What is your philosophy? What are your strategies? How do you want to teach? What do you teach?

 Have you consider3d your educational philosophy? I bet you’re mainly in survival mode.  The first few years I taught, I have five different classes and taught French to the lower grades.  Additionally, I had a long commute, kiddos of my own, and boarding students from the private school where I taught.  I know a few things about navigating I survival mode.  Later, I had fewer preps and more resources.  My own philosophy is that every child can learn.  Later, I adopted my principal’s motto at the public school where I taught.  It is from Teddy Roosevelt: “Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.”  Those two principles guide my teaching.

My strategies developed from many years of teaching.  First, I use hands-on methods whenever possible.  Additionally, I try to use as many different modes as possible: Quizlet, videos, labs, concept maps, POGIL, models, projects, graphing or spreadsheet exercises, time-lines, etc.  My goal is to engage the kids to help them learn.  Every kid learns a little differently.  I try to saturate the kids from every direction.  I want them to read a topic, take notes, watch a quick video, do a related lab, etc.  I did some educational consulting with College Board and promoted these same strategies.  College Board had substantial evidence backing their training.  But, the approach makes sense to be based on experience.  Kids learn more by doing.  Look at Montessori and Charlotte Mason.  

What do you want to teach?  How do you assemble the materials which comprise any course?  I start with a textbook.  In Chemistry, Biology, Earth Science, and Physical Science, the textbooks tend to have roughly the same topics.  Teachers in science across the country generally agree on their subject matter.  (In other subjects, such as English and History, teachers can have much different opinions.  I’m glad to teach science.)  You can always supplement.  You’ll find that many public schools aren’t using textbooks.  In many cases teachers are buying their own curriculum.  Happily, as home-school educators, we have many textbooks. (Start with Cathy Duffy Reviews.)  

When I start a new course, I begin with a textbook.  All the content is right there available with Apologia. I can’t resist looking for additional ideas and resources.  For example, the Anatomy textbook has experiments.  I’m always adding a few more.  The textbook doesn’t mention using clay models; in the past, when I taught Human Anatomy, they helped kids understand bone or muscle better.  But, if you start with a textbook, you’ll have the content.  Having taught for awhile, I’ve used other textbooks, and used some of their resources.  You can make your own comparisons with Khan Academy’s program or Open Textbooks. I buy used copies of different commercial textbooks just to evaluate their curriculum.  Remember, I’ve been teaching for awhile; initially, I was wedded to my textbook, without any deviations. 

Start thinking about your personal philosophy, methods, and strategies.  It will improve your approach.  You’ll start reflecting on what works, what doesn’t, and what might be fun to try.