Someone from one of my homeschooling support groups, recently asked the perennial question: "Could someone please tell me when boys WANT to study?? uurrggh"
I had to chuckle! My reply was: "Eleventh grade, if you're lucky" :-)
Truly, take heart. I'm sure others have more boys they are schooling at home, but as the mother of three sons (and one daughter, God bless her!)....I do have something to say about it.
I think some of the harder grades for getting boys more interested/involved in their school studies is from third through 7th grade. Those levels can be tough for active boys. I can't believe we've gotten as far as we have [with my 8 year old - third grader], as I have to pin him down constantly to stick to his work. He's a pirate, he's a warrior, he's a knight...he's a robot maker, he's a comic strip writer, he's Calvin with Hobbes :-)....he's a painsomedays, that's for sure! Just recently, I had my favorite sofa pillow kidnapped and taken for ransom; I was instructed to leave $2.50 (x 2) in an envelope under the dining room table and if I did not comply I would never see my favorite pillow again! He's a busy boy with a lot of other "fun & exciting" things out there to do, - and school work just gets in the way of his real life!
However .....press him, I must into every bit of school I can squeeze out of him. He loves science and has moved quickly through the science text, and I've diverted him out of it on a couple occasions to read some rabbit-trail materials covering certain science-related topics he's been learning about; i.e., I found a couple neat books on our shelf (from an old Catholic school library closing - the one my husband attended), and they were: "Bufo: The Story of a Toad", written and illustrated by Robert M McClung (who wrote some great nature books, accurate, illustrated, for young people), and "Tiger: The Story of a Swallowtail Butterfly", by the same author. (these are 1953/54 copyrights, library editions 1970). He did find these interesting and it helped to keep him in the school mode. It's like sneaking in the school when they're not looking :-)
Sigh.
Boys. It's probably good my three are spaced out some. Or maybe it's just that I'm spaced out and it sounds better.
Blessings,
Denise
Space Avenger for 3 sons, 1 daughter and 1 ransomed sofa pillow :-)
I had to chuckle! My reply was: "Eleventh grade, if you're lucky" :-)
Truly, take heart. I'm sure others have more boys they are schooling at home, but as the mother of three sons (and one daughter, God bless her!)....I do have something to say about it.
I think some of the harder grades for getting boys more interested/involved in their school studies is from third through 7th grade. Those levels can be tough for active boys. I can't believe we've gotten as far as we have [with my 8 year old - third grader], as I have to pin him down constantly to stick to his work. He's a pirate, he's a warrior, he's a knight...he's a robot maker, he's a comic strip writer, he's Calvin with Hobbes :-)....he's a pain
However .....press him, I must into every bit of school I can squeeze out of him. He loves science and has moved quickly through the science text, and I've diverted him out of it on a couple occasions to read some rabbit-trail materials covering certain science-related topics he's been learning about; i.e., I found a couple neat books on our shelf (from an old Catholic school library closing - the one my husband attended), and they were: "Bufo: The Story of a Toad", written and illustrated by Robert M McClung (who wrote some great nature books, accurate, illustrated, for young people), and "Tiger: The Story of a Swallowtail Butterfly", by the same author. (these are 1953/54 copyrights, library editions 1970). He did find these interesting and it helped to keep him in the school mode. It's like sneaking in the school when they're not looking :-)
Sigh.
Boys. It's probably good my three are spaced out some. Or maybe it's just that I'm spaced out and it sounds better.
Blessings,
Denise
Space Avenger for 3 sons, 1 daughter and 1 ransomed sofa pillow :-)
4 comments:
Denise, today Joey says he wished he could just quit school (because he was feeling pressure from Seton's strict grading policy). Funny, I should read this post today :-)
God bless,
Hi Esther,
Tell Joey he has my sympathy!...and my prayers for the long haul! I know we all feel like quitting at some time, just about anything - and while some things may be disappointing, we accept them (sometimes begrudingly!)and forge onward just the same, all by the grace of God.
Blessings,
Denise
Amen!
This year my second son started high school. He's at a wonderful all-boys Catholic prep school and he voluntarily studies for many hours every night. He has absolutely no free time and he never complains. Shocks my socks off! This does not seem to be the same boy who would, just last year, sneak off during the day just to stare into space and not into a book (yes, a Seton book!).
There IS hope, ladies. In God's time.
I so needed to hear this, Denise. My eight year old wants to be a knight, Luke Skywalker, a cowboy, anything but a student! I will keep on keeping on though. Eventually, I figure, he will sit still and come around. :)
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