- Today, we're sharing some tips on teaching
in a Charlotte Mason Co-op.
(upbeat music)
Welcome to the Simply Charlotte Mason Podcast,
I'm Sonya Shafer.
With the new school year gearing up,
some of you are probably thinking about teaching
in Charlotte Mason Co-ops,
and today we wanted to share some tips for you.
Joining me is Laura Pitney,
who's been running a Charlotte Mason Co-op
and dealing with teacher parents for many years now.
How is teaching in a co-op similar or different
from teaching your own kids at home?
- Well, it definitely has some differences.
When you think about teaching in your home,
you have your routines, you have your plan,
but also you have distractions,
you have kids that may be in different moods,
you may be in a different mood.
There's just a lot of variables to that.
- Laundry going,
the dryer. - Yes, yes.
- You might have your preschooler running around, oh, yeah.
- And you as the teacher,
are responsible to teach all the subjects,
whether you really like them or not, I mean,
that's just your responsibility as the teacher.
So by default, you're head over all of it.
You're working through all the subjects with all the ages,
with all the attitudes.
There's just a lot that happens in your home
when you're homeschooling.
So that's not necessarily how it looks like
in a co-op setting.
I mean, it can, depending on the atmosphere of that co-op,
but one of the differences would be
that you have maybe the option to choose
which class you want to teach.
You're not by default having to teach all the classes.
So you can maybe sign up to teach one
that you're really passionate about and that you like
or you may want to say, "You know what,
I want to be an assistant to this class
so I can learn more about it
or learn how to do the Charlotte Mason method
for that subject."
So there's some flexibility with maybe how you,
what you have to do in your home
versus what you have the options to do in the co-op.
And so that affects
maybe you and your attitude towards the co-op
because if "I have options,
I'm probably going to pick the one I like,
or maybe I have a strength in or a talent in,"
and that just looks different
because you can't do that at home.
- I suppose you can also choose what age levels.
- Right, right.
- Depending on how big the co-op is,
if they're divided by age levels.
- Right.
Sometimes you have teachers
that want to also teach their children in the co-op,
just so that they can still have their eyes on their kids
and make sure they know what their kids are being taught.
That's natural, but then you have moms that say,
"I'll do any age, but the ones my kids are in."
Because they might just need a break
and they enjoy having maybe they have a home of all littles
and they want to volunteer to teach a high school class
just because they're hungry for those conversations.
So even the ages can help inspire you and be more motivated
and almost get refreshed.
And that way, when you're back with your littles
or you want to do littles because you love the littles,
but you only have high schoolers at home.
So even the age groups can feed into you in a good way,
based on what you sign up for.
- Now, I want to revisit something you said
about being an assistant, signing up as an assistant.
Talk a little more about that.
Do you always have assistants for your teachers
or how does that work?
- Well, that's one thing that I have learned
over the years is there's just a component of teaching
and having that assistant helps the teacher.
There's some different things,
the assistant can be the automatic substitute
if the teacher isn't there.
So the teacher, if they do need to take a sick day
or there's just something's going on and they can't make it,
it's just comforting knowing that you have an assistant
that will fill the shoes
and you not feel guilty about messing up the whole co-op day
for the other families.
- And that substitute is already familiar with the class.
- Correct.
- She's been in there the whole time.
- Right and depending on the age group,
you may have a room full of 12-year-old boys
and you just need an extra set of eyes and to keep,
just to help encourage them
to make good behavioral decisions.
So having an assistant also helps with logistics
and distractions for that.
And then I usually always pair somebody that's new
to the co-op and also new to Charlotte Mason methods
and philosophies so that they can learn
how to teach the class or maybe even how to improve
their wording on how they ask for narrations
or maybe you have a real timid mom
that you can see potential in.
And by helping her, asking her to be an assistant
can even help build her confidence
to where she can see the role of the teacher
to where she could one day be a head teacher
versus the assistant.
So even just encouraging that mom
that may not be a dominant teacher, if that makes sense.
Just even helping in that aspect of it too.
So I've just learned that having those assistants
are really valuable to help the co-op keep going
and not to have huge hiccups to where,
if the teacher's not there, then the class can't happen
or it falls on the director to fill in
when the director may have other responsibilities.
So that assistant has been really beneficial.
- I really like the idea of using that position
to train new teachers.
It's like you're constantly mentoring.
- Correct, yeah.
- That's a great idea.
Another thing that I think is similar,
but might be a little different in teaching at home
versus teaching in a co-op is planning.
- Yeah.
- Yes, you have to have plans for both.
How is it similar or different?
- Well, I think at home,
we usually start out with our big picture for the year
and then we usually kind of break it down
to maybe monthly and weekly and daily,
like we have our general plan
and then we have our resources.
But a lot of times when you get in the groove of things,
you may not always prepare like you should,
because you're kind of in your routine of things,
which is fine.
Usually your day goes fine without giving a hundred percent
to that preparation time.
But in a co-op, you really do have to
not only have the plan,
but also commit yourself to that preparation
to where you really are giving the class the best of you
and the best of the lesson and that kind of thing.
So I think there's value in knowing
that you do have your plan and you do need to prepare,
but when it's transferred over to the co-op,
there's just a high, a little bit more accountability
and expectation because you're the teacher
of other people's children.
- So it's harder to wing it.
- Correct, correct, correct.
And one thing that I have found helpful
is having good resources that plan for me,
and even give me what I need to prepare for,
like heads up, get these materials or these supplies,
or remind parents about this or that.
So even just choosing the right resource
to use in the co-op setting helps save my time
and doesn't take away the time I give to my family,
if that makes sense.
- Yes, absolutely.
As time is one of the most valuable things
a homeschool mom has.
- Yes.
- So, if you can get something that someone else
has invested that time in for planning and preparing,
then all you need to do is run the program
and read through it, make sure you're familiar with it.
- But you're not having to spend the hours of research.
- Putting it together yourself.
- Adapting it, yeah.
For sure. - Yeah.
And I'm very excited about the new line
of Charlotte Mason Together,
lesson plans and courses that are now available.
- Yeah. They're super helpful.
I love how there's flexibility within them
because a lot of co-ops look different.
Sometimes, you may be a monthly co-op
or sometimes you may be a weekly co-op,
just depending on the type of group that you are.
Having the CMT groups lesson plans
have been so beneficial for us
because we can take those
and apply it just like they're written
like the 12-week term,
or we may take one of the lesson plans
and say, "Okay, this is really good,
but we may want to just do that once a month,
but it's still all laid out for us."
So I think that's a big thing to remember
is the flexibility within the groups
and but to have that spine of the resources
that's your foundation, your plans.
I just feel like the more you are prepared
and can use the lesson plans,
like the CMT group lesson plans,
you're really setting yourself up for success
and the group up for success.
And it has just been a load off my shoulders
because it's there.
And I can just say, "Okay, you as the teacher,
this is what you need to do."
I can trust the resource to where I'm not having
to pour an over-amount of time in
trying to train the teacher,
if that makes sense, - Yes.
- because it's already scripted and written out.
So it's just been a huge time saver
and a trusted thing I know I can fall back on.
- And I love how those are available just individually.
Like you can pick and choose whatever you want to use.
- Right.
- But also you can get a whole bundle of, here is season one
and it has the schedule for your co-op.
It has all the lesson plans.
Everything's just laid out all together in one place.
- It's beautiful.
(laughing)
And I just think out of experience over the years,
the time that I have put into,
and I know other other directors have too,
the time you put into helping your teachers,
because those are the faces in front of your children
and that their words and their mindset,
and helping them succeed.
Because if it's a burden for them
to have to come up with the lesson plans
or the resources or the schedule,
I mean, you don't want to deflate them,
and them not want to teach.
- Exactly.
- You want to keep them around.
- Yes, yes.
That's a good point, that's a good point.
- I have thoroughly enjoyed having them
and it's just made our days run smoother
and it's helped alleviate a lot of questions
and we have just, we've just loved using them.
- It sounds like your desire is to help your teachers
continue to grow as persons and to keep developing.
- Right.
- Talk a little bit about that.
- Well, I think that as homeschoolers, we love our children.
We want to invest in them.
We're obviously teaching them.
And then when we jump over to the co-op setting,
it's almost like a different part of us is being used,
even though we're still teaching
because it's not our own children.
There's a little bit more fire behind us,
like we're a little more motivated
just because it's new and fresh.
But again, helping set those teachers up for success
and giving them the confidence
to pour back into all of our children.
I mean, that's what I love to see happen.
And as the director watching that happen
is just a beautiful thing to where that teacher,
at some point it's like they transitioned
from the head knowledge to the heart
and the knowledge working together back into the children
and that's what you want.
And that's what, I know we want that heart desire
to be poured into our children.
So it's really neat to see when that happens in a co-op.
- Thanks.
If you enjoyed this podcast, be sure to subscribe.
We'll have links in the show notes
to the Charlotte Mason Together lesson plans
and season bundles and all the resources
to help your co-op run smoothly.
Thanks for joining us.