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Cay Gibson
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What is your answer to this question (asked by strangers) if you don't have a college degree in education?
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Cay Gibson
"There are 49 states, then there is Louisiana." ~ Chef Emeril
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Martha
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Are they asking me if I am a teacher or are they asking me if I have a degree in education?
Either way, I answer honestly. Yes, I am a teacher. No, I do not have a degree in education.
If they want to discuss it in a civil manner, I'm willing to do so. If not, I don't discuss it at all.
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Martha
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MacBeth
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In some cases, it's a legal question. In NY, you cannot call yourself a teacher or say you are teaching on your CV if you are not certified or teaching in a private school. I guess what you tell anyone privately is up to you.  I know that even when I was "teaching" outdoor ed. programs for a consortium of school districts I could not say I was "teaching", but had to say I "conducted programs."
Of course, I am of the opinion that I rarely teach...at least not in the traditional sense of the word. 
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Lisbet
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No, I'm a mom.
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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Dawn
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I *always* get that question. It's funny how very little people know about homeschooling. They assume things like that - I must have been a teacher, or the one I love - that the school gives me the curriculum to teach at home. (Yeah, right! Even if I wanted them to, and I most definitely did not, they made it very clear I was on my own!)
My answer is always that I am a home educator, a teacher by heart and not trade.
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Servant2theKing
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Yes! I've been teaching my children from the day they were born...started with helping them nurse, then guiding them as they learned to talk and walk, then we moved on to numbers, ABCs, tying shoes and other fun tasks....eventually we entered the wonderful world of "homeschooling".
All parents are teachers! Homeschooling means we simply don't choose to delegate that role to others! We are redefining education for current (and future) generations.
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MrsKey
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I say, no.
I'm not a teacher. I'm a mom who is helping to educate her child. But I'm not a teacher. Not in any sense of the popular understanding people have of what a "teacher" is.
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J.M.J.
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marihalojen
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I do have an education degree and I am so glad I do! Not because I use anything I learned really, but just because saying I taught in the public schools prior to educating my daughter tends to shut people up on the topic of my being qualified to provide an education for my child.
 - me "teaching" a classroom full of kids
 - me "teaching" Marianna
If only I could find something that worked like that on the topic of socialization! Even the year when we had something scheduled for every afternoon people bugged out on that topic. Happens, I guess, with an only child. I even bought Marianna a T-Shirt from KMart that said "I never let school get in the way of my social life!"
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guitarnan
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I ususally say I'm a homeschool educator or that I am learning at home with my children (this is my preferred statement). When people ask about my teaching experience I sometimes mention my two years as a sub in an American school at our first duty station...and how it taught me everything I needed to know about public school. 
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Tami
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My degree is not in education, but I try to completely side-step the question, at first, to avoid clinching for them the (probable) assumption that "Oh, you can do this because you have a degree" mentality. I take this approach for the sake of the homeschooling movement and it's reputation in the culture.
Instead, I point out that I've been teaching my children many things since birth, the simplicity of teaching younger children - "4th grade math" I say, and people tend to realize it's not that hard, and that teaching in the younger years prepares the mom just as much as her child for the higher levels of learning that come later on (math is typically the one subject I find people questions).
By this point, the original question has long been forgotten.
God bless,
Tami
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Lisbet
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This question can be difficult for me when they (who is 'they' anyway??  ) Ask where I went to school or what my degree is in. I graduated high school by the skin of my teeth, and was married a month later!
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Lisa, wife to Tony,
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Willa
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I haven't been asked in quite that way, but I would say: I'm a mom.
I'm just not a teacher in the way that most people would mean, and my degree is not in teaching. My teaching role flows out of my mom's role and it's not a professional one in any way. It is part of my vocation.
My husband usually fields these kinds of questions so well -- describes how what we do at home is not the same as what teachers and kids do in the schoolroom, and then explains how well it works with examples. Even if the questioners do have doubts, they usually can't quite bring themselves to argue with him. And sometimes they LOVE his description and think it sounds just great!
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
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doris
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I'm asked this all the time too. As a matter of fact I have got a teaching qualification although I left after two years because I hated it . Still, it gets people off my back, or at least it gives them more time to start on about socialisation 
Elizabeth
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Meredith
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I usually discern the basis of the question (read hostility level) and then answer accordingly, which is usually, that I teach my own
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Meredith
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kingvozzo
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Well, I haven't been asked this question specifically but I was on the receiving end of the snarkiest comment I've gotten yet about hs'ing.
A woman whose kid is in my 3 y/o's preschool class finds out we hs. Then she says (completely seriously) "So, are you an expert in everything?"
I laughed and mentioned something about the resources available, support groups, curriculum, etc. But, what I felt like saying was "Do you honestly think your kid's teacher is an expert in everything?"
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Noreen
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cathhomeschool
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When I get asked that question, it's usually by people who can't imagine having the skills to homeschool without a teaching degree. They are usually people who aren't familiar with homeschooling. And I always answer "no."
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Janette (4 boys - 22, 21, 15, 14)
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aussieannie
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I like to quote the Catholic Catechism, off hand, something like, "The parents are the primary educators of their children." that sounds official enough?
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Alice R
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I say "yes, I do carry a teacher's license as well as my speech pathology license BUT my teacher's license isn't very helpful when it comes to the actual teaching"
How is that for a bit obnoxious.
I say it with a smile but it amuses me anyway.
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4Real Forums : Tea and Conversation
Topic: Are You a Teacher?
