Homeschool Meetings
As the leader for our local military base home school support group, I am frequently searching for new and helpful ideas for our monthly meetings. Quite a while back I had decided that I wanted to create a structure for our meetings so that anyone who came after me would have a 'ready-made' format to follow if they wanted one. I realized it would also be very helpful in the event that I was unable to attend/lead any of the meetings unexpectedly. My search led me to something wonderful, practical and really was right under my nose all along. After the birth of my second daughter I became active in La Leche Leaque because I found it to be a source of support and encouragement unlike any I had ever known. I became a leader eventually and took my turn encouraging and helping other mothers who desired to nurse their babies. While talking with a friend of mine in the homeschool group who also spent many years (far more than me!) as a LLL Leader and sharing my ideas about building a structure for our meetings we both realized that the perfect format already existed and had been tried and true to us and millions of others worldwide for many, many years. Anyone who has been a LLL Leader will understand right away what I'm talking about. LLL meetings have a four-meeting rotation and have hundreds of subtitles but all follow the primary heading of: The Advantages of Breastfeeding, Baby Arrives: The Family and the Breastfed Baby, The Art of Breastfeeding and Overcoming Difficulties, and Nutrition and Weaning. You might ask what does breastfeeding have to do with homeschooling? Well, I'm sure that there are many of us who could make connections directly or indirectly but that's for another post... The interesting thing is that it is very easy to substitute the word 'homeschooling' or the phrase 'homeschooling family' for many of the titles.
We got very jazzed about the idea and when we started thinking more about it the more the puzzle pieces started coming together to make a beautiful picture! Gina e-mailed some of her friends who are still active with LLL and explained it to them and askd for refreshers on the meeting topics and ideas for activities. We immediately received wonderful comments and suggestions. Among the helpful feedback we received was a booklet titled Best Series Meetings Ever - WOW!! Can I write that again? WOW!! The Table of Contents lists twenty-one themes for each of the four meetings in the rotation. It includes Appendices for eight topics and a special section for holidays!! Note: Christmas is often a time when mothers become overwhelmed with traveling and shopping and the stress of preparing that they stop breasteeding altogether only to regret their decision after the holidays are past. It has been pointed out at more than one homeschooling talk/seminar that I have attended that the most difficult time of the year to homeschool is - you guessed it - December! January often finds burnt out mother's inquiring about tuition and waiting lists at their local private school or getting the supply list and bus route for the nearest public school. Often those same mothers are pulling their kids back out of those schools to give homeschooling another shot. The parallels are very interesting and make the tranformation of this booklet from the topic of the Breastfeeding Family to the Homeschooling Family very appealing and sensible.
The timing of our meeting are also very well suited for this plan. We start off each August and meet through November which will provide the four months for one rotation. We typically skip December and start again in January and meet through April and have our annual Field Day as our May meeting - another four months for a new theme in the rotation.
As a bonus - homeschooling has a continuum just as breastfeeding does. Styles range from complete unschoolng to school room at home and every family must find where they fall on that continuum and remain open minded and willing to change as time passes and children grow and have different needs and/or more children come along.
I will be working on the transformaton gradually at times and more intently at others. I began last month when our meeting (January) began with meeting #1 The Advantages of Homeschooling: Priorities - People First, Not Things. The activity I planned was well received but it definitely caught them off-guard! I purchased a large tablet of drawing paper and handed out a piece to each person. The pages were very large - I had a specific assignment for them :-) I also provided crayons and reminded them to share nicely. I started out with having them draw a large heart in the middle of the page leaving some room at the top. I asked them to write around the inside of the heart why homeschooling is important to them. Then I asked for volunteers to share what they had written. It continued with the following: Add a stick person for each family member inside the heart. Trace your left hand and add things you cherished as a child that you want to make sure your child has/experiences; trace your right hand and add things you didn't have that you want to make sure your child has/experiences; a ribbon across the top of the page and name one or more ways that homeschooling helps you put people first, not things; a 3-D cross on one side and add a favorite scripture verse or saying that you frequently rely on to lift you up when things get tough; a comedy mask on the other side and add a funny saying that makes you smile even when you don't feel like it; conversation bubbles all around with the names of people in your life who support your decision to homeschool; and at the bottom in big, bold letters 911 and the name of the one person you call when you need a homeschool paramedic (when there is immediate danger to the life or limb of a family member that demands immediate attention). I encouraged them to color and decorate it as creatively as they pleased and take it home to their families and use the same guidelines they use for their children's most special art projects for where and how long it is displayed.
This project and the questions posed to them really drew concerns into the open and helped them initiate conversations about areas that were problematic for them and where they clearly needed encouragement. I received comments after the meeting from several people that they thought it was a very good meeting. I don't always get feedback so when folks take the time and make the effort to let me know I believe it is because it really did have a positive impact.
I begin work tonight on the meeting for next week. I'll add that info on a post later!
Happy Homeschooling!!
We got very jazzed about the idea and when we started thinking more about it the more the puzzle pieces started coming together to make a beautiful picture! Gina e-mailed some of her friends who are still active with LLL and explained it to them and askd for refreshers on the meeting topics and ideas for activities. We immediately received wonderful comments and suggestions. Among the helpful feedback we received was a booklet titled Best Series Meetings Ever - WOW!! Can I write that again? WOW!! The Table of Contents lists twenty-one themes for each of the four meetings in the rotation. It includes Appendices for eight topics and a special section for holidays!! Note: Christmas is often a time when mothers become overwhelmed with traveling and shopping and the stress of preparing that they stop breasteeding altogether only to regret their decision after the holidays are past. It has been pointed out at more than one homeschooling talk/seminar that I have attended that the most difficult time of the year to homeschool is - you guessed it - December! January often finds burnt out mother's inquiring about tuition and waiting lists at their local private school or getting the supply list and bus route for the nearest public school. Often those same mothers are pulling their kids back out of those schools to give homeschooling another shot. The parallels are very interesting and make the tranformation of this booklet from the topic of the Breastfeeding Family to the Homeschooling Family very appealing and sensible.
The timing of our meeting are also very well suited for this plan. We start off each August and meet through November which will provide the four months for one rotation. We typically skip December and start again in January and meet through April and have our annual Field Day as our May meeting - another four months for a new theme in the rotation.
As a bonus - homeschooling has a continuum just as breastfeeding does. Styles range from complete unschoolng to school room at home and every family must find where they fall on that continuum and remain open minded and willing to change as time passes and children grow and have different needs and/or more children come along.
I will be working on the transformaton gradually at times and more intently at others. I began last month when our meeting (January) began with meeting #1 The Advantages of Homeschooling: Priorities - People First, Not Things. The activity I planned was well received but it definitely caught them off-guard! I purchased a large tablet of drawing paper and handed out a piece to each person. The pages were very large - I had a specific assignment for them :-) I also provided crayons and reminded them to share nicely. I started out with having them draw a large heart in the middle of the page leaving some room at the top. I asked them to write around the inside of the heart why homeschooling is important to them. Then I asked for volunteers to share what they had written. It continued with the following: Add a stick person for each family member inside the heart. Trace your left hand and add things you cherished as a child that you want to make sure your child has/experiences; trace your right hand and add things you didn't have that you want to make sure your child has/experiences; a ribbon across the top of the page and name one or more ways that homeschooling helps you put people first, not things; a 3-D cross on one side and add a favorite scripture verse or saying that you frequently rely on to lift you up when things get tough; a comedy mask on the other side and add a funny saying that makes you smile even when you don't feel like it; conversation bubbles all around with the names of people in your life who support your decision to homeschool; and at the bottom in big, bold letters 911 and the name of the one person you call when you need a homeschool paramedic (when there is immediate danger to the life or limb of a family member that demands immediate attention). I encouraged them to color and decorate it as creatively as they pleased and take it home to their families and use the same guidelines they use for their children's most special art projects for where and how long it is displayed.
This project and the questions posed to them really drew concerns into the open and helped them initiate conversations about areas that were problematic for them and where they clearly needed encouragement. I received comments after the meeting from several people that they thought it was a very good meeting. I don't always get feedback so when folks take the time and make the effort to let me know I believe it is because it really did have a positive impact.
I begin work tonight on the meeting for next week. I'll add that info on a post later!
Happy Homeschooling!!
I love it! I remember when you first talked about this idea and have been waiting to see how it all has come about. I look forward to reading more in the future. Keep up the great work. I just wish I was in that room with you.......
ReplyDeleteLove you lots!!!
Anne