He could have been my older brother; a handsomer,* smarter, more well-adjusted older brother, to be sure. But he was tall with thick hair, glasses, and a jaw like that of a Grecian statue. His eyes danced merrily as he answered my questions, his attention focused equally on my queries and the chatter around him.
"I teach science at a local school. Well, I teach a good deal more than that because of the district I'm in, but I have a degree in science and environmental studies."
As he talks, I get a vague impression of the conditions of his school: At-risk students, low faculty count, non-engaged parents, budget restrictions. And so this guy, somewhere around my age, is required to teach outside his area of expertise... and he seems to be doing just fine at it.
Teaching Everything
I have another friend who spent her summer preparing to teach 1st and 2nd graders. Two weeks before the start of the year, the school told her she was actually going to be teaching 5th and 6th graders. She had to scramble to try to adjust her lessons to better match her new student group.
Stories like these remind me that, as homeschoolers, we need not be concerned with our lack of teaching credentials. Great teachers all over the nation are put into situations that are beyond their prepared curriculum. They adjust to the demands and needs of the situation. And you, having spent as much time with your children as you have, have a head start in that department. What's more, you have plenty of homeschool curriculum options to teach any subject you may wish to cover. You can be as prepared--if not more so--as the teachers in the schools around you.
~Luke Holzmann
Filmmaker, Writer, Empty Nester
*It's a word. I checked.
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