Introducing:
A
Self-Teaching Manual :
I’m
the MOM;
Only $7.50
~.~ An hour-long CD of a January 18, 2006, interview with Joanne by Homeschoool.com's Rebecca Kochenderfer coming soon! ~.~
Joanne
Calderwood is a former elementary school teacher who at one time was terrified of
unpotty-trained first graders. Consequently, she decided that having her own children was
definitely unthinkable. However, after a small change in heart, she and her husband,
Tim, now
have eight children, ages 4, 6, 8, 10, 12, 14, 15, and 16. They have always
homeschooled their
children, devising a methodology over the years that has enabled their children to become
self- teaching. She will be delighted to share with us the
process, benefits, and the ultimate results
of the self-teaching method of education in order to help you and your children enjoy educational
FREEDOM in your own home school!
Joanne and Tim both work for a major corporation outside the home, and they have owned and
operated their home business for eight years now. (www.encoreink.com) You will find
out
the secret to being able to homeschool with excellence without the need for daily parental
intervention with your children's schooling.
Joanne is all about what she calls 'Homeschooling Freedom' for
both parents and students!
Their oldest son, Nick, scored a 35 out of 36 on the ACT exam after his freshman year and his SAT score is 1520. Nick took the PSAT and scored 238 out of 240 ! He is currently 16, and he is vying for one of 6 full scholarships to the college of his choice. He has been personally invited to visit every Ivy League school in the nation, not to mention all manner of other Universities. And her other children are not far behind! Lauren, in the beginning of her freshman year of high school, scored a 1340, which is good enough to get a full scholarship at many a college! Taylor, who is in 8th grade currently, scored 1170 on his first SAT...not bad considering he just started Algebra 1.
In this manual, Joanne will tell you how YOUR children can also become self-teaching,
and in a relatively short time.
The Calderwood Family 2006
Back row: (L-R) Tim, Taylor, Nick, Lauren, Joanne
Front row: (L-R) Franklin, Olivia, Adrienne, Lydia, and Lilienne
Intro to Self-Teaching
Who: Anyone with almost any curriculum
can be self-taught. Some curriculum lends
itself better to self-teaching than others. Unit
Studies are not generally a self-teaching mode of education, but I bet they could be
adapted as well. Also, it is worthy of noting
from the get-go that it can be much more difficult to encourage a student to become
self-teaching who has recently been pulled out of a school system. The more years spent in
the system, the more difficult the “reversal” can be. More difficult, but not
impossible to achieve by any means! Find what
curriculum works for you and your student(s).
What: What IS self-teaching anyway?
Simply stated, self-teaching (or self-learning) requires
the ability for a student to work independently. Self-taught
students are motivated by the sense of a job well done.
They are self-motivated because they have the confidence that if they don’t
know an answer to a question, they know how to use the resources available to find out the
answer. Self-taught students often can
complete course work in a fraction of the time it would take to finish in a
teacher-directed setting.
Self-teaching should be ingraining in the student a concept of continual success: gradual and steady success that results from diligence and the pursuit of excellence. Short term goals should be set, but goal-setting is NOT tedious! Isn't that good news?
Where: Self-teaching can be done anywhere
at any time! It is unlimited but not
unstructured. A good record-keeping system is recommended so the student can look back and
glimpse the steady progress he or she is making. This
system can be as loose or as structured as you desire.
( Much
more on this in the manual.)
Why: Why would you want your child to
become self-teaching? I am so glad you asked! Some of the answers may be obvious and some not
quite so obvious. Let’s take a closer
look at what happens when a child becomes a self-learner.
~Student becomes an independent
thinker
~Student learns to accept
responsibility
~Student gains the freedom to
learn with no restrictions.
~Student earns accountability.
~Intrinsic (built-in) rewards =
good feeling from a job well done.
~Students test well because
student is used to tackling problems on his/her own = confidence.
~Children retain more naturally
when they do the work vs. parents spoon-feeding the information into them.
~Students learn where to go when
help is needed. They don’t need to worry
about “gaps” in their education because if they need to know something down the
road, they find the answers themselves.
~The student has the courage to
delve into an area of interest to study it without having a teacher teach it.
~Self-teaching gives an
opportunity for the student to develop a good work ethic.
~Self-teaching allows the learner
to go as deeply into a subject and interact with the subject matter to whatever depth he
would like to go.
~Self-teaching allows the learner
to limit the number of interests being undertaken so as not to be spread too thinly.
~Self-teaching allows the family
to function as a family rather than emulating an institution at home.
~Self-teaching eliminates all
excuses for not reaching one’s potential. It
will never be anyone else’s fault in the student doesn’t learn!
~ Self-teaching is more fun than
being taught at!
~ Self-teaching means that mom
can read great books rather than teacher’s manuals of text books.
~Self-teaching trains one to go
to the source for information, which reduces the possibility of deception.
~Self-teaching is the wave of the
future now that so much information is at our fingertips!
~Self-teaching means that babies
and toddlers get more attention from mom because she is not busy playing “teacher”.
Your child’s education today is preparation for life tomorrow.
Don’t we want to raise lifelong learners?
How: We shall discuss this in more
detail in the manual! Believe it or not, the answer to this question of “how” is
to give your student the materials, answer keys, and step back and watch what happens! You’ll be amazed! Of course you’ll need to check work
periodically and as carefully as you feel the child needs you to be checking to keep
‘em honest. Make sure goals are being
met. Otherwise, stay out of the way!
When: Today! (Or
whenever you are comfortable with the concepts.) Start slowly and allow your child to gain
your trust and respect. Then give more and more freedom until you reach the point where
your child rarely needs you to help him / her.
Negatives: Your children may become smarter
than you are! That is (sort of) true in my household. Nobody
wastes time asking me a mathematics question. No, Sir! The resource of choice is one of
our older children or Daddy. Sigh. But
that is so much better than ME having to battle algebra all over again. I am not talking about my education here, but my
children’s. I wasn’t taught to enjoy
math, but my children all enjoy math for some strange reason which I haven’t quite
figured out, but I think it has something to do with not being afraid to ask a question,
thus not moving on until a concept is ingrained correctly.
If I wanted to learn Algebra, I would, but I
don’t care to spread myself too thinly….! J
