I guess we're in the logic stage now

[Suzannah]

My 10yo DS who is normally very compliant has been less cooperative lately about things. Which things? Well, just about everything, but it generally comes down to things (chores, extra activities not of his choosing, certain assignments though not entire subjects) that he doesn't care to do and doesn't see the point of. Today I realized that he doesn't have a clear idea of my educational philosophy so I told him we'd sit down later this week and make some plans for next year and I would explain why we need to do each of them. :o

 

I have seen others recommend letting kids have a hand in choosing new curricula to let them feel more involved. Frankly I don't want him to have that sort of control over everything, but I'm willing to let him look over a few texts and see what other methods do in say math and that what is required of him is in line with what would be required in another program.

 

Anyway, I'll be sitting down with him to talk it all out, but are there any books for this age describing and extolling the virtues of a classical education? He's a good reader but I don't know that Climbing Parnassus would be appropriate at this time.

 

Any thoughts?

[Jean in Newcastle]

All the books I know of about classical education are written for parents. But I don't see why a logic stage child couldn't read and understand certain chapters of those books. For example, I would let him read chapter 3 (the parrot years), chapter 13 (The argumentative Child), chapter 23 (Moving toward independence: Logic for life), and chapter 24 (Speaking your mind: the rhetoric stage) in "The Well Trained Mind". That should give him a good overview (to be filled in as needed by you).

[Suzannah]

See, this is why I love this forum. I had thought of having him read TWTM but figured that was overkill. Of course he could read a few relevant chapters to at least understand that this isn't something I made up on a whim to keep him from playing video games.

 

If anyone happens to think of a classical education book for kids to read or even just something promoting diligence and hard work, I'd love to hear about it.

 

I've added Created for Work to my Amazon wishlist so I won't forget the title but haven't purchased it yet. Has anyone here read it and found it useful?

[Danestress]

I'm there too! I have 10 year old twin DSs, and one is still quite pleasant and compliant, but the other has developed a killer sigh.

 

I think overkill is fine. He probably doesn't really want to delve deeply into your philosophy of education. He was probably just stalling:) I'd give him a whole stack of books and tell him to let me know if he has any questions or concerns because education, his in particular, is my absolute passing!

[Suzannah]

Danestress, yes, I'm sure he was just stalling. :) He didn't actually ask about educational goals, but my saying "This is important and you'll be glad you know it later" just isn't lighting a fire under him to do his work without huffing, rolling his eyes or groaning.

 

I probably will get a bunch of library books for him though. He's always been homeschooled and sometimes I think he just doesn't realize how good he has it. :rolleyes:

 

Keep those suggestions coming!

[Mrs. H.]

I don't like to give my kiddos the control over curriculum either, but I do take into account whether they love or hate something, and I often ask (usually during the planning stages for the following year), 'What did you think of your *insert subject* program this year?' 'Too hard, too easy, boring, etc?' I always take their answers into account when I'm choosing to shell out big $$ for next year's curriculum, but if they give me an answer like, 'I don't like this math because it takes me 45 min. to do a lesson every day, and the little sibs only have 20 min. of math.' that doesn't cut it for me, and the math would stay.

 

This year we are keeping our math program (after several swaps over the years), our grammar, history and science, and changing our latin, because the kids aren't really getting anything out of the program we're using. Sure, it's easy, but they're not retaining it, and it's dry as dust.

 

I also try to pay attention to the fact that some kids like books on tape, and some hate them. Some like workbook-type curriculum, and some don't. I walk a line between content (which must me my standards) and comfort for each child's learning style.

[Suzannah]

Well one of the problems this year is he doesn't care for the Latin program we're using. We began with Latin Primer...dry as dust but he thrived with it. Then this year a PS teacher friend of mine offered to tutor him in Latin along with her daughter in exchange for my giving her daughter piano lessons. The text she is using is Cambridge which has pictures and a story to follow. It should be much more interesting but DS doesn't care for it. And because he doesn't care for it it's like pulling teeth to get him to review vocabulary and do the assignments whereas he used to really enjoy Latin. I don't think he's retaining as much as he did the last two years but I hate to give up the free tutor.

 

So, there's one situation where I probably will give him some say in which text we use next year, although the ultimate decision will be mine because I'm the teacher with three kids who still has to do housework and fix meals. :)

[Mrs. H.]

The final decision is always mine, and I will often preview the options and only offer a choice between the two or three programs I have already pre-approved to meet my criteria, because I am a mom of five children ages 10-1 who still has to get the laundry done and dinner on the table every night.

 

With math, we first tried Saxon, but I can't stand their K-3 program. Then we tried Abeka, Singapore, Ray's Arithmetic, and finally went back to Saxon. I hated Abeka, I felt like Singapore took too much of my time to put together a complete program, and Ray's made the kids cry every day. Now that we're back to Saxon, dd 10 likes math now (no tears anyway), and ds 7 could really use a better program, but it's ok for now.

 

We're using LC I and Prima Latina now, but we're switching to a new Latin next year, not because the kids are complaining or refusing to do the work, but because I think it's dry and they're not retaining much from it. They find it a little boring, but only if I ask. For them school is school, it must be done, and it doesn't do any good to argue with Mom or give her a hard time. I think they know that I will change programs if we have a problem, so it's not a big issue.

[AKshanmar]

...I let him pick his spelling curriculum, but I retained control over everything else. I figured, how much could you mess up spelling as a 5th grader. It actually did a lot for him. And he picked Sequential Spelling, which has been such a success for our whole family, it was a really good thing.

 

So last year, I let him pick his writing, and he picked WriteAtHome, which was not a good match for him, (it is a fine program, not classical, but well done, but he HATES writing fiction, and there was a lot of that) However, he couldn't whine, because he had picked it! LOL.

[Jodi-FL]

but have made a reading list that they could choose from. I've also had them choose an elective (summer is a great time to introduce this) and my dh has taken them to work (bank) to show them all the different ways their school subjects fit into life.

 

Logic stage is a great age, actually, once you get used to being questioned so often.