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Good news! My son knows everything!


Ginevra
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So, if you're wondering what is the ideal way to raise your child and the correct way to homeschool, just ask him! Since, at 17, he has a fully-formed, certainly correct opinion on many aspects of homeschooling. Apparently, it slipped his mind that we have spent many thousands upon thousands of dollars and hours and gas money on music instruction from infancy - Kindermusik, Olenka's School of Music, private piano lessons, private guitar lessons. He "forgot" that, except for piano lessons, which BTW, he never much loved, but I perservered with anyway. What he *does* remember with great clarity is that In the car, I generally always kept the radio station to the same music station, which gave him a limited repertoire of listening to music. (Apparently, he also forgets that that is actually recent history; for years and years and years, what I played in the car day after nauseating day, was educational tapes of every kind: Teach Me Spanish Songs, Sing With Me, Patriotic Songs, Hide Them in My Heart Bible Verses set to music, Multiplication Songs, and an assortment of Kindermusik accompanyment songs.)

 

Now that he has found his fire in music and sound technology, he somehow imagines he had a terribly limited listening repertoire because I don't change radio stations in the car. Knucklehead. 😑

 

(I feel I should add, in case someone misunderstands, this wasn't a serious argument with tears or yelling. This was just a 17yo pontificating as 17yos are wont to do. But I am annoyed about it right now because the effort I put into giving my kids a strong eduction in *many* areas has apparently gone unnoticed by this particular perfectionistic child.)

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Soon you will accept that everything lacking in his life in any way is always 100% your fault. Resistance is futile.

He also rapsodized about how *some* bullying is desirable, because it spurs the bullied kid to be better. I informed him that it seems to be difficult to get bullies to only dispense the *proper amount* of bullying, you see. He conceded that, yeah, that could be a problem. 😑

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He also rapsodized about how *some* bullying is desirable, because it spurs the bullied kid to be better. I informed him that it seems to be difficult to get bullies to only dispense the *proper amount* of bullying, you see. He conceded that, yeah, that could be a problem. 😑

 

To be fair to him, there is an entire educational pedagogy that believes and practices this very thing (we discovered during our stint in a Waldorf charter).

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Also, it's interesting that when teens reach the stage where they know it all, the parents apparently reach the stage of not knowing much at all.  Funny, huh? 

 

Once again, I am reminded about how smug I was when my kids got past terrible twos and I thought the hardest part of parenting was behind me. 

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Also, it's interesting that when teens reach the stage where they know it all, the parents apparently reach the stage of not knowing much at all. Funny, huh?

 

Once again, I am reminded about how smug I was when my kids got past terrible twos and I thought the hardest part of parenting was behind me.

Yes, well, the interesting thing is: I see his idealistic, perfectionistic thought process with great clarity, mostly because that is like looking into a mirror.

 

It's funny because in many ways, my daughter is so similar to me; we have the same interests and are strong in the same academic areas. But she is more level-headed and realistic, like DH is, where DS, who is not similar to me in other ways, nevertheless does have my idealistic way of thinking.

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Now that he has found his fire in music and sound technology, he somehow imagines he had a terribly limited listening repertoire because I don't change radio stations in the car.

My husband unfortunately loves radio channel surfing and has wide range of music favorites from Linkin Park, Nine Inch Nails, Bjork, Celine Dion, Adele, Kate Perry, Sarah McLachlan, Faith Hill, Gotye to classical music like Erik Satie, Béla Bartok, Mussorgsky.

 

My brother was hit by his classmate in public elementary school during recess for a few consecutive days. My brother is generally peace loving but he was so annoyed he hit back real hard on the fourth day. Apparently I had a "reputation" because it only took me fetching him from school one day to stop any bullying for good. I am 8.5 years old than my only brother so was looking quite intimidating when annoyed (I had the facial expression of someone that might run after you with a rolling pin or softball bat).

 

There are often bullies in the workplace though.

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I had a ps teacher explain that to us at a Scout meeting this week--that the boys have to have SOME bullying at camp or they won't grow up to be men.

Yeah, I always love the theory that being treated *a little bit* hatefully somehow blooms good character. I'm more of the programming philosphy - Garbage in, garbage out.

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Gosh, I fondly recall those days when *I* knew everything, and everyone's life would've been better if they'd just let me run it for them. :lol:

 

Alas, those days are gone.  Now I don't have a clue, and am happy to let everyone just do their own thing.  

 

Fortunately my kids didn't seem to take after me, or else keep quiet that they know all the things.

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Also, it's interesting that when teens reach the stage where they know it all, the parents apparently reach the stage of not knowing much at all.  Funny, huh? 

 

Once again, I am reminded about how smug I was when my kids got past terrible twos and I thought the hardest part of parenting was behind me. 

:laugh: :lol: :smilielol5:

 

I had a ps teacher explain that to us at a Scout meeting this week--that the boys have to have SOME bullying at camp or they won't grow up to be men. 

 

was the ps teacher a bully in his more formative years?   except -most bulllies dont' outgrow it - they just change tactics and victims.  they do excuse it.

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I could be wrong, because I'm old and I don't know everything, but I think that when young people reference listening to a variety of music they aren't referring to multiplication songs AND songs with bible verses hidden in them.  They might have other genres in mind.

 

What I suggest you do is that every time you get in the car with him going forward, make sure you have something to play for him by a different artist.  You can start with these fine works, all chosen to appeal to teenage boys.  

 

 

 

 

  
   

 

Kids Bop (Maybe load this up for when he's driving alone, to save yourself)

 

He'll either be really grateful, or develop some insight into the cons of being bullied.

 

 

Edited by Daria
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I am sorry to report that it doesn't get better for a while. I have a twenty year old. He is a pontificator extraordinaire!

 

Now my twenty-six year old married daughter with an eighteen month old child? She has decided that she doesn't know much if anything, and thinks her parents are geniuses right now so I am VERY fond of her at the moment!  :D

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I could be wrong, because I'm old and I don't know everything, but I think that when young people reference listening to a variety of music they aren't referring to multiplication songs AND songs with bible verses hidden in them.  They might have other genres in mind.

 

What I suggest you do is that every time you get in the car with him going forward, make sure you have something to play for him by a different artist.  You can start with these fine works, all chosen to appeal to teenage boys.  

 

Elmo

 

The Trapp Family Singers (with Japanese subtitles, because why not)

 

The Ink Spots

 

Various   Monks   Chanting

 

Kids Bop (Maybe load this up for when he's driving alone, to save yourself)

 

He'll either be really grateful, or develop some insight into the cons of being bullied.

 

 

do include the soundtrack for 1776.  even my doesn't sing son was singing from it as a middle schooler.   2ds - loves to quote and still constantly quotes it.

 

and 2ds . . .  was rather slow to admit his parents know anything.  he's in his mid 20s.  dh claims he's said it. . . sometimes I wonder . . . .

2dd - realized it in college/young adulthood when speaking with her peers about their parents.  but, I'm still not worthy of her time in asking for advice.  I was shocked the one time something happened after she got married - and she was extremely upset, and her dh called me because 2dd needed her mom.  I went right down.  (they still lived here.)

1dd was very precocious  (in that anyway).  she apologized for being obnoxious when she was 17.   now . . 

1ds   . . heart .. . . he didn't seem to think he knew everything so much as he'd NEVER answer a question or give up any information.

 

they're all different.

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I had a ps teacher explain that to us at a Scout meeting this week--that the boys have to have SOME bullying at camp or they won't grow up to be men.

That's true though. As everyone learns in teacher college, boys who don't get bullied at camp (specifically?) grow up to be meercats.

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My 16yo son tried to explain childbirth to me a few weeks ago. I said, "Son, I've given birth 5 times!!" and he seriously said "Yeah, but I just read this article...". I'm pretty sure he still thinks he knows more about it than me!

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Mine, jokingly, declared yesterday that "I am a grown man", I guess because he's adult sized and has a job now? :glare: I will say that he asked me what I wanted for my birthday (in November) and he hasn't even got his first check yet (he's a sweetie, stubborn but definitely sweet).

I like to say, "Grown men carry their own health insurance." :)

 

But that is sweet, that he is ready to buy you a gift.

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My 15yr old must be precocious because he knows everything too. 

I think my 14yo is a prodigy. Today, he explained that by forcing him to complete a fairly standard, academic high school program (roughly 5 hours/day, 180 days/year), I am preventing him from pursuing his passions and dooming him to life in a cubicle. This conversation started around 1:30pm, as he was eating breakfast.  :001_rolleyes:

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ROFL Quill, we are living parallel lives.  My kid who will be 17 in October and who is all Mr. Musak all the time, plays piano, guitar, sings, has perfect pitch has no issue pontificating on how he knows darn near everything.  And the rest of us truly know very little.  Good times for sure. 

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I think my 14yo is a prodigy. Today, he explained that by forcing him to complete a fairly standard, academic high school program (roughly 5 hours/day, 180 days/year), I am preventing him from pursuing his passions and dooming him to life in a cubicle. This conversation started around 1:30pm, as he was eating breakfast.  :001_rolleyes:

 

:hurray: :lol: That is just hilarious and adorable right!?  He should really contact someone about his legal rights.

 

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My 16yo son tried to explain childbirth to me a few weeks ago. I said, "Son, I've given birth 5 times!!" and he seriously said "Yeah, but I just read this article...". I'm pretty sure he still thinks he knows more about it than me!

 

I LOVE this!  They read something on Google and suddenly become an expert.  My 16 year old ds knows a bunch of random factoids and can correct my husband even on intricate aspects of his career which he has been doing as long as ds has been alive.  Ds also knows everything.  Isn't it great?  I'm sure he'll be able to do our taxes and give us sound financial advice next.  

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So, if you're wondering what is the ideal way to raise your child and the correct way to homeschool, just ask him! Since, at 17, he has a fully-formed, certainly correct opinion on many aspects of homeschooling. Apparently, it slipped his mind that we have spent many thousands upon thousands of dollars and hours and gas money on music instruction from infancy - Kindermusik, Olenka's School of Music, private piano lessons, private guitar lessons. He "forgot" that, except for piano lessons, which BTW, he never much loved, but I perservered with anyway. What he *does* remember with great clarity is that In the car, I generally always kept the radio station to the same music station, which gave him a limited repertoire of listening to music. (Apparently, he also forgets that that is actually recent history; for years and years and years, what I played in the car day after nauseating day, was educational tapes of every kind: Teach Me Spanish Songs, Sing With Me, Patriotic Songs, Hide Them in My Heart Bible Verses set to music, Multiplication Songs, and an assortment of Kindermusik accompanyment songs.)

 

Now that he has found his fire in music and sound technology, he somehow imagines he had a terribly limited listening repertoire because I don't change radio stations in the car. Knucklehead. 😑

 

(I feel I should add, in case someone misunderstands, this wasn't a serious argument with tears or yelling. This was just a 17yo pontificating as 17yos are wont to do. But I am annoyed about it right now because the effort I put into giving my kids a strong eduction in *many* areas has apparently gone unnoticed by this particular perfectionistic child.)

 

You can tell him you know an even worse mom online who only listened to talk radio in the car because she really speeds when she listens to music.  My poor, deprived boys.

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You can tell him you know an even worse mom online who only listened to talk radio in the car because she really speeds when she listens to music.  My poor, deprived boys.

What about my poor boys. I make them walk everywhere. They recently got into rock climbing which is a drive away. So now, with the exception of driving to Grammys ever third or fourth weekend - they get a major 20 Minutes a month spent in the car. Most ever!

 

 

I don't even know what radio stations are available, much less which on I listen to.

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That's true though. As everyone learns in teacher college, boys who don't get bullied at camp (specifically?) grow up to be meercats.

Meerkats are cute.

 

I wonder if Abraham Lincoln got his necessary camp bullying in as a boy?

 

He looks a bit like a meerkat.

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So, if you're wondering what is the ideal way to raise your child and the correct way to homeschool, just ask him! Since, at 17, he has a fully-formed, certainly correct opinion on many aspects of homeschooling. Apparently, it slipped his mind that we have spent many thousands upon thousands of dollars and hours and gas money on music instruction from infancy - Kindermusik, Olenka's School of Music, private piano lessons, private guitar lessons. He "forgot" that, except for piano lessons, which BTW, he never much loved, but I perservered with anyway. What he *does* remember with great clarity is that In the car, I generally always kept the radio station to the same music station, which gave him a limited repertoire of listening to music. (Apparently, he also forgets that that is actually recent history; for years and years and years, what I played in the car day after nauseating day, was educational tapes of every kind: Teach Me Spanish Songs, Sing With Me, Patriotic Songs, Hide Them in My Heart Bible Verses set to music, Multiplication Songs, and an assortment of Kindermusik accompanyment songs.)

 

Now that he has found his fire in music and sound technology, he somehow imagines he had a terribly limited listening repertoire because I don't change radio stations in the car. Knucklehead. 😑

 

(I feel I should add, in case someone misunderstands, this wasn't a serious argument with tears or yelling. This was just a 17yo pontificating as 17yos are wont to do. But I am annoyed about it right now because the effort I put into giving my kids a strong eduction in *many* areas has apparently gone unnoticed by this particular perfectionistic child.)

 

I have a kid who is into music.  His instrument of most frequent choice is bass.  I love how he, too, knows everything about music.  I especially love it when he comes to me excitedly to introduce me to a new band he's discovered, like Black Flag or Offspring or No Doubt.  :rolleyes: But my proudest moment was when he told me, with utmost self assurance, that there are no really famous bands with bass players as lead singers.

 

And, then I schooled that little smarty pants in Motorhead and Rush. 

 

​Boo yah!!!

 

​*mic drop*

 

 

Edited by Audrey
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I like to say, "Grown men carry their own health insurance." :)

 

But that is sweet, that he is ready to buy you a gift.

 

2ds shocked me by taking me to lunch for my birthday.   yes, they do grow up . . . if you can survive it . . .

 

Actually, he can be a bit of a bully still. 

 

well - I did say most bullies dont' outgrow it . . .

 

My 16yo son tried to explain childbirth to me a few weeks ago. I said, "Son, I've given birth 5 times!!" and he seriously said "Yeah, but I just read this article...". I'm pretty sure he still thinks he knows more about it than me!

 

my brother was taking over for his second wife's labor/recovery.   this was his third child - her first.   he demanded the baby get formula because xsil's milk hadn't come in yet. (in the hospital - with the L&D nurses)

 

he was proudly telling me all this on the phone and about the stupid nurses.  he was in his late? 30s.

me:  "dear  (idiot arrogant prick) brother, that's colostrum that comes first, and the baby NEEDS it!"  :svengo:

he tried to argue with me:  "dear (idiot arrogant prick) brother - I've nursed four babies for 18 months each.  don't try and tell me about nursing." :toetap05:

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I am sorry to report that it doesn't get better for a while. I have a twenty year old. He is a pontificator extraordinaire!

 

Now my twenty-six year old married daughter with an eighteen month old child? She has decided that she doesn't know much if anything, and thinks her parents are geniuses right now so I am VERY fond of her at the moment!  :D

 

Well, you are getting closer with your 20 yo son. The male brain does really not mature all the way until about 24-26 years. I don't really know who that pleasant young man is who is texting me now and then but I rather like him.

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I love this thread! 😂 My oldest also knows all the things. She doesn't lecture me, however. She just gets tight-lipped and her eyes glaze over when I start to talk about something of which she is the obvious expert. I've just stopped talking mid-conversation and either changed the subject or stood up and unloaded the dishwasher - she doesn't seem to notice either way.

 

I've learned I get along better with her when I just prattle about without watching her reactions or waiting for a response (if there's a topic that needs discussed... otherwise I just stick to non-wisdom-imparting conversations).

 

I sure like who she's growing up to be though. :) Just having to find new ways of communication to get us through the next few years. :)

 

she listens when other people tell her stuff though. So I guess it's good she's still learning from others :) . And sometimes I see her taking action on something I prattled on about (when she wasn't obviously listening to me...)

 

I think this is why some little old ladies are kind of senile - talking to the air without really caring if anyone is listening. They've raised (older) teenagers. lol

Edited by hopskipjump
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That can go both ways. Google can be your friend, too. :D

Tbt, I probably taught him that. I remember when he was about 9 and he and a neighbor boy, also 9 CONSTANTLY argued every. Little. Fact of life. It was exhausting. Then they would come to me---Mom tell him I am right! Miss Scarlett tell him I am right! I finally said, I am not a dictionary or an encyclopedia , go look it up!

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Also, it's interesting that when teens reach the stage where they know it all, the parents apparently reach the stage of not knowing much at all. Funny, huh?

Reminds me of this quote: "When I was a boy of fourteen, my father was so ignorant I could hardly stand to have the old man around. But when I got to be twenty-one, I was astonished at how much he had learned in seven years." (Attributed, maybe apocryphally, to Mark Twain)

 

Thankfully, my kids have not yet reached this stage. But I remember *being* in this stage. I first read Sense & Sensibility when I was seventeen, and when I got to Marianne's line about how, at seventeen, one's opinions in life are tolerably fixed, I took it as self-evident truth. When I re-read S&S at 27 and got to that line, I laughed and laughed at the sarcastic perfection of it :lol:.

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I have a kid who is into music. His instrument of most frequent choice is bass. I love how he, too, knows everything about music. I especially love it when he comes to me excitedly to introduce me to a new band he's discovered, like Black Flag or Offspring or No Doubt. :rolleyes: But my proudest moment was when he told me, with utmost self assurance, that there are no really famous bands with bass players as lead singers.

 

And, then I schooled that little smarty pants in Motorhead and Rush.

 

​Boo yah!!!

 

​*mic drop*

 

 

Ha! Reminds me of the time last year when ds was telling me how worthless history is to study. He says 'they you stuff nobody knows or cares about. For instance, do you know what the Sherman anti-trust Act is?' I said yes I do. You could have knocked him over with a feather. 'You do? What?' I told him. He says, 'huh. Impressive'.

 

He really does think I am an idiot.

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Haha.  My kids are convinced that I know everything, mainly because I'm really good at remembering random bits of who knows what that I picked up somewhere.  However, I hear that I'm about to become really stupid.  But like my own parents, I'm sure I will become smart again at some point.

 

I do love when they tell me how to parent my children.  Yes, dears, I realize you have more than the typical amount of younger siblings and therefore more experience with small children than most teens/tweens, but dude.  I was a nanny pre-kids, plus I worked in daycare, plus I have several younger siblings of my own.  This is at least my seventh fulltime three-year-old.  I am surprised by very little and fazed by even less.  If I'm not worrying about something, I'm pretty sure I don't need you, darling kids, to tell me to worry.   ;)  (I will add that my teen daughter is quite good at caring for littles, very nurturing, and my tween son is quite good at rallying his small troops to get ready to go or to do a task around the house.  So yes, they've picked up a thing or two, but I'm pretty sure I still outrank them in experience.)

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Ha! Reminds me of the time last year when ds was telling me how worthless history is to study. He says 'they you stuff nobody knows or cares about. For instance, do you know what the Sherman anti-trust Act is?' I said yes I do. You could have knocked him over with a feather. 'You do? What?' I told him. He says, 'huh. Impressive'.

 

He really does think I am an idiot.

This reminds me of a time when a friend of mine with kids in PS was complaining about the things they were wasting their time learning in school. (Presumably, she figured I was a good person to complain about this to, since I homeschool.) she said, "They had a quiz on the different gods of ancient Egypt! Like it's really important to know who the Sun God is." And I said reflexively, "Ra." And then I backpeddled, so she wouldn't feel bad, "Not that that's important to know, of course. Just that we have just been studying that, too." 😠Oops.

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I love this thread! 😂 My oldest also knows all the things. She doesn't lecture me, however. She just gets tight-lipped and her eyes glaze over when I start to talk about something of which she is the obvious expert. I've just stopped talking mid-conversation and either changed the subject or stood up and unloaded the dishwasher - she doesn't seem to notice either way.

 

I've learned I get along better with her when I just prattle about without watching her reactions or waiting for a response (if there's a topic that needs discussed... otherwise I just stick to non-wisdom-imparting conversations).

 

I sure like who she's growing up to be though. :) Just having to find new ways of communication to get us through the next few years. :)

 

she listens when other people tell her stuff though. So I guess it's good she's still learning from others :) . And sometimes I see her taking action on something I prattled on about (when she wasn't obviously listening to me...)

 

I think this is why some little old ladies are kind of senile - talking to the air without really caring if anyone is listening. They've raised (older) teenagers. lol

I think my Dd must live with you part time! The times she does what I say even after looking distainful do give me hope, though!

 

My favorite is how when a 13-16 year old gives her advice, she follows it with enthusiasm and an isn't this the wisest advice ever attitude even if it's advice I gave her a month earlier that she rejected because I know nothing. Her peers on the other hand--such brilliance hadn't been seen in millennia !

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do include the soundtrack for 1776. even my doesn't sing son was singing from it as a middle schooler. 2ds - loves to quote and still constantly quotes it.

 

and 2ds . . . was rather slow to admit his parents know anything. he's in his mid 20s. dh claims he's said it. . . sometimes I wonder . . . .

2dd - realized it in college/young adulthood when speaking with her peers about their parents. but, I'm still not worthy of her time in asking for advice. I was shocked the one time something happened after she got married - and she was extremely upset, and her dh called me because 2dd needed her mom. I went right down. (they still lived here.)

1dd was very precocious (in that anyway). she apologized for being obnoxious when she was 17. now . .

1ds . . heart .. . . he didn't seem to think he knew everything so much as he'd NEVER answer a question or give up any information.

 

they're all different.

Perhaps your doesn't sing son could record his rendition and send it to Quill? After all, variety is the spice of life!

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