As a former Head Start teacher I have many memories of conducting Home Visits, notice I didn’t say “fond memories”. I wasn’t a brand new teacher when I came to Head Start, but I had never conducted a Home Visit before and had absolutely no idea what to expect or do. I made many mistakes and a few big blunders my first year conducting Home Visits. But you know what they say- we learn from our mistakes and as I started to learn the ins and outs of Home Visits, I gradually started to see the benefits.
It dawned on me that I was probably the only teacher that would ever visit the homes of these children during the course of their education; I had to make the best of this unique opportunity. Because I had seen firsthand where my students came from and really had a chance to get to know the families I felt a much deeper sense of commitment to my students and my job. It was while I was conducting my Home Visits I realized the importance of teaching fire safety because I saw so many blatant fire hazards in my student’s homes. If I had never visited their homes I may have just done a satisfactory job teaching this topic; it was the Home Visits that gave me the additional information I would never have known otherwise.
Based on my experience as a Head Start teacher and the many questions I have received from visitors to my website I have developed ten pages of valuable information and tools to help you conduct effective Home Visits.
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After 20 years of early childhood teaching, I am now working at Head Start this year. I have just finished my first set of home visits, which was new for me. I agree that you get a different perspective on the child when they are in their own home. It is definately eye opening to see the environment that many of them come from. I’m realizing that the very first thing that some of these kids need to learn is that our classroom is a safe environment.
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