1. They should have input if they have years of experience. The fact that teachers usually don't have input puts all of the responsibility on the school boards, which really need to know the pros and cons of using a particular curriculum, as well as how that curriculum compares to all the other curriculums available. This is another topic.
2. Even if they don't have input, a good teacher can make any curriculum work.
It's a challenge. It's an art. It's fun.
The curriculum a school uses is a huge factor. Usually, we teachers don't have a say in the decisions regarding curriculum, but we are the ones there teaching the students and using the curriculum every day, so, we, with a little tweaking, can make just about anything work.
Here's how.
1. Have a great schedule (that's the next piece of pie and we'll go more into that later.)
2. *Especially for one or two-room schoolhouses: Figure out which subjects students can do well on their own and have them turn those in to be graded by you. (I usually did this with vocabulary workbooks, journal assignments, and the older grades' reading on certain days.) This lets you know how they are doing with those subjects, gives you leverage, and the students accountability. Then spend most of your time having classes for the rest of the subjects, even if they need to be short classes.
I have found that if I get a small group of students together for a short ten minute "class" in which we quickly go over the answers they've written beforehand and discuss the subject, it goes much better than them just winging it on their own. We have also grouped grades 3-6 together for science and history, rotating the subject matter. We've done the same with grades 7-12 (teaching to the higher levels and requiring longer essays on tests from the older ones.) Science and history are usually more topical (American history vs. world history; earth science vs. life science) and less incremental (as are English and math) anyway. We have found that students get way more out of a class done together with a teacher teaching and students answering than they will from just doing a book on their own. Note: time is key here. When we were doing this, we expected the students to complete the review sections on their own and hand them in for us to grade. That way we could focus our class time on going over the new lesson concept and doing that part together as a class.
For the incremental subjects (English and math), does it really matter if Susie is on book 703 and Fred is on book 706? Put them all (7th graders, for example) in the same book, do it together as a class, and watch their comprehension, grades, and motivation sky rocket.* (See story below.)
Academic Vision
Christian schools should also have an academic vision, and this should be reflected in the classes and opportunities offered to students. This vision can be vast enough, even in a small school, to reach those who are college-bound as well as those who want to finish 10th grade and then help with the family business. (And may God bless them both!) We should be training our students to be interesting humans, able to converse about a wide variety of topics including architecture, literature, and of course, doctrine. Our schools should be producing well-rounded individuals who are well-trained in academic disciplines and ready to contribute to the church body and the community.
Our younger students should be learning health, etiquette, foreign cultures, and manners along with the basics. Our older students should take classes on Anabaptist history and logic. Available courses should include higher levels of science and math, writing, and electives which interest them.
All students should have the privilege and opportunity to take music and art classes at least once a week. Anybody can do research and come up with materials for these. We need to do this. It's not okay to just omit the arts because no music or art teacher could be found, and no one else wanted to do it or felt qualified to do it. Research and respond.
If we focus on just the basics and what little we need to get by to earn a high school diploma, we are overlooking a vast array of topics and skills that will enable our students to be well-educated and cognizant of the world and others around them, even if they won't technically use that knowledge or skills on the job everyday. They will use them when interacting with others, and that should be our ultimate goal -- to interact well (and hopefully as educated individuals) with others in order to win the lost for Christ, not just to make money at our jobs. Here are a few ways we can strive to achieve that lofty goal.
1. Schools should offer all the required subjects, and then some. The standard high school electives (home economics, shop) that a majority of the students will enjoy should be available, and these can be done together in groups. (If a school is fairly small, all the ladies could do home economics one year while the guys do small engine repair. The next year they can all do a music elective together, etc. By the end of their high school years, they will have earned all their credits and will have had fun doing it in groups rather than solo. Again, there is more accountability and fun this way.)
2. We can find ways to "feed" a student's particular interest. When one of our sons was in his junior and senior years, he wanted to take chemistry and physics -- classes no one else wanted to take, and classes which Jeff (who was teaching music, math, science, and physical education to grades 3-12) didn't have time to squeeze in. So we found a Christian man who was teaching these classes online. He had spent twenty-five years as a research chemist and was teaching from the Apologia science textbooks. Our son loved the classes, majored in chemistry in college, and is now a high school science teacher in an Anabaptist school. Find creative ways to encourage and nurture students who do have an interest in something to be able to take classes or earn credit outside the regular course offerings. Did you know that in most states a student who spends 280 hours learning a skill can earn three high school elective credits for it?
3. Course offerings for high school credit should be well-rounded. It's okay to play softball, and it's okay to learn music theory, but it not okay to focus on 90% of one and only 10% of the other.
Making any curriculum work, and offering a well-rounded curriculum to our students should be a top priority for our Christian schools. Are our schools producing educated, well-rounded individuals? We should be.
For further reading:
My 7th and 8th grade students did this after watching a tutorial on how to make a fish using Chinese brush painting.
If we focus on just the basics and what little we need to get by to earn a high school diploma, we are overlooking a vast array of topics and skills that will enable our students to be well-educated and cognizant of the world and others around them, even if they won't technically use that knowledge or skills on the job everyday. They will use them when interacting with others, and that should be our ultimate goal -- to interact well (and hopefully as educated individuals) with others in order to win the lost for Christ, not just to make money at our jobs. Here are a few ways we can strive to achieve that lofty goal.
2. We can find ways to "feed" a student's particular interest. When one of our sons was in his junior and senior years, he wanted to take chemistry and physics -- classes no one else wanted to take, and classes which Jeff (who was teaching music, math, science, and physical education to grades 3-12) didn't have time to squeeze in. So we found a Christian man who was teaching these classes online. He had spent twenty-five years as a research chemist and was teaching from the Apologia science textbooks. Our son loved the classes, majored in chemistry in college, and is now a high school science teacher in an Anabaptist school. Find creative ways to encourage and nurture students who do have an interest in something to be able to take classes or earn credit outside the regular course offerings. Did you know that in most states a student who spends 280 hours learning a skill can earn three high school elective credits for it?
3. Course offerings for high school credit should be well-rounded. It's okay to play softball, and it's okay to learn music theory, but it not okay to focus on 90% of one and only 10% of the other.
Making any curriculum work, and offering a well-rounded curriculum to our students should be a top priority for our Christian schools. Are our schools producing educated, well-rounded individuals? We should be.
For further reading:
Attainable Content and Workload (Making any Curriculum Work)
History Art Projects: The Plain Professors' List of Hand-on History and Social Studies Projects
STORY:
*Once upon a time I was in a school which was switching from everyone being on close but separate levels of curriculum to all being on grade level and having classes taught by teachers, albeit we were using the same curriculum as they had been using before. I had two students -- we'll call them Paula and Nancy. Paula hadn't even been using the curriculum because she wasn't understanding it and had been given the easier, lower-level curriculum. She told me, "I can't do those books."
"Paula, give me three weeks," I told her. She did.
Nancy, on the other hand, was almost a year ahead, so we just put her up to the next level, even though it was jumping her ahead just a bit. She kept her mouth shut, but her mother asked me what was wrong with all the students just doing their own work. Keep reading for the answer.
A few months later, Paula was doing fabulous with those books she thought she couldn't do. Most of her grades were 97% or higher. That didn't surprise me so much. I knew that if I taught the material well and she tried, that she would excel, and she had.
The real surprise was Nancy. She told me, "I cannot believe how much more I'm learning. I thought having a teacher teach me wouldn't make a bit of difference-- but it does. I understand so much better now and things make more sense."
STORY:
*Once upon a time I was in a school which was switching from everyone being on close but separate levels of curriculum to all being on grade level and having classes taught by teachers, albeit we were using the same curriculum as they had been using before. I had two students -- we'll call them Paula and Nancy. Paula hadn't even been using the curriculum because she wasn't understanding it and had been given the easier, lower-level curriculum. She told me, "I can't do those books."
"Paula, give me three weeks," I told her. She did.
Nancy, on the other hand, was almost a year ahead, so we just put her up to the next level, even though it was jumping her ahead just a bit. She kept her mouth shut, but her mother asked me what was wrong with all the students just doing their own work. Keep reading for the answer.
A few months later, Paula was doing fabulous with those books she thought she couldn't do. Most of her grades were 97% or higher. That didn't surprise me so much. I knew that if I taught the material well and she tried, that she would excel, and she had.
The real surprise was Nancy. She told me, "I cannot believe how much more I'm learning. I thought having a teacher teach me wouldn't make a bit of difference-- but it does. I understand so much better now and things make more sense."
It's a win-win situation. You can teach several short classes -- you just need a good plan and a good schedule.
Up Next: Grape Tart - Class Management and Procedures: Finding the Perfect Schedule