Hi Mike,mgardenh wrote:As most of you know my youngest and I are going to Denver for two weeks to National Jewish. Grandma is going to homeschool. She is a retired librarian. I know MFW is easy but does anyone have any ideas how to ease grandma into homeschooling. She is anxiety ridden about everything so I would like to help her as much as I can to be ready. My wife and her sisters were in public school so she has no homeschooling experience.
I have already shown her the teaching manual and I am planing when she arrives a day or two before we leave to show her were all the material is. I plan on having each day outlined as well as what is in the book. But any other suggestions would be helpful.
I already typed up a few things that I did set up last year for my ds to do independently, and some of that time was while grandma was here. In the last paragraph, I think, I mention that one of the lists I made was for things ds could do if someone else was available to help (such as grandma):
http://board.mfwbooks.com/viewtopic.php?t=4648
My mil especially enjoyed doing the Bible readings with ds. She liked having my list of Bible assignments, and then she often said, "I told Reid that we didn't have to stop there!"
Another thing that she appreciated was having an idea of my expectations -- how little I would be okay with, and the fact that ds's school day could be over at a certain time each day even if the work wasn't done. Then she knew when to put her foot down and when to let it go. You probably already realize this, but -- don't forget that the kids at home are also going thru some stress while their parents are gone & loved ones are ill. I think keeping up some structure helps, but expecting high achievement can of course be put off for a while.
And finally, I made sure to let her know that she could add to the curriculum anything she wanted to call "educational." For "art," she helped ds choose colors & repaint his room. She also freely added phy ed, cooking, and cleaning :o)
In past years, I've also had other family members really enjoy teaching a class to ds, such as science. And some prefer to create their own "class." Your mil might enjoy some of these types of things:
* A downtown field trip with my sister when she visits every fall.
* Gardening with my other sister.
* A "fun day" with his Godmother.
* Fishing with his Godfather.
* Hot lunch with dad.
A couple other stray things that helped:
* I made a big pile of videos and games that I considered "educational."
* I arranged with other co-op families to pick ds up and bring him on a field trip or to a co-op class.
Best wishes on your trip,
Julie