Hello, I’m Lu.
I’m a home educating parent living and working on D’harawal land in the Illawarra. I spend a lot of time at home with my son, who is an enthusiastic student and a delight to teach. We learn a lot together. Sometimes through very disciplined, sequential study, but mostly just through observing, puzzling, musing, conversing.
I’m also studying part time at UOW, completing a Bachelor of Mathematics Advanced. My favourite part of learning mathematics, which I find really difficult, is when I receive a new assignment and I have NO idea how to do any of it, but then I figure it all out within a week and submit it for assessment. I find that really thrilling, because I get to overcome my own anxiety about how lost I feel, and then finish the week really happy with my work, and confident in my reasoning.
I started teaching mythology to a small group of local home educated children a few years ago, while I was on a break from my own studies. We had a great time meeting every week in the library to read stories of heroes and monsters, and discovered that many of the characters we encountered were actually a bit of both. The students in that first group had come from quite varied educational backgrounds, and had really diverse learning needs. I wondered at first whether I could pull it off! But we worked together, and the chatterboxes chattered, and the wriggly kids wriggled all they needed, and quieter children became more confident sharing their thoughts over time, as they learned that all contributions were valued. All students elected to sit the optional exam at the end of that course of study, despite some of them initially being extremely anxious about testing. It was such an honour and a pleasure to see them grow and learn to believe in themselves.
Since then, every time I’ve been on a break from mathematics, or had a lighter study load than usual, I’ve picked something fun I’d like to share with youngsters in my local community, advertised on my Facebook page, and booked a room at a local library or community centre. You can read about some of the classes I’ve taught, plus some ideas for potential future classes, here.
This year I’ve moved my classes online, as my mobility impairment, accompanied by chronic pain and fatigue, make it hard for me to spend a lot of time out of the house every day. I’ll continue studying mathematics on campus throughout the year, so I need to save my outing energy for getting myself to my own classes.
I have some experience working privately with home educated children and their families, through private tutoring, too. Often families who contact me about this service are new to homeschooling and just need a bit of support to get started. I am happy to help.
I love teaching, and I love learning. Sharing these with others makes my heart happy.