Homework Center Final Blog

For my final post I want to talk about what I’ve learned from this service learning project. If you didn’t already know, I volunteered at the Homework Center at Madison View Apartment complex in Stevens Point. The Homework Center is a non-profit organization that helps many low income families in the Stevens Point area by assisting children with their school work. I helped kids work on their homework and play games from six to eight every Thursday. I worked with a group of tutors and education majors to help children ranging from ages three to fourteen. We as tutors, would help anywhere from ten to twenty children every Thursday. Originally, I didn’t know what to expect going into this project. I usually don’t do well with younger kids and was not sure how I would react to working with these little kids for two hours. After my first few times of volunteering, all of the feelings of uncertainty went away. Most of the kids had finished their homework, so we played a lot of games. It was fun to interact with these little kids. I did help a few kids with their homework and I was pretty astounded to see how the curriculum has changed since I was in grade school. Some of the words that I remember helping a young man learn were pretty advanced; even for me. I really had a great time helping kids out with their work and playing board games with them. I now don’t feel as unsure of myself when I take care of kids. I regret to say that I didn’t really connect what I learned in class to the Homework Center. But, I believe this project was a great way to get involved in the community and help young people out. I thought what better way to break away from the normal routine of exams and projects than to positively impact the world around us. If I could make one change to my project, I would apply more of what I’ve learned in class to the service learning. I would have liked to have given a talk about some of the animals we’ve learned about, or even take the kids on a nature walk in Schmeekle or something. All in all, I loved my experience with the children at the homework center. I think this will be a valuable experience for me to have; just to help kids out, and to be like a role model for them is something I will not regret doing.