Homeschool Inservice: Teach by Dennis Dinoia
Years ago when I launched my newsletter I called Inservice in my INbox, going back to when I was teaching public school and we’d have an in-service day to learn more about teaching. Eventually, I phased that out because I kept forgetting what number I was on. Now Teach by Dennis Dinoia is that teacher in-service for homeschool moms to help you raise independent learners.
(This post is sponsored by Teach by Dennis Dinoia, opinions are my own, and there are affiliate links in here)
Side note, I just realized after writing this entire post it should be only the book title, Teach, in italics, and not also the author name and I made that mistake. So, if you catch one that is still all in italics, I missed fixing it.
Teach by Dennis Dinoia is on my shortlist
I have a shortlist of books I recommend every potential homeschooler read. I then have a follow-up list of books I recommend you read if you want to know more about a specific style of homeschooling.
This is now the third book I recommend every homeschooler read.
In case you’re wondering about that booklist, go check out Books to read if you’re thinking about homeschooling. After I’m done writing this post, I’m adding Teach by Dennis Dinoia.
I wish this had been written about 10 years earlier so I could read it at the beginning of my homeschool career because there are a few things I would change after reading this book.
But, reading the book as someone about to finish my homeschool career, it’s an affirmation of what I did, my goal all along has been to raise independent learners. Kids who can go out and learn on their own once they are out of the house.
You know the book is good when you’re wishing you know where your highlighter is
I started reading the book while sneaking out for lunch between doing some shopping. I was all of the ways into the preface before I thought I needed a highlighter. The final sentence had me thinking.
This is the type of book I wanted a highlighter in one hand and a pen in the other as I thought of things while I read.
Over and over again I found myself thinking, “Yes Dennis, that is what I wanted. I wanted my kids to be independent learners.”
Over and over again I saw affirmation of my teaching my kids and my goals for the kids to be primarily learning on their own by high school.
Side note, as a high school homeschool mom
My job as a teacher at this point is an advisor. I’m not teaching most of their classes. As a matter of fact, I just finished the last class I’m officially teaching them in.
I mean we’re still doing geography lessons, but that’s not teaching or even grading, so much as learning together about the culture of the country.
They are taking classes at the local community college and their math is all online (side note if you don’t know Dennis Dinoia he teaches online classes, my kids or their friends have taken his Life Skills class and his SAT prep class)
Teach is geared to raising independent learners
Teach: Creating Independently Responsible Learners is not a road map so much as ideas and pointers to get your kids learning on their own. It’s a combination of lessons learned from his own life as a student, teacher, and parent; and why those lessons are important.
It’s a quick read, I read it over a couple of hours, and it was a breath of fresh air to read a book that encouraged me and got me thinking.
What would I have changed?
In case you’re wondering what I would have changed from my homeschooling, Dennis talks about having your kids grade their own tests so they can see for themselves how they are doing and what they did wrong rather than grading it yourself.
Reading those chapters in the book were mind-blowing, and I wish I’d read them earlier back when the kids were younger.
Get your own copy of Teach by Dennis Dinoia
Teach by Dennis Dinoia is available on Amazon. You can get it in ebook, print, or Audible.
Right now the ebook is on sale for $.99! Total steal (I buy a lot of $.99 books, I figure if I’m wrong, I’m only out a dollar)
But, I would recommend picking up the print copy. I know you can highlight and write notes in your ebook, but I like to do that in a print copy, for some reason I like print copies of nonfiction books.
I don’t know why.
HA! I think I found all of my grammar errors and removed improper italics.
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