Playing School


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.