Although I like to teach certain things that I enjoy, I have had an opportunity to teach a subject that I know very little about. Our homeschool CoOp depends upon every mother doing her share to provide an educational experience for our children weekly. I was asked to help teach Art. In spite of being terrified that I wouldn't have a clue, it has turned out to be fun!
The curriculum for each week's project is completely written and well laid out by another Mom who has a background in many subjects including art. All of the supplies have been gathered at the beginning of the year and are stored at our meeting place. Another busy Mom and myself alternate the job of being the lead teacher each week. The following week we are the assistant which requires less preparation and pressure! One of our duties is to drape the entire art room, the floor and the tables, in heavy plastic dropcloths. We have found that these are extremely washable and reusable.
Our job is to teach a weekly Art concept, explain the project and then patiently encourage the students to make their own. They enjoy the process. We have three separate classes that come into our art room for thirty minutes each. There is a very steep learning curve each week and we improve our methods for actually completing the project by working with our first students of the day.
I have discovered another useful duty and that is to wash the Art Smocks at home after our Coop meeting day. Paper mache and then painting took a toll on these old tee shirts and aprons but now they are clean and ready to be handed out as the students enter our classroom.
You live and you keep learning! This week I realized that the Art Smocks could be divided into Small, Medium and Large sized lots to better fit our age grouped classes of students K-6.
