Posted by Julie at Oct 3, 2012 6:00 am
So, you all know I’m no longer homeschooling…but alas, that doesn’t mean I’m not still brushing up on things as I help my daughter study. You see, I like learning stuff. I really do. Homeschooling was a joy in that way because it gave me a chance to revisit certain subjects that I showed little aptitude for as a kid, but suddenly enjoyed as an adult. Like Spanish.
I struggled with Spanish in high school, mainly, I think, because I grew up in a tri-lingual household, but was only ever permitted/encouraged to speak English. My maternal grandmother, who spoke only Italian, lived with us. (Shared my bedroom until she died when I was eleven.) My paternal grandparents lived next door…we literally shared a backyard. She spoke perfect English, but conversed with all her friends and the neighbors in Spanish. It was very confusing to my ear and so high school Spanish and college Italian were a huge struggle for me.
Now enough time has passed so that I could pick up middle school Spanish with my daughter. I loved it. I hate that she’s moved on in high school and has a A in Honors Spanish and she never asks me to help her study. I’m bummed because I’ll never catch up.
I have learned that I still have absolutely no aptitude for science, despite my intense interest. I tried to help her study for biology the other night…heh. The best I could do was read back to her what was in her textbook. Something about carbohydrates and lipids and … la, la, la, mind is wandering.
We won’t talk about Algebra.
I am, however, in my zone in history and English. These are my subjects! Wahoo! I can help…I can contribute…I can give her some “added value” to her educational experience.
Then they started reading Animal Farm and my daughter asked me the difference between socialism and communism. Umm….all I can say is, thank God for Google.
I know the difference in my mind, but explaining it to an admittedly bright 14 year old who has never lived in a world where communism posed any threat whatsoever to her safety (think about it…I was in high school when the wall fell)…it’s hard to explain. So I googled. Luckily, she adores history and loves to hear more about it.
I know I’ve asked before which class was our favorite in school (and which was our least favorite)…but I don’t think I’ve asked this…if you could go back to school and study one subject again, which one would it be?
I think mine would still be English. I would like to go back and have taken all Honors English. I was lazy and only took Honors my senior year so that I could ensure that I got the best teacher, who eventually became my boss when I went into teaching. I should have pushed myself a little harder, I think. But then, if I had, I wouldn’t have had Mrs. Young, Brother John Stella and Mrs. Friedlander, who taught me freshman, sophomore and junior year…although I’m pretty sure they all taught the honors courses, too.
What about you?
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if there was one subject I would do over it would be Spanish. I should have paid attention and practiced. It would have made a big diference in my life later on.
I stunk at language. I took French in HS. I had the same teacher BOTH my older brothers had. Unfortunately I followed the one who was a bit of a brainiac with ALL subjects :woeisme: I also took Latin and Russian in college. I did well with the Russian not to much with Latin. That said in HS, my favorite subject would have been English or Art. I loved to read (still do) and love art.
I didn’t realize you homeschooled. We are cyber schooling my daughter. It’s been interesting so far as she went through k-2 in 2 yrs instead of 3. Now that we are in 3rd it’s a LOT different and a bit more of a struggle to get her through the lessons with her attention intact.
I would love to take English over again. High school came pretty easy for me, so I sorta coasted with many of my classes. Would love to go back and really put in some effort to get the most out of the class. I was lucky enough to have some pretty amazing English teachers 3 out of 4 years. When I went to my 20 year reunion I even listed both Mr. Howell and Ms. Locke as my favorite teachers.
So you want me to pick only one subject? :fainting: Hmm, this is tough because I love to learn. I was the girl that took 5 AP classes her senior year instead of choosing the half-day option. The AP classes were Calculus, English, Spanish, Government and Psychology. I have taken Spanish, ASL and French, several various Math, English and History classes. As much as I loved all those classes especially English Lit and any Math, I know for sure that I would never take Gym again! Since you are making choose just one class it would have to be Psychology. I loved learning about the inner workings of the mind and had one of the greatest teachers teaching that subject!
Spanish. Daddy was Panamanian; Mom, a Harlemite with West Indian roots. We were never allowed to speak Spanish. Good for Daddy. He converted to that language when he was angry, knowing we wouldn’t be able to follow more than a few words and certainly not respond back. Not good for us. Mom thought it would be to our detriment and confuse us to learn more than one language as children. Being bilingual back then wasn’t considered a good thing; it made one stand out. 5 years of Spanish in school, none of it conversational although they said it would be, yielded the ability to read it (if not too complex), the ability to understand (if one speaks verrrrry slowly) and zero ability to speak it.
My favorite class was computer programming which was why I got a computer science degree at college.
If I could change something, I would have taken Spanish instead of French in high school. Now a days more people speak Spanish in the US than French. If I only knew 29 yrs ago!
If I could do over a subject it would be to take French instead of Latin. I had thought I was going to be a nurse but economic times dictated otherwise. Later, after I married, my family and I lived in Paris for a number of years. Having a solid base of French “under my belt” would have been a great help.
Connie Fischer
Julie, I know I’ve told you this before but I loved Mrs. Young and Mr. Schultz. Ms Young taught us to expand our vocabulary and Mr. Schultz encouraged my love of reading. I still have the old workpak vocab books, that I reference.
Hi Julie! If I had to do one class over again it would be either English or Mythology. I loved both classes. I took spanish in high school so I could learn to write it and read it better. My parents are Cuban and I learned spanish before I learned english. But taking a spanish class in high school was harder than I thought it would be. Every spanish speaking country speaks differently. Most people think I’m crazy when I say that, but it’s true. Certain words mean one thing in Mexico and something different in Cuba. Just little things, but it can make a big difference.
Have a great day!
I didn’t love school except for the social part!! In reality I would not choose to go back. Maybe I would take history for a better understanding if it was a teacher that made it interesting. That would be U.S. History only!! What I would really love would be music & maybe Home Ec!! :D If I could get in some learning as an adult I would love to learn Interior Design.
I want to revisit French…. As in the French language. I was fortunate enough to go to Paris a couple of years ago. I realized how much I loved the language, culture, etc. I also miss English class and history. I wish I had the time to be a perpetual student.
I would love to go back and take French classes. I took French for 2 years in high school and did nothing but fool around. Therefore, I do not remember a thing! How sad is that??
I’d pay more attention to English this time around. Because for someone who wants to become a writer, I have the worst grammar and punctuation in the world! And where I grew up they taught us Castilian Spanish (the stuff spoken in Spain) instead of what everyone around here spoke from across the border.
English classes would be the only ones I would repeat, because those were my favorite classes. In particular, I had a World Lit mini course in which we studied War & Peace, Anna Karinina, The Metamophisis & other books that I probably wouldn’t have the patience for now, but loved at the time.