Teaching Home Schoolers

[Burke]

I have an important question, and I need your sound advice. I have recently been informally approached with an intriguing opportunity.

Background: There is a Conservative Mennonite Church near my home, and I've become rather close with two of the families that attend that church. One has several adopted teenagers with a variety of learning disabilities who are being home schooled. The Mother of these children has asked me to participate in their education by sharing my knowledge of the flute (that is very new knowledge for me).

Although I'm honored to be entrusted in this way, I am reluctant to take on such an effort for obvious reasons. I am not grounded enough myself to offer the instruction. I'm nowhere close to that level, and anyone who has read my various posts here will know that. The best I can do is to teach them what I know, and let any of the teens who are interested use my flute in the process.

Since I'm getting ready to purchase a higher end flute, I am not really sanguine about sharing. I don't mean to be selfish, but there is an appropriate time to be a little selfish, and I think this is the time. Moreover, I am not sanguine about attempting to teach them how to play the flute when I am a student myself. I could and probably would make any number of critical errors. Still, there is no one else. If I do not take on this assignment, these teens will not have access to this instruction at all.

Do you have any thoughts to share? I'd be happy to read them. If nothing else, I can offer instruction in basic music theory, but I'd like to do as much as I can for them.

Thanks for your time!

[fluttiegurl]

I have always had a special place in my heart for homeschoolers. I strongly feel that it is important that they receive music education in order to 1. learn socal skills, 2. learn dicipline outside of what the family provides, 3. Learn a marketable skill that may aid in their futures either in college or in the workplace, amd 4. learn something that may be used for self enjoyment of even worship. I think it is a great honor to be chosen as a person to aid in educating children that, for whatever reason, are not attending public school.
As for being able to teach, I have done so since I was in highschool. Over the years, I have learned that all we can do is relay what knowledge we have and strive to obtain more . It is not selfish to see this as a money making venture, especially since they approached you. I strongly encourage my advanced students to do the same when trying to save money for a flute, car, college, etc.
One word of advice: prepare yourself by doing your homework on what methods are out there. It is important that you start them with a solid foundation that you can build onto. Also, don't be afraid to correct mistakes. That is what you are there for. And most importantly, HAVE FUN WITH IT!!

[Burke]

I just typed an entire reply to you, Fluttiegurl, but accidentally closed the website before submitting. I'll have to begin again.

You sound encouraging, and I'm going to accept the challenge. This will not be my first home school endeavor. My first involved one student and the subjects history and American Sign Language. I had a better grasp of those subjects though. I'm comfortable with basic music theory, but not with the flute. I'll do my best, however.

Conservative Mennonites typically sing a cappella in church, and do not play instruments. I do not know the reason. The eldest child in this particular family once participated in a handbell choir somewhere though, and the parents occasionally refer to the piano lessons they once provided for some of the other children. They may be taking liberties outside of Conservative Mennonite tradition in order to accommodate the learning disabilities of their teenagers.

They have been extremely helpful to me since I've lived here, so I would consider this a way of helping to pay back. I didn't know anyone here when I retired and relocated, and would not have done well at all if not for their help with firewood and other types of assistance. I can count on them when I can't count on anyone else. Under the circumstances, I can't ask for money. In too many ways, they've already paid me.

I don't mind jumping in this with both feet, but I want to make sure this is the best thing for them. I may have answered my own question in this post though. They're not going to be taking flute lessons otherwise, so I might as well teach them what I know and what I continue to learn. These are extremely well disciplined and well behaved teens, so I guess it's okay to let them use my flute.

What else did you mention? Yes -- methods. I'll have a lot of hard work to do to create sound lesson plans. I'll do my best, and I'm open to suggestions and advice from the folks on this forum.

[powayflute01]

I think it's really great that you want to spread your knowledge of music and the joy that it has brought you. The world is always a better place with more music, in my opinion. However, I once attempted to teach a student with a learning disability to play the flute....it did not go so well. I'm not quite sure what kind of learning disability she had, but it greatly hindered her ability to hear rhythms and memorize notes. I ended up referring her to my teacher, who ended up letting her go after about a month of frustration. Needless to say, not all people are like that--my brother is autistic and he's a great student and could probably learn music very easily if he wanted to.

As far as structuring your lessons go...they don't need to be too complex to start out. I would say stick with notes in the staff (start slow at first, maybe just with A, B, C and D) and basic clapping rhythms. I used to have some great rhythm sheets from my high school--if I can unearth them I'll try to scan them in and send them to you (no promises on that though--I don't know that I brought them to college with me).

If I think of anything else that might be helpful I'll be sure to post it.

Okay, I'm going to ask this at the risk of sounding like a total idiot...what's a Mennonite?

[Burke]

It meant a lot to me to see your post this morning, Powayflute. On behalf of these teens, I was really hoping that people here would take an interest in this thread.

To answer your question about Mennonites (I'll try to make this short). If you saw the movie "Witness," you already have some idea, although Amish practices are somewhat misrepresented in the movie (they are also misrepresented in the show "Amish in the City"). Mennonites and Amish are a branch of an approximately 500 year old faith called "Anabaptism." There are a number of varied branches, such as the two I've mentioned, as well as Old Order Mennonites, Hutterites, and Beachy Amish. Unlike Old Order Amish people, such as those portrayed in "Witness," Conservative Mennonites use electricity and drive cars. They have computers and use the internet, but they don't have televisions.

Since I've been playing the flute, I might as well not have a television either. I never take time to watch anymore!

If you've seen my website, you know that I'm very involved in the Episcopal Church. Anabaptism isn't my territory, and I don't know enough about each of the respective branches to explain the differences in detail. As I said, I am not even sure why Conservative Mennonites do not use musical instruments in their form of worship. If you're interested in more information though, there is an explanation of the origins of Anabaptism on the following website: <www.anabaptistnetwork.com/book/view/5>

Something I want to include is that their help has come to me with no strings attached. They invited me to their church, and I did visit. I'll visit again too, but they know I have my own faith and church, and they're respectful of my right to choose (or not go to church at all). It's very refreshing to be offered assistance without the helper imposing his or her will in the process.

I'm doing as you suggest first. I'm going to stick to the basics. The more I think about this, the more reservations I have about letting someone else play the new flute I'm about to purchase. If this were a student flute, I'd feel a little more generous. We'll stick with theory, and revise our plans based on their level of ability and interest. If they show a spark and want to learn to play an instrument, I can explore grant opportunities to rent the instrument(s) and hire real music teachers. Carlos Santana's Milagro Foundation gives grants for such things, and there are other routes for grant money as well. I'm just thinking off the top of my head.

[powayflute01]

Wow...I thought that the Amish was the only one of it's kind...goes to show how uninformed I am! Interesting how they can have computers and use the internet but can't have televisions? You can pretty much find anything that's on tv on the internet now anyway (and if you're really sophisticated, you can watch tv on your computer!) I saw you're website and I think it's really nice that you're so involved in your church. I was raised in a Roman Catholic family but my mother (in an apparent midlife crisis) decided to convert to Episcopalian when I was 15. That didn't sit very well with me, and now my beliefs are more or less based on a blend of Christian and Buddhist beliefs.

Anyway...it's probably ideal for the students to have their own flutes, though it could still work if they borrowed yours. If they do manage to obtain their own instruments, playing duets is a really fun activity. If this ever becomes a reality, I'd recommend starting with Rubank's "Selected Duets, Volume 1". They have some excellent duets for beginners in this book. Good luck with trying to find a grant--I don't really know anything about what kind of grants you could use for this, but I hope you find one!

[Burke]

My Mother, in the apparently same mid-life crisis, left the Episcopal church for Christian Science. That led to some very -- ahem -- interesting conversations between my parents at the family table. My sister went to the Christian Science church with Mom, while I stayed in the Episcopal Church with Dad.

I try to be respectful of everyone's beliefs, but it isn't really work, unless they are trying to shove their beliefs down my throat. We've all known someone like that, I'm sure. I'm not ashamed of mine, but I just try to represent my faith as best as I can by loving my neighbor as myself. That's the crux of my belief in terms of my relationship with others. I am not always successful. I've fallen on my face many times on that score. Some people are just hard to love, that's all, but I've been hard to love from time to time myself in this life.

Do not feel as though you are unduly uninformed about Mennonites or Anabaptists in general. They are a plain and unadvertised people who do not make a big show about anything. They don't have any kind of billboard approach, and do not believe in drawing attention to themselves.

To get back to a conversation about flutes, which, as I recall, is the purpose of this board (ha!): The children of the family I initially wrote about do not now seem to be as interested in flute lessons as their Mom originally assumed. I'll be taking care of three other children during the weekdays over the summer though, and maybe they'll take some sort of interest in music. Their Mom has given me carte blanche in activity planning, so we'll see what happens.

Besides the Smithsonian and places like that, I've already decided to take them to a few concerts in DC. I'll just have to find daytime events. If I can combine that with my own music educational program, that will be a real bonus for me. There are so many things for them to do, but their very great Mom is single and works all day. She would do anything for them, but she doesn't have the time. I do. I'm retired, and have all the time in the world.

This is going to be a great summer. They'll never suspect that they're getting an education. I'm going to sneak it in.

[powayflute01]

Wow that sounds like fun! You might check to see if any nearby symphonies have some kind of children's concerts...those tend to be fun for all ages.