Friday, March 9, 2012

Outsourcing My Teaching Weaknesses

A couple Saturdays ago we went to the Dr. Seuss birthday event at the Buffalo and Erie County Public Library.  One reason we went is that I am trying to find new library events for the kids who have outgrown the beloved toddler story hours.  It was getting awkward to bring them on a weekday with the two year olds to our local branch.  Even though C is only 4, she is as big as her brother and they were starting to overpower the group by over-participating and sort of jumping in front of the smaller kids.

The other reason I brought them is that the description of the event mentioned arts and crafts.  This was their favorite element of the story hour and one of their favorite activities.  This of course is a weak area for me.  Partially due to my impatient personality and partially due the fibromyalgia, I lack the energy and patience for this.  Despite being a homeschool mom, I don't think I have organized an art project in almost a year.  I have decided to handle this by attending as many library activities as possible where this is covered.


I have done the same thing with speech.  T was very difficult to understand.  I got him evaluated at Buffalo Public Schools and, despite his pretty high IQ, he was deemed to have a moderate to severe delay in pronunciation.  I was not as intimidated with the speech as I am with art, so at first I tried to find resources to do homeschool speech.  There was some information available, but nothing that I felt confident in using, at least for the articulation part.  I let the CSE place him at a school nearby just for speech.  Despite warnings from other homeschool parents that it would be a waste of time and that he would outgrow the speech delay anyway, the placement seems to have been pretty successful.  T is doing much better with pronunciation thanks to the very good speech teacher.  I am sure that part of the success does have to do with outgrowing it, but not all of it or even most of it.  Additionally, he does get to experience a small bit of conventional schooling allowing him to learn with other kids while not being couped up in the full-time job that school is for conventional students.

This is another advantage of homeschooling.  In public education and government in general, "outsourcing" is a sort of dirty word usually having to do with union contracts.  In homeschooling, though, you can customize and tailor the program to each child.  I am confident in my ability to guide my children in learning their core curriculum, reading, and field trips at their own pace, but for some of the more labor intensive areas or areas where I lack skill, I can turn to better resources.  I hope that understanding this will give more parents the confidence to homeschool.

8 comments:

  1. Hello, I found you through the Homeschool showcase. I too have been thinking about outsourcing some of my teaching. My son and I are having difficulty with his reading. I'm thinking of letting my husband teach him and see if he will be more receptive to working with his dad. If not I have a friend that homeschools her two boys that would be willing to help me.

    Also I was wondering about speech with your son. My son has a bit of an issue with pronunciation and I too have been wondering about a speech therapist or looking for something to do on my own. I have not had a chance to do much research, but if you could share where you started in looking for homeschooling with speech issues that would help steer me in the right direction. Thank you for writing this post it's been a great help.

    Rana

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    1. I am embarrassed to tell you that I don't have the names of the websites I looked at when I first looked into doing it myself. I do know that I got the sites from a book I got at the library: Homeschool Your Child for Free. I put it on the book list page so you can see what I am talking about, but hopefully your library has it.

      From what I remember the sites had language arts type things and I didn't understand how they were specifically speech. It wasn't anything like the techniques the speech teacher uses when T goes to the school twice every six days. Although, perhaps I didn't understand what I was supposed to do with the material on the sites.

      I guess it also came down to experience and confidence. Since I didn't have speech in school I felt unfamiliar. Where with everything else, even if I need a refresher, I can easily figure out how to help the kids tackle the material.

      Thanks so much!

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    2. Rana,

      I just started using Straight Talk: A Parent's Guide for Correcting Childhood Mispronunciations by Marisa J. Lapish. I borrowed it from a friend. I am using it with my almost 11 year old and am already seeing results. It might be worth a try for you???

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    3. Natalie, thanks for telling us about it. I didn't know about that program. I am glad it is working for you.

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    4. Thank you both for the recommendations. I have seen the Homeschool your child for free at our library. I am going to check to see about the Marisa Lapish book. Thank you sooo much!

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  2. I'm pooping over from the homeschool showcase. I love your thought process! We are not gifted in every area so why burn ourselves out trying to be when there are wonderful resources out there to assist us? If it weren't for our co-op and community sports where our boys participate in gym, art and another enrichment class, I'd definitely be seeking out community based resources for these areas.

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    1. *Popping over NOT pooping over. ROFL! SO sorry!

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    2. No problem. I am so pleased you decided to check out my post. I am glad I am not the only one who does some of this outsourcing.

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