Teaching Stuff

On Thursdays I teach at a homeschool co-op. It has been an interesting situation in my life.

I arrived in town worn out and "burned out" after several months of "only" parenting , prepping for a move, finding a house and moving with dear husband arriving home two weeks prior to move. By school beginning- which in the south starts way too soon- I was barely coming around to "normal".

Then the phone rang- "?would I teach science?- with others, 2nd and 3rd graders??? Ok, I was willing. Soon I found a room full of kids and I was lead teacher and it was fun- it was wide open to do as I wanted, so we did. We played with magnets, ate green food and drank black juice and took trips outside to see nature close up. As the semester drew to an end I thought about what I was doing and what I really wanted to teach. This was my first time leading a co-op class and it was fun. I was really enjoying the challenge and joy and the kids dive into learning.

Art and creativity was always a passion, my "major" in high school, but hardly visited in college. So I began an art class, well, no make that 2 classes. In my mind I would have the same room as science- oops, room shift and my 9-10 year old boys and girls found themselves in the worlds smallest chairs for real people. We laughed and rolled with it. We painted, colored, drew, made paper mache masks, created clay plates and creatures. The kids dug in with hands and got messy. It was funny to hear the reactions as they were boy and girl classes- segregated. The boys struggled more with the papermache messy hands than the girls. perhaps they had spent more time hands deep in dough in the kitchen???

Yesterday a mom came to me and told me again how much the kids had enjoyed the class. What a blessing to have made memories of joy for her boys. I have heard that others cant wait to be old enough to attend my class-hmmm, not sure I am up for repeats on the art or tooltime ???

Last semester my passion was to help a few guys know how to handle a screwdriver and hammer. I had once hosted a couples baby shower and the guy game was to ID the various tools used for simple father tasks- putting crib together, taking the toothbrush out of the toilet, etc. The clueless dads won the 4 way screwdriver and duct tape.

So the base of "Tool Time" came forth. I wanted the help some guys lose if they were ever to participate in such a game. They built a tool box, a nail box. We then went on to construct a mini wall and add electrical components and drywall it. We spoke about stuff that guys need to know- how to check the oil, tire pressure. How to hang pictures with drywall anchors. It was lots of fun and yet a bit exhausting to haul the stuff to the co-op.

This semester we have moved on to "Guy Stuff". Last week they began with learning how to tie knots. My helpful assistant showed off his knot tying projects and demonstrated several knots. This week some boys brought in new knots that they tied, several have practiced throughout the week.

This week's lesson was "Dress for sucess" where we spoke of clothing - matching, choosing the right thing for the occassion, learning to tie a tie, shoe polishing, ironing, measuring yourself for clothing, packing a suitcase and why we seperate red clothes from white in the washer. All too quickly we ran out of time- no time left to play with the polish or race each other in packing and ironing- bummer, that would have been fun.

It was nice to see that many had dressed up. Those with shirt and tie and jacket were given a 100 grand candy bar for looking like "a million bucks". The ones who showed up with collared shirt/tie brought me joy so they received a Almond Joy, and the few who threw a tie on over their tshirts and sweatshirts came away with a snickers- as we all snickered at them. After they tied their ties they were all rewarded with Butterfingers as they proved that they did not have them. And the class ended with dinner mints, as all well dressed young men should have fresh breath.

And so we begin a semester of classes again. In the early hours this morning a new idea came- Chicken?Man? A class on carcasses and how to cut them up! How is that for guy stuff. the carcass ID part came from my husband as I shared my thoughts at 3am.

The challenge is my 3yr old neighbor GIRL was willing to pickup and "play" with a dead bird- no squimish or problem. Her sister had cleaned and ?? taken the meat from a dove- no problem. Would they be chicken or man? would they conquer a chicken without fuss as a 3 and 5 year old have?

How many young men will know how to deal with a whole chicken? How is this skill applicable? Well, the $$ it can save them in later life is great. As newlyweds a chicken I separated and deboned could supply 2-3 meals, and on our limited income that was huge!

So, we will do cost comparison, learn to ID poultry. Teams will learn to separate the parts- and maybe will go on to teach their moms and sisters as I have found this to be a dying art. If time and tools permit they will get to cook up their chicken breast and I will take home lots of chicken to cook up for future use. And they will learn the importance of clean hands, tools and samonilla poisoning prevention. Hmmm, who would think so much could come from the humble chicken?!

The teaching of "stuff" has brought me great satisfaction. When I originally said OK it was with resignation, and a sense of obligation. Little did I know that my backdoor entry into co-op teaching would bring such joy. It is now fun to consider what practical hands on tasks I can bring to class and impart to willing students. I am never sure how the guys will take the class content, but so far I have not had any drop out so I guess its working.