ANYBODY regardless of how/where they're educated unless it's an extreme circumstance.
Also, getting him into DOTA2 is a plus, with all the math involved.
Going to the Gym is a plus, I made more friends in the gym then I did at school, you'd be surprised how many big, burly, gay dudes who like pokemon are friendly as opposed to most students (I also used to be homophobic, but not anymore) :P
Otherwise, I don't know what else to say. I mean the internet does have ALL the resources you might need to teach you kid something, but the question is how much time you're going to cut and give to him to learn.
Learn Spanish/German/French/Portuguese: http://duolingo.com/
Ted talks are always awesome.
I'd scheduled at least 45 minutes of exercise 5 days a week.
Push your kids to be social in public when there isn't lines or people waiting on them. Try having them pay for their own stuff at stores and restaurants.
It's important to have structure, but also to teach kids to do things without their parents.
Obviously try to make them do stuff with their peers, band and sports are the obvious ones, but there's often kid days at the zoo or parks.
Even to this day I hate being in the limelight where I feel there is some sort of scripted order/checkout code
this. i make my wife order everything for me all the time. and send out bills/make calls for appointments and such. makes her crazy. but yeah..
First off I guess I should give a little background: I, along with my three siblings, were homeschooled up to college. My oldest sister is director of marketing at a leasing agency, my brother is a former software engineer (quit to take on some personal projects he has been wanting to do), and my other sister is at college studying to be a surgical nurse. I am currently a Junior in highschool (16) but am taking college classes at a local JC (just finished my first semester) to nurture along my infatuation with physics in case I actually want a degree/more "meaningful" career.
First off homeschooling stops at high school. College is not mandatory for anyone (at least by the government -- parents are a different issue) so the same decisions about college are universal. Just like how some high school graduates might not decide to go to college, neither will some home school students.
Education works the same as in public schools. Certain time slots are assigned to certain subjects with a break at noon for lunch. There are hundreds of different companies out there that author curriculum, so it's up to you to research and find the right books to buy and teach. I think what brings up the question of "Are parents capable to teach?" is a lack of understanding. Parents do not have to write their own curriculum, invent experiments, or be experts in all fields. You buy curriculum which includes a student book and a teacher book (and possibly DVDs from real instructors and classrooms). You watch the DVDs/read the lesson plan from the teacher book, and do the work in the student book. The parent then checks the students work using the answers in the teachers manual. Alternatively there are online programs (which I went through/am going through right now). You log into a website, do your subjects for the day, and the results are sent off to their database to be auto-graded. You receive your score and that's that. Your parents may set up a teacher account to keep tabs on your grades and make sure you are actually doing the work.
Now, the above scenario is not the only one. I know of certain homeschool families that are very loose (e.g. kids playing games all day, staying up late and sleeping until noon) but it is not that common. These cases unfortunately make it into the media and therefore bolster the stereotype about homeschooling.
Some negatives include the paragraph above, but also things such as bad/illiterate parents who do not keep tabs on their kids schoolwork -- whether it be on purpose because they are horrible excuses for parents, or because they are just genuinely unintelligent. On the flip side, parents might cater to their kids' wishes too much and be lenient on their work. I'm not going to list the social aspects as a negative because there are no morals that dictate that humans can only be fulfilled through remedial friendships (not to mention most homeschoolers I know behave perfectly fine in social situations).
One of the biggest positives you can get out of being homeschooled is self-teaching. Homeschooling (at least in my case) taught the value of depending on yourself. Your learning should not stop at simply what your grade/teacher/textbook says you should know. It's up to your own intellectual honesty to learn what you like and to know that you do not have to fit the mold that a lot of public/private schools try to shape. Of course this also depends on the student and is case by case. Another positive can be pacing. Is your child a little slow at grasping things? You can take the time to make sure he really understands concepts before moving on. Is his intellect and aptitude for grasping new concepts beyond his age-range? He can take more advanced classes instead of being held back.
I also think there are some serious fundamental flaws in the US's current public education program, but that is for a vastly different discussion. I would also like to state that I do not think homeschooling is the ultimate answer to everything. Most of the situations I presented all rely on the student. It's ultimately their choice on how their education turns out. Unfortunately most kids lack that intellectual honesty which leads into our current ranks across the world in science and maths.
Anyways, on the actual topic I'm afraid I will not be of any help. The biggest examples and teachings you can give them will come from your own experience. Make sure to always be building their visual library and teach them the importance of it.
Like everyone else did. Brass Rail.
Wait thats in Toronto only. My bad.
Anyway I'll just drop this here as I thought it was a pretty good talk on education, the school system, etc...
[ame="
Start your kids on Khan Academy and Udacity when they're ready.
Anyways, im curious... How does home schooling work. I thought it meant a parent would stay home and teach them during the day. But, if you're both working, how does that work? Do you teach them when you get home, and they just do whatever during the day?
I think if you wanted to teach your kids art in a formal way, I would suggest doing a class yourself, to see how others teach it. Do one of the online art classes at gnomon. Or, use some of the tutorials from other sites, like http://www.ctrlpaint.com/ or something. and just work through them with your kids, giving them assignents for the day / week.
In or out of school kids need to be in other settings that allow them to actually interact with other kids and solve problems in a group setting. Expecting school to teach your kids social skills is like asking a vegetarian for a BBQ rib recipe. They probably have one, but unless you like BBQ Bean Curd, you're better off going with something that is better designed for the thing you want.
At least with home school you're kid will have a manageable class size and hopefully get enough 1 on 1 attention to actually be successful.
I have a daughter who is 5 and in public kindergarden and she's bored half the time. Everything they have taught so far this year has been a rehash of things she already learned at home and in preschool. We've thought about pulling her out and just doing home school but we realize that in a few years she will need more than us and adjusting back to a school setting would probably do more harm than good.
My mom is a 1st grade teacher and I was home schooled for 6mo while we lived in Australia, so I have picked her brain my entire life. Even though she lives 11hrs away she has been hugely helpful in getting my daughter ready for school. Most of the time she doesn't even know she is learning because my mom isn't one of the old school authoritarian teachers. It's almost as if the kids are driving their own learning. She's the type you'll find shoulder deep with kids as they work on things. She has parents volunteer and breaks the class up into smaller groups where the kids get more focused attention from an adult. The groups rotate through the different pods and it all works pretty well. She spends some of her time teaching parents how to be good teachers and that spreads through the classroom and all of the connecting social circles. Which really helps out the upper grades by setting up a structure that parents expect to be there.
We help our daughter a lot to be an independent creative learner who can always fall back on us for help, because with class sizes the way they are there isn't much help for one kid when they need it. The best thing she can do for the kids that do need more attention is to not be a drain on the teachers time. Her teacher is great, but really needs less kids and more time with each one. She also breaks the class up into groups but it's still not effective.
Also www.edutopia.org is a nice resource for teachers who aren't locked into the classic model of teaching. If George Lucas should be remembered for something, this should be it.