Teacher Teacher
We were at the grocery store yesterday and ran into my son's first grade teacher from a few years ago. He liked her and had an easy transition under her care from a half-day of kindergarten to the more tiring full day of first grade.
She remembered him and stopped to talk with us for a moment. Inevitably, the question of school came up. I'm hesitant to bring up the subject of homeschooling with employees of the public schools. It's been my experience that most teachers and administrators detest homeschooling. I guess they see it as either an insult to their profession or a threat to their livelihood, or both.
So I went ahead and told her that we are homeschooling through the IDVA and that my son loves everything about it, and is thriving, and... Here I waited for the pained look.
But instead, her face brightened, she smiled wide, and said, "Oh! I know all about the IDVA. My daughter works for them. It's an incredible program." Then she turned to my son and told him, "You're very lucky to have your dad as a teacher."
It's nice to hear that kind of thing, especially from somebody who has been teaching as long as she has. I'll take supportive comments from wherever I can get them, but that one was definitely memorable.
She remembered him and stopped to talk with us for a moment. Inevitably, the question of school came up. I'm hesitant to bring up the subject of homeschooling with employees of the public schools. It's been my experience that most teachers and administrators detest homeschooling. I guess they see it as either an insult to their profession or a threat to their livelihood, or both.
So I went ahead and told her that we are homeschooling through the IDVA and that my son loves everything about it, and is thriving, and... Here I waited for the pained look.
But instead, her face brightened, she smiled wide, and said, "Oh! I know all about the IDVA. My daughter works for them. It's an incredible program." Then she turned to my son and told him, "You're very lucky to have your dad as a teacher."
It's nice to hear that kind of thing, especially from somebody who has been teaching as long as she has. I'll take supportive comments from wherever I can get them, but that one was definitely memorable.
Permalink posted by Idaho Dad at 12:54 AM
6 Comments:
That's a good comment from somebody worthy.
There's no mistaking generosity and not just you and me, but the entire world, could use a little more. xo
I'm not all that surprised. A teacher friend of ours in SoCal told us she was home schooling her kids. Even though she taught at one of the best schools around, she thought it was abysmal.
It is really not that uncommon a sentiment amoung veteran teachers. Both of my parents are/were teachers/administrators and are quite realistic about the shortcomings of public education. I recently suggested homeschooling my children to them and they fully supported the idea. They have always argued that individualized education at a self-selected pace is most effective and homeschooling is the perfect way to do that. Kudos for being the teacher for your kids.
What a great teacher! She is more conserned about kids and education rather than herself.
I felt the same way when I went to talk to my daughters teacher about speech therapy for homeschoolers. It was when I was deciding if I would homeschool. She gave me all the info and as I was leaving she leaned in and said "You are doing the right thing."
She even told her former teacher that I was her teacher now in a paperwork meeting the next year.
I think most teachers are aware that not all children will do best in public schools. The ones that don't are part of the reason public schools have so many problems.
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