Aug
07
Question #42
ByI never knew how much I loved learning about history until I started teaching it to my boys. It used to be about learning facts and dates for me…and that was not interesting or fun at all.
Now…I think it’s awesome to see how the puzzles of history fit together.
I think it is now my favorite subject.
What’s your favorite school subject, either to teach or to learn? (Dare I ask what is your least favorite subject?)
I hated Social Studies when I was in school. I think it’s because learning dates and names wasn’t exciting. Then I started teaching it to 5th graders. I did a lot of history simulations with them, and they totally GOT IT!
I highly recommend the book “American History Simulations” from Teacher Created Resources. Before this book, I never knew that you could teach about taxation without representation using M&Ms. Boy, the kids used to get mad about that! But again… they got it.
[Reply]
Well this is my first year. But I have always loved history and hated Language/English. I am really interested in knowing if you sit with your kids the entire time during school. Maybe you have touched on this before and can defer/refer? me to that post. I know in the beginning it is more necessary, but when they are able to do seat work on their own–do you leave them for a bit?
I am the one with four boys and am interested in how you work some of those practical details out with your boys. (-:
[Reply]
I work for a school district, so we do home schooling only during the summers. We focus less on traditional school subjects & more on things like patriotism (with emphasis on US History) and religion. I like both, but I think my favorite of the two is religion because it’s a perfect mix of stories & lessons, and everything can be applied in our everyday lives.
My least favorite subject has always been (and will always be) math of any kind!
[Reply]
I loved social studies in school and loved, even more, teaching law a few years ago at a community college (since I’m not homeschooling yet!). I enjoyed introducing students to our legal system and the ideas/concepts behind it.
I HATED math. Ironically, I now use math in my two favorite “hobbies”: cooking and knitting! HA! If only it had been practical way back when….
[Reply]
i still hate math, always will.. and I LOVE LOVE LOVE history and greek mythology. :)
[Reply]
I’ve always loved math. But to teach it is no fun. They don’t get it as easily, or enjoy it as much as I did. That’s alright. I did hate science with a passion. Which is probally why my kids haven’t had science in two years. :) I dislike it with a passion!!
[Reply]
I too hated history in high school. All my history teachers were washed up coaches. But I’m married to a history lover, and as I teach it to the kids, I’m learning so much…really enjoying it.
Love your blog!
[Reply]
I am finding that I like history more too than I did when in school. I can see connections that I didn’t see before. Reading the classics as an adult helps, as many of the books are set in the same time period. I also, dare I say it, almost (almost!) enjoy math (I don’t often use the words enjoy and math in the same sentence, unless it’s a negative, “I DON’T enjoy math!”)
[Reply]
I love history, followed by English/language arts. Math and science can take a back seat LOL!!
I am excited to dive into history this year since we are going to use the Mystery of History as our spine curric. Math/Science in the first grade aren’t intimidating so we acctually have some fun there too…who knows!
[Reply]
I thought this was a great question!
My favorite subject is math. I didn’t understand it in school and would have been one of those children who said they hated math. Even graduating from high school still found me struggling with math. No real progress was made.
THEN, I had to go back to college and math courses were required. Yikes! I decided to start at ground-level and work my way up. I applied myself and worked every problem and found that I actually understood what I was doing and the why behind it.
I went on to complete my degree and ended up taking more math than the degree required….because I was having fun!
Now I love teaching math since I know perfectly well how agonizing it can be. I didn’t want my kids to go through that. (I know you’re wondering….out of five children, two still don’t care for math but the other three are doing quite well.)
My personal blog entry on “Who Says Math Isn’t Fun?”
http://atinylittleripple.blogspot.com/2009/02/who-says-math-isnt-fun.html
I don’t care for science but I keep marching ahead….
[Reply]
I should have added:
After my math lessons, I always end by saying:
“God made math!”
Our God is such an orderly God and math is also very orderly, thus my saying.
The kids always smile. I know this is one momism they’ll always remember.
[Reply]
I absolutely LOVE science. Getting to see what God has made, learning about the Creator through His Creation has fascinated me since I was a little girl :)
[Reply]
Well I went to public school, and my children are going to private school.
Fave subject in school? English
Least? adv calculus!
[Reply]
English is and was my very favorite, writing more so than literature studies. My writing assignments were always way longer than they needed to be (verbosity is a forte!) and I loved using words that always got a red smiley face from the teacher. I loved spelling too.
Math is just numbers lining up looking at you. They don’t mean anything. You don’t know if there is a wrong number anywhere in there. Words, though, stand out and if there is a typo you know it. The advantage of math, though, is your answer is right or wrong….until I met an algebraic equation that was “unsolvable!” How unfair is that?
I agree with the lady who said history teachers were always coaches. Mine were too, and we always watched a boring WWII documentary on Mondays after a game, because they hadn’t prepared a lesson.
[Reply]
I loved teaching history and one particular topic in Science about plants and the environment. (I taught second grade). I hated teaching math, and funnily enough I hated learning math when I was at school too!
Lisa
[Reply]
I used to hate history as well when I took it in school. The teachers never tried to make it interesting. It was just a bunch of “facts and dates” as you described it. The only history teacher I had that made history interesting was my 11th grade teacher in High School – Mr. Sargent (I can’t believe I still remember his name, ha!).
Anyway, I don’t think I ever had a “favorite” subject in school because I never liked school much. I was good in Math, so I guess you could say it was my “favorite.” However, Science I NEVER liked and I still don’t like it!
[Reply]
I loved my math classes.
I think my least favorite is grammer. Of couse my brother thinks I have my own langauge so that is why I had problems with it.
[Reply]
French and Spanish teacher here, so no guesses what my favourites at school were (although it was Italian I started with) I hated Physical Education which I now find really bizarre as I love running and all sorts of other sports (but still not team games – I wonder what that says about me?)
[Reply]
When we were homeschooling, we centered our classes around a certain period of history each year. It was so much fun and I also learned a great deal.
My least favorite class to attend and teach was math. My son hated math when he was homeschooling and now gets A’s in advanced algebra and calculus in college… go figure.
[Reply]
I always hated math… shudder. And not that I hated it, but I never really “got” science, especially physics.
But I LOVE L-O-V-E LOVE to teach reading. I taught K5 for 5 years, and also have done some assistant teaching and tutoring besides. I just love helping students to make sense of the English language by teaching them to decode the various letters into sounds and words. And when they realize they can read, and start reading any book that’s handy… it’s priceless. I love it. If I wasn’t being a SAHM right now (and loving it!) I’d still be a K5 teacher.
[Reply]
MATH!!! I think in numbers. I love the logic, the organization, the fact that there is a right answer. At some point, you are done….and I love that!
Love teaching it too. Most people struggle with math, so it is fun to see someone get something that seemed so difficult. I can see the light bulb over their heads turn on sometimes.
[Reply]