Where are you teaching?!?

The cool thing about education is that is has so many faces. Even when you look more closely at the options of public school, homeschool, private, charter, virtual... the choices and variety within each of those are great too. 

Nothing gets me more riled then one someone claims that their form of education is the best and only way. Do all systems have problems? YES! Can you judge a type of school by one example? NO!

Because education is all about the kids. And parents make choices for the kids that best suits them. I have to admit, some parents have made choices that I don't necessarily agree with, but in the end, its not up to me. 

The choice of where we as educators teach is enormous too! I taught in a public school for the last 7 years. In my seven years there I saw the school go through lots of change, but each change only made the school a better place. Those seven years have helped to shape who I am as an educator. 

BUT, this past year I left like change was in the air for ME! I wanted the chance to be at home more while my boys were still young and the pace of life needed to slow down a bit.

So as one door closed, another one opened! :)

I looked into a couple different options to still keep my feet in the teaching world, yet having more time with my boys. One stood out. 

It is a homeschool academy. What's that, you ask? All the kids in the school receive the majority of their instruction at home, but two days a week they come to a school setting for instruction with their peers. It allows us to do some more hands-on and group activities that they would not get as much of at home. It allows for some structure. The teachers all have classroom experience. But we have a partnership with parents because they are still the main educators of their children.

We meet in a church, so share the rooms with the normal church activities. So I don't have to worry about setting up my classroom aside from a bulletin board and organizing my closet for storage. The kids carry their supplies with them.  My focus this whole summer has been on what I am teaching, not having to worry about a room! I'm kind of excited about that.

In 3rd grade they do all their math at home, so I am responsible to teach literature, writing, and history. History I will team teach with the 4th and 5th grade teachers.  You can read a little more about what I am teaching here, although I have already reworked my units because I am using the Courage of Sarah Noble as one of my novels instead of Frindle.

I had the opportunity to observe one day and I was so amazed by the structure, yet the freedom. I'm really looking forward to this year. I'm also looking forward to the fact that Liam and Alex will both be in classes while I am teaching too! Alex did 3K there last year and he has been asking for weeks to go back! :) 

So from now on, if anyone asks I will probably direct them here! It takes a while to explain, but I think it is a wonderful way to do school! :)