When I was a small girl, I looked forward to the end of the
school year with excited anticipation. I knew that the teachers would be going
through their files and throwing away old math and spelling worksheets, and
they would let me go through the piles and take home whatever I wanted. During
the first week of summer vacation, I set up a “schoolroom” in our house where I
gathered my siblings and neighborhood children to “Play School.” I had a lot of
fun “teaching,” but for my “students,” the novelty of having a peer be their
teacher wore off after a few days, and we moved on to other fun activities.
That was a long time ago, but I realize that I have always
enjoyed helping, directing and teaching. I finished twenty years of
homeschooling recently, and now I fill my days tutoring other homeschool
students and private and public school students in a variety of subjects. I
still use math and spelling worksheets, but I also get to do chemistry labs, assist
with essays, and help students figure out those difficult algebra word
problems. But for me, the subject doesn’t matter – it can be be English, math,
science… or dance! Helping someone acquire a new skill or master a new topic is
every bit as much fun today as it was those many years ago.
