Interview with Ms. Scout Finch

What classes do you teach at the co-op?
In the fall, I taught literature to the oldest group and puppetry and music to the littles.  In the spring semester, I am lucky enough to be teaching two literature classes – still for the oldest group and now for the K-3 group too.

Do you enjoy teaching these classes?

I absolutely LOVE teaching literature, mostly because I love literature and sharing it with other people.  The books that I choose are either ones that I loved as a child or that I have come to love as an adult.  When I am preparing the classes for each week, I get excited about the plots, the characters, the irony (!), the humour in each book.  The activities or questions that I write up for the students are ones that I would want to do or answer.  I also love how much I learn about history, sociology, and human psychology in fictional pieces.

You were an English literature major in college, does this make it easier for you to teach these classes?

I think so.  Because I have taken high level literature classes, I saw first-hand what professors valued in the field of literature study.  I realized that the most important thing in literature is to delve into pieces, enjoy them, relate them to your own experiences, learn lessons from the characters about how to live your life, and be independent in your thought about the text.  Everyone’s experience with each book is different because everyone brings something different, a different way of looking at the world, to the text.  It makes for very rich discussion and I am always learning from the students!

Given the classes you have chosen to teach, it must be that you love literature, is this true?

Can you tell?

What is your favorite work of literature?

It is too hard to answer! I love William Faulkner and Virginia Wolffe and Jane Austen and Alice Monroe.  I recently read a book called “Belle Canto” that made me weep!  I usually include The Elegance of a Hedgehog in my list too.  Right now, I am rereading To Kill a Mockingbird and I feel like it is the best book I ever read.  There is so much out there to love and my list of favorites is always changing!

What books are you reading in your literature classes?

In the older group, we are reading: The Outsiders, To Kill a Mockingbird, Annie John, So Far From the Bamboo Grove and, if we have time, Nation.

In the younger group, we are reading Charlotte’s Web and Mr. Popper’s Penguins.  Maybe more if we go fast enough!

If you were to suggest a book to read to someone (kid or adult) what would it be?

Right now, as I said above, read To Kill a Mockingbird!

Do you enjoy homeschooling your children, why?   

Homeschooling is great.  I love being around my kids as they are learning and I love to learn (again or for the first time) the stuff they are learning.  I especially love the amount of independence that kids can have in homeschooling, discovering and seriously following their interests and passions, and getting deep into them, and becoming very knowledgeable persons.