flynn011

Since re-reading Michael Gurian's book  The Minds of Boys: Saving Our Sons From Falling Behind in School and Life , I've been thinking about my provision for my sons in a whole new light.   My 3-year-old is still supposedly in non-school mode -- a bit of Montessori practical life here, a bit of reading or writing there, and a lot of playing cars with his 5-year-old sister. My 7-year-old, however, has had a mixed bag over the past year of success and stress, and it's for him that I need to make some changes Here's what definitely worked : having a daily checklist for him to tick off his accomplishments; getting a chance to work on the computer once he had finished his work for the day; map skills (by both  Carson-Dellosa and School Specialty Publishing ); the new handwriting program called  Write from the Start ; playing active games before we started school such as "The Giant Says" (ie, Simon Says but with a gobbling-up bit when you do it wrong); and ...

Mouths full of food, cups of tea at our side, children playing bubbles outside or finishing up their radio plays for the day's topic, our last co-op of the year was typical of our two-weekly meetings. Various discussions followed about our plans next year, about who might join our group, about the topics we could cover. And then this bizarre but funny conversation started. It went something like this: Mum 1: I've got so much time now that I've been cross with my husband and stopped ironing his shirts. Mum 2: I don't own anything that I iron. Mum 3: I think we should all save the planet and just stop ironing altogether.  In fact, I want to design t-shirts that say: "Go Green: Stop Ironing!" Mum 2: Why do we iron anyway? Mum 3: I think it all started with posh people -- they could afford to have servants who ironed for them, and then everyone else wanted flat clothes, too -- to look posh. Mum 1: I think there are some parts of the world where you really have to ...

Recently, my 7-year-old son was asked to participate in a survey of Sunday school provision at our church.  I was intrigued by some of his answers, and thought they could offer insight into homeschooling as well. His first point was that the crafts at Sunday school were too easy and sometimes the subject matter lacked challenge.  (I suspect these are the times when his behaviour deteriorates, and he gets silly or distracting.) One solution may be to make sure he knows why  he's asked to do this craft or talk about that subject.  According to a Schools Improvement Officer in an article appearing on-line at  Teaching Expertise , a boy won't engage with something if he doesn't see the sense or purpose in doing it.  That's why it's important for him to "talk through and share ideas before he puts pen to paper", so he's got a good grasp of what he's aiming for and why. I realise that I've accidentally gone through this process with my son in somethi...