Think about it!! [Long post]

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Home : 2004 : December : 31

Think about it!! [Long post]
By Former homebound teacher

Homebound teaching is an experience that I will never forget, but one that I will never undertake again. I had this job for 10 years. Here are some of my reflections of the job: I had to go into neighborhoods where coffee
table decor was guns and drugs and you never knew who was going to stop by [friends or the local police]. I went into homes where electricity had been turned off in the dead of winter and the families were trying to stay warm with kerosene and propane hunting equipment. I went into homes where filth does not even begin to describe the living situation of these children and some of

them suffering from horrible burns. I went into homes of the poorest poor of our city and the richest rich. I taught them all. My contract was the same as everyone else's and like everyone else I did not get to pick and choose my students. I had to teach them as their medical forms arrived. Our system of 14,000 children now has 3 full time homebound teachers and they still ask regular classroom teachers to take the overloads. It is an extremely demanding job as you might have 8 to 12 students all in different grades and all having different medical needs. The lesson plans were overwhelming. Teachers in our district only have to give the chapters they are covering, the homebound teacher does the planning. I have to say that I attended more funerals of young children than I ever thought that I would. It was that emotional stress that did me in. As a homebound teacher you are the one person coming into a home that is not directly involved in the caretaking of the child. You become the ears for the parents and the one normal thing that the child has going on in his/her life. I was so amazed at the will of my terminally ill students as they studied and worked so hard to get their lessons. I think that many felt as long as they stayed up with their school work nothing would happen. I met some of the strongest and most faithful servants of our Lord that I will ever meet. Their strength as they faced death will stay with me forever. I can honestly say that it carries into my classroom every day. When a child tells me that it was cold in their home, I know how trying a time it is for their family. When a child tells me that their baby sister is sick, I remember the looks of the siblings of those students that I taught. I will never forget my homebound students. I have keep each card naming them and read back over them every so often just to remind myself of just how hard my students' lives are. I would never dissuade anyone from taking this job, but I would say to be prepared for a short stay. For me it just became too emotionally draining, but I did meet students and have their lives touch me in a way that a classroom teacher can never experience.