Volunteering

BAYA has been involved with a tutoring program for quite some time now at the Novato Community of Christ church, and looking back, I cannot find any posts about our Homework Club volunteering. Today feels like a good day to post about it.

Started by Scientist and Sweeney, the Homework Club is open to children who are seeking help with their homework on Thursday nights, the same night as the ESL program for adults in the community. Kids from grades 3-7 bring their homework and we help them. Usually, they remember to bring their homework and text books, but occasionally they forget. We spend the hour and a half quizzing them on math problems, spelling, or reading.

Skippy and I are always amazed at the potential we see in each of these kids. But, what we have noticed is that some of these kids like to take the 'easy way out' approach when solving problems on their homework. I suppose that in a classroom setting, it is hard to take the time and challenge each individual student, one on one. For teachers, it would take forever to complete a lesson. At HC on Thursdays, we have the chance to challenge this easy approach to getting answers. We're in such an intimate setting and often with one tutor to one student. This is often frustrating for the students because they're guessing at the answers and waiting for us to confirm whether they're right or not. They want the answer to just get on with the rest of the homework. All the tutors are pretty good about not letting these answers go unexplained. It's pretty cool to see what happens when the kids figure the problems out for themselves and gain confidence in their own intelligence.

I feel like I'm making a difference. I guess that's the hope that comes with my anticipation to every thursday night. I also have the anticipation to hear about the kids' "good thing" and "bad thing" of the week - sometimes they really let us in and I feel like they are sharing stuff they wouldn't normally share. Then other times they share about big things, like they're moving, switching schools, got suspended, and their favorite animals. :) Many wonderful stories have come from this tradition of starting each session with these questions- thanks Scott. I have learned a lot about them as individuals and enjoyed hearing their creativity when coming up with "question of the week".

HC time is so valuble to me. It's a time that some of us from BAYA can meet during the week, check in with each other and work towards a common goal - helping kids. I truly look forward to Thursday nights, and I miss it if I cannot make it one week. Sure, it's an extra drive to the North Bay during the week, a night I can't work on MY school stuff, can't surf the internet, can't watch my favorite TV shows, but I believe there is a strong force working here towards goodness. All the stuff I'm missing is small when I can see the big picture of tutoring at HC. I am grateful to be a part of this community of people who believe in teaching, inspiring, and believing in children. So, thanks, Scientist and Sweeney, for starting the HC. It rocks!!!