Retired teachers author homeschooling book
By Marcus Clem
A locally authored book offers professional guidance to parents who take their kids out of the conventional school system to give them an education at home.
“Homeschool Tackle Box,” published by retired Central High School teachers Nancy Piercy and Sue Nothstine via Amazing Things Press, is designed to assist parents in developing teaching skills career educators are taught to value. Successful education, whether in the classroom at school or the comfort of home, depends on engaging the learner and causing them to develop a self-motivated interest in new things.
“What we are working on is strictly the relationship between the teacher and the student,” Nothstine said. “I know that when you’re teaching your own child, you think you know your child, and you do. But you don’t know them as a learner. So what we do is to help the parents to learn what their kids are like as a learner and what they themselves are like.”
The authors will be holding an interactive workshop for homeschooled families from 6 to 7 p.m. Thursday, Feb. 15, at the St. Joseph Public Library’s East Hills branch, 502 N. Woodbine Road.
“Workshop participants will learn how to determine the personality type, learning style, level of grit, love language and the strength of character traits in their children,” Piercy said in a news release. “Strategies will be shared on how to use this profile information in preparing and presenting lessons that will enhance learning and keep each of their children engaged and motivated.”
The total number of homeschoolers in St. Joseph isn’t clear, but 191 people completed paperwork to become homeschool households in the 2021-2022 academic year, and 222 did so in the 2022-2203 year.
According to the St. Joseph School District, parents need only file one time with the school principal where their child would otherwise be designated to attend school. Filings in subsequent years are not necessary, unless the parents decide to bring their child back to the public school system in future years, a decision that is more commonly made at the high school level.
The book is not meant to be paired with any particular selection of curriculum or subject materials parents choose. Missouri law allows parents to define what their kids will be learning within general subjects, though they log at least 1,000 hours of instruction for each grade level. Unlike the traditional August through May school calendar, these 1,000 hours can be divided over an entire year.
The big idea in this style of learning is not to fill a bucket with memorized knowledge but to light a spark, igniting a fire within a learner’s mind.
“I was taught chemistry and I knew chemistry. A homeschool teacher has to teach everything, and it’s almost an impossible feat if you’re just trying to pass information,” Nothstine said. “And so, the goal and the interesting thing is, if you can get your child interested in learning by lighting that fire so that they engage and they are interested and motivated, then they will learn, and they will surpass you in no time.”
To learn more about the Feb. 15 event at the library, call 660-541-2628.
