No, haven't heard of the show. But, I get what you're trying to say.

Thank you for sharing your perspectives. I understand better now.

My response wasn't directed at you, but at pinewarbler. The quote feature messed it up.

wrt: Bolded I found my peers at the age of 25 (approx a decade ago). Most of them were 60+ yr olds then, but they were such interesting people who had lead fascinating lives. I found another group of peers when I went back for my grad degree; this time they were the 25 yr olds. :laugh: Friends are hard to find and keep; especially when one's tribe is statistically non-normative. My DD has been lucky to find a few friends; personality attributes+character compatibility rather than common interests. Its definitely easier that way. ETA: I went back and forth whether to post what I'm about to, but decided to go ahead. The underlined part of the post bothered me deeply. Especially the 'collecting' of people so that one has someone to talk to. Even figuratively speaking, viewing those cognitively average or otherwise as objects to be collected or bus stop people, is....dismissive and depreciative. :sad: Maybe I've misunderstood, if so, I apologise.

This. When we moved for the 5th time in 8 years, we were carrying along 40 large boxes of books. Unpacking, re-shelving took 2 weeks. When my dh threw his back out moving a box filled with books from one room to another, we knew we had a big problem. I donated and sold most (which could be replaced easily) off over a year. Invested in a kindle and now exclusively buy ebooks.

What I'm hoping for is an accelerated/(insert label) kids forum where the next gen from this board can communicate with like minded peers across the world. That would be a game changer in my life. As DD gets older, I find I'm hesitant to discuss her emotional and intellectual phases in great detail online or IRL.

Has he read anything about the Holocaust earlier? My DD read and watched 'The boy in...." but it wasn't her first book on that topic. Her first introduction to it was Judith Kerr trilogy starting with 'When hitler stole pink rabbit'. IMO, I wouldn't recommend 'The boy in.." as a first book on the Holocaust, particularly if the child is sensitive. ymmv

Yes, ever since she was born. But, as DD gets older (almost 12 now), I struggle mightily with *my* role in keeping her busy. As in, I was hoping she would have an internal compass by now that points her to the problem of intellectual stimulation and seek it out *without* my help. Maybe I should include this in her life skill goals to meet, for this year. :p :D

Oh my! That video has achieved the impossible... condescending and offensive on all levels *to both men and women*!!. Girls need to hear that if they choose to marry late, they won't find anyone eligible because all men want younger women? Women are born rich and become poor? men are born poor and become rich? I hope she's speaking in metaphors.. I don't get why the sender of this video is so invested in your daughters future marriage/late marriage? Very bizarre..

You said it better than I did. To add, does a well rounded education mean an education without a strong focus? i.e if one concentrates on all academic and non-academic disciplines equally... I suspect a well rounded education helps the students who have strong interests early in life- the specialists. The teens who are, by temperament and abilities, generalists will by default gravitate towards a well rounded education. What the latter might need is something different from the former. something more focused to help them choose their discipline/field.

A perspective from someone who possibly tried to balance marriage, kids and career: Indra Nooyi, CEO Pepsico on why women can't have it all. However, I'm telling my daughter to prioritize financial independence over waiting to meet the right guy/marriage/kids. The former is within ones control, whereas the latter...

fwiw, my post on that thread was a very high level look at what I considered to be an ideal humanities education. I don't know how it would look on a day-to-day basis in elementary school because I've not yet had an opportunity or necessity to chalk a plan out. Maybe I should at some point.. Having said that, and to give some background on that post; I'm a product of a relatively well rounded 'school' education system. I had history, geography, physics, chem, bio, algebra/pre-cal/cal, geometry/trig, 1st language, 2nd language, 3rd language from 1st- 10th grade. My generation was also expected to achieve equally across all subjects. All of us were streamlined post 10th grade (sciences/humanities/fine arts). Those 10 years of formally studying 3 languages? didn't need them in formal education post 10th grade. :rolleyes: Of course each subject stretched us a little bit, and of course all of them gave us a holistic view of academics; but there are only so many hours in a day/week/month/year, iykwim; and the price we paid for a holistic academic education was sports, performing and fine arts. Can you tell I'm still resentful after all these years? :001_smile: For my DD: My DD who's inclined towards the sciences and accelerated only in math/science. out of a 30 hr 5 day week= (approximations) 3 hours language per week at grade level, 3 hours History/geography per week at grade level. 24 hours per week split between Math (algebra/geom) and sciences (phys, chem, bio) accelerated. She has the exposure to all subjects like a mainstream schooled child in India plus the flexibility to not perform at the same level across all. She has the luxury of time. Time to play a sport and an instrument. Time to read, dream, slack off, brood, chat and do nothing too. So far no regrets.

Great question! After many many many blunders where I expected DD to read my mind in elementary school, I went through a period where I had to determine what I meant by 'quality' how would I measure it, and if its developmentally appropriate for my DD to reach the level that I demand/expect. Due to that introspection, middle school has been simpler than elementary. Expectations and routine is already set on both sides and she usually complies when I ask her to redo a piece of writing because we now have a common understanding of what quality looks like. Hence,she does her best work for me; at home. Quality in Math and sciences is relatively easy to implement. Where my DD has struggled is quality in writing. I suspect this will continue to improve as she matures as a person. Some aspects of academics just need maturity and life experience, iykwim. wrt the bolded: It depends. My DD is an aspiring scientist, so that's where her best is invested. I'm not sure motivation can be taught. IME, I can only create an environment that is likely to keep her motivated or model it. Usually a hit or miss here. :D

I can relate and I don't think you're being ridiculous. He sounds quite like my DD between 7 and 8. Highly verbal. Very high energy. IME, Achievement not meeting teacher/parent expectations means a couple of things: 1- No idea of what the test is testing 2- Anxiety or other issues like ADHD causing a bottleneck 3- Being highly verbal has its drawbacks in written tests.- likely to be developmental. We, rather I, struggled with 1 and 3. I fixed point 1 by having periodic review built into our schedule and making sure DD knew what she was being tested on. Whether she takes it cold or practices for it; its extremely crucial for *all* students to be aware of the test expectations. wrt 3: It will sort out once he is older. Maybe during puberty or after. For instance, My DD is 11-almost-12 now, there's an enormous positive change in her focus, attention and self control from when she was 7/8. 3-4 years of a constant commentary on everything and now (for the past 6 months) I see the movement of young childhood to young adulthood happening. He sounds to be in the right place (home) for his academic and developmental needs. Hang in there!

Me: channeling Mr Miyagi (or Yoda if you prefer), " Either you do this or you don't. There is no try". DD: with a long suffering look, "Mom, very few choices in life are binary. This is not one of them". Me: :blink:

nm

My DD has been in many different learning set-ups in her 8 schooled years (3 to now 11). Montessori, home, mainstream private, alternative non-ideology, coop and home again. My perspective is that of a person who has had first hand experience of all educational spaces in a very large geographical region across 2 states. Every single learning space had its trade-offs, even our home. I do see great positives in home education, but I've also experienced (through other homeschoolers in my country and on the interwebz) the negatives. :mellow: I'm thankful and grateful that we do have the choice of homeschooling, but I'm not a homeschooling crusader and home education isn't a hill I want to die on. *shrug* eta: The WTM board is a very rare safe space that welcomes diverse educational perspectives, experiences and voices. I hope it stays that way.

The above bears repeating. To add, despite the fact that our family has had terrible school experiences, government run public 'mass' schools are the *only* place where majority of the kids can receive a half decent education. Especially in developing countries. If parents have the best interest of their child at heart, does it matter if the best learning space for a child at a given point in time -is school? At other times it could be the home! I'm never that content with my homeschooling prowess that I would condemn other learning approaches. And I cannot sacrifice a reasonably rigorous education that my DD might have in some school on the altar of my ideology, given the opportunity. I'm not pro school for all but I'm definitely anti-labels like refugee homeschooler for anyone.

Absolutely. To add; the problem is also that what would count as not-busywork can become busywork the moment a student takes a developmental leap. I suspect that's happening in our home.

Thanks for sharing its history, ElizaG Reading over the replies, I have this sinking feeling that a significant % of what DD does in academics at home might be busywork. She's an advanced student who was brought home late last year after spending 3 years spinning wheels in mainstream and alternative schools. Maybe its the curricula..maybe its my insistence on output. :mellow: ETA: I don't recall doing much busywork as its been interpreted here in school. I was an above average student in a school affiliated to a Board of Education know for its rigor. Standards have changed(lowered) now, and mixed grouping is encouraged. I guess its how busywork crept into classrooms.

Agreed, especially with the bolded. Okbud and Farrar have mentioned the same upthread. I've taught a classroom of diverse ability (math) kids in the past. A few couldn't grasp the concept of a number line, the middle group could mark negative and positive numbers on a number line and the highest ability group were adding and subtracting integers without a number line. Although I had 3 different levels of worksheets, I'm fairly certain now some of the high ability kids thought my worksheets were busywork. :o But that's the pitfall of an inclusive and diverse classroom. Thankfully, the next time I went in that class, I had more resources and my wits about me. Can busywork be eliminated completely? I don't know...

:o I've had my DD do those worksheets in our past round of homeschooling. On one of those days when our energy levels were mismatched. ________________ Does some amount of busywork in a classroom build tolerance for boredom? for patience? Although, I can see it backfiring mightily if that's all a student was doing.

So, from what I understand teacher intent is necessary to call an activity busywork. Literally keeping the children busy without adding to their learning- A pass their time kind of activity. I wonder if low standards in terms of content coverage and commensurate output lend themselves to busywork . I mean, if a teacher has 16-20 chapters to complete annually in a math class of 25-30 students, she is unlikely to waste her own or the students time with anything that does not move them further in their learning curve.

In the 70s in Sg? That's interesting. I don't hear of it in India at all. Its all grouped under 'studying'. :laugh: FWIW, handwriting may not stay beautiful forever, unless one writes copiously (Ask me how I know! :tongue_smilie: ). Math computation too. If a child can do 12x 13 in 1 second now, can s/he do it in 1 second a year from now without any multiplication tables practice? For eg: arithmetic computation: can speed remain high without any specific computation practice? For writing: can writing speed increase without...writing huge amounts?

Over the past 6 years I've seen the word 'busywork' often enough on the boards, and still haven't managed to get a clear understanding of what it means. Is it an American culture specific word? IMhO, It doesn't seem to have an Asian context because any academic pursuit (at least in India) is seen either as a 'new lesson' or 'practice' or 'revision' or 'studying'. I've also seen this word crop up more frequently wrt accelerated/gifted/advanced learners. So what is your interpretation of busywork? What is the difference between busywork and practice? (especially in math). How do you determine if something is busywork or not?