In case you are second-guessing your decision to homeschool . . .

[tammyw]

A little off topic - but any specific marble run you'd recommend? We had a nice set when the kids were smaller but in the several moves we made, they got misplaced. Now they are almost 5 and 8 and I think they'd have a lot more independent fun with it.

[MrsMe]

:001_huh: This makes no sense. Do public-schooled children have no access to tools or toys at home? Maybe they were pulling his leg.

 

 

No, they go to school, get run around for soccer, then go to swimming, then come home to do homework and go to bed...or listen to an ipod.:001_smile:

[Tracy]

Ok, now to be honest. I could not have put it together. When my boys were younger and were doing legos and marble mazes, they would come to me for help. I couldn't help them. I am so AWFUL at stuff like that. I cannot do it. Now I can analyze a poem or a piece of literature!! But if something goes wrong with my computer or I can't build it, I ask my hubby.

 

In their defense, I have never played with a marble run and they may not have either. I would need to look at it myself not with 18 other people to figure it out.

 

Yes, but it is too late for me. I just end up yelling at things or breaking them if I have to try and figure out how to put them together. I much prefer dealing with people. They make sense. If they won't do what you want, then I can see the why behind it. I can't persuade a piece of machinery to work the way I want!! GRR.

 

To be fair I'm all thumbs when it comes to putting anything together. Although I do think I could manage a marble run (we have one).

 

Yes, there are always going to be some individuals that are not good a something. But the fact that this was the common experience is what concerns me.

 

Thank you!! I totally agree with you. Although I am good with putting things together, I am not good in a group. I would need quiet and time to do it.

 

Since my DH has been a teacher in a ps, I have increased my compassion for these teens. They need someone to care about them. I'm sure the teens in the op's dh's class learned something that day. I think it's ok not to know something and then learn it. Isn't it? Why must some go immediately to the idea that all ps teens are tech addicted idiots? :confused:

 

That is not the point at all. They do need someone to care about them. But shouldn't that start with their parents? DH has parent-teacher conferences tonight, and he is expecting to be able to clean his room, because parents don't come. DH does care for these kids, but he has 120 kids in his classes. If the problem was with the "one," he might be able to help. But 120?

 

I think it is possible that the students had difficulty coordinating their efforts in a group setting rather than not being able to put the marble run together. I just remember doing group projects in school. I hated them. Nobody was in charge, or one person ran the show. Some students didn't do anything but stare into space. Some students made fun of anyone who appeared to be too interested. Some students did all the work. It was just overall a futile exercise almost every single time.

 

There certainly may be some of that. But I wouldn't have shared this one experience if it wasn't part of a pattern. He has had high schoolers that put their hands in boiling water, because they didn't know it was going to burn them. Others cannot tie string to a nail for a lab, because they have never had anything but velcro shoes their entire lives. Many of them are afraid of things like crickets and spiders, to the point of running and yelling when they see one. (I kid you not. This is a huge distraction when dh does outside activities.) They are lacking basic skills, because they are lacking basic life experiences.

 

I have always found that that one person who runs the show is the one who is completely clueless about how to do the task at hand. And they will never take advice from someone who might actually know how to do it.

 

And there is no way I could put something together with a bunch of other people staring and distracting.

 

So, yes, this story does present a good reason to homeschool, but I don't think this proves that the high schoolers are clueless -- it's that one learns better in a quiet environment.

 

I would disagree that people always learn better in a quiet environment, as I think that is an individual preference. I would say, rather, that one learns better in an environment of learning.

 

I don't lay this on public school. I lay this on electronic games and the parents who use them as babysitters.

 

:iagree: It is not the public schools' fault. It is the parents' responsibility to educate their children. The public schools are there to help but not to do the whole job.

[TXMomof4]

I think it is possible that the students had difficulty coordinating their efforts in a group setting rather than not being able to put the marble run together. I just remember doing group projects in school. I hated them. Nobody was in charge, or one person ran the show. Some students didn't do anything but stare into space. Some students made fun of anyone who appeared to be too interested. Some students did all the work. It was just overall a futile exercise almost every single time.

 

To me that's another advantage of hsing though.

 

My kids have group things they work on and have to work together well to accomplish them. Even if it's just cooking in the kitchen we've got 4 kids ranging in age from 4 to 11 and they all have to get it done with everyone's input and help. They learn to accomodate the 4 yo and tailor his tasks to meet his skills while still accompishing the task they've been given.

 

In fact, I'd say this is one of the biggest benefits of hs in our home. It does translate to outside ability too. At church there is a small group of kids from 2nd -6th grade. It would be easy for the older kids to run the show without including the youngers, but my girls value and enjoy the little people and include them in whatever activity is at hand.

 

Not something you'd see in a group most of the time.

[MBM]

These threads always leave me shaking my head. The experiences shared here are so different from what I see around me.

 

Perhaps my community is just a bubble of sanity in an otherwise crazy world.

 

Yes, I agree.

 

I happen to live in a suburb of Chicago. My son is in eighth grade and is beginning to read through Holt Physics which he'll be using next year in his first physics course. He and all of his friends are familiar with the marble runs we used to have at our house, but maybe they are just anomalies.

 

[MrsMe]

My DH tried to build a rocking horse 2 years ago. He got it all cut out and then lost interest. That was the best thing he could have done. My children now spend hours playing with their wood.

 

It saddens me to think about where our country will be in 15-20 years when these ps children are adults. What upsets me more is the lack of concern from some parents and educators. There is a problem, but it will never be fixed unless we acknowledge there is a problem.

 

 

Good grief! Isn't this the truth!:iagree:

[In the Rain]

I don't lay this on public school. I lay this on electronic games and the parents who use them as babysitters.

 

:iagree: It must be this. Marble runs certainly aren't homeschool domain. :confused:

[justamouse]

My DH tried to build a rocking horse 2 years ago. He got it all cut out and then lost interest. That was the best thing he could have done. My children now spend hours playing with their wood.

 

It saddens me to think about where our country will be in 15-20 years when these ps children are adults. What upsets me more is the lack of concern from some parents and educators. There is a problem, but it will never be fixed unless we acknowledge there is a problem.

 

This is what's wrong *right now* and I'm not the only business owner that sees it. The people that apply now have *no idea* how to do basic stuff. They don't know how to figure something out. They want to be told how to do it.

 

I remember a florist coming to my house and we got talking. He was the current operator of his family's business and he asked me about homeschooling. He went on a tirade about how he was hiring these college educated kids and they had not one iota how to figure anything out. They'd never seen a tool, he couldn't give them a simple directive-go put a screw in this- and these were ivy league kids. It happens at work all the time.

 

Kids need to learn how to figure things out. That takes the time to play, and it takes Mom and Dad allowing them to fail at it a few times. Those two things don't happen.

 

A marble runs is spacial-not totally left brained. It's like packing the car or figuring out how something -say my hanging ironing board in a tricky place (true) would have to be hung (it has to stay secure and fit within the spot).

 

It's why I tell my 16 dd "Figure it out." She is the one that pauses-my ds 11 would know how to almost immediately because of his years of playing with legos. My ds 20 just does it.

 

She gets totally pissed at me, but if it doesn't come easy to her, she doesn't want to do it. I tell her to suck it up and figure it out. You can see those synapses firing. :D

[JennW in SoCal]

This thread brings to mind my experience working at a Lakeshore store some 20 years ago. More than once I had a customer buy a lovely set of wooden blocks only to ask "but where are the instructions?!!"

[LibraryLover]

These kids are not quite so stupid, they had to make their own. lol :

 

These

are amazing.

 

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jUrsMFrtfZ4

 

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LnqPLCV7f40

 

 

 

 

There are lots of home marble runs on YouTube, surprisingly. lol I wonder how many might be by hs'd V. schooled familes?

Edited February 10, 2011 by LibraryLover

[MrsMe]

Let me tell you about dh's experience today.

 

DH is a public high school physics teacher. Today, as part of a unit on energy, he took my 3yo's marble run to class, thinking it would be fun way to introduce the topic. He gave several pieces to each group of students (juniors and seniors) and told them to put it together. He said they couldn't figure out what to do. They couldn't tell the top from the bottom of each piece. They couldn't see how they fit together. They couldn't figure out how to make a marble run so that the marble traveled continuously from beginning to end. They were absolutely baffled by the whole experience. One student responded, "You let your kids play with this?"

 

So if all your child did was play with his marble run today, he is better off than juniors and seniors in a suburban public school.

 

 

I'll bet they all know how to put on a condom though!

[MBM]

I'll bet they all know how to put on a condom though!

 

Sorry, but students don't learn how to put on a condom in my son's high school. It's not part of the curriculum.

[LibraryLover]

Sorry, but students don't learn how to put on a condom in my son's high school. It's not part of the curriculum.

 

 

LOL It's always about the condoms. Or the high pregnancy rate, which means they really don't know how to do put on condoms. If they can do this:

 

 

let's hope they know how to put on a condom. :D I mean, it's really not rocket science.

[Guest Dulcimeramy]

I'm just really, really tired of the opinion that all public school children are without morals.

 

I think we are getting a picture of widespread academic ignorance, but ignorance does not equal immorality.

[MBM]

LOL It's always about the condoms. Or the high pregnancy rate, which means they really don't know how to do put on condoms. If they can do this:

 

 

let's hope they know how to put on a condom. :D I mean, it's really not rocket science.

 

LOL! They can only do that because they have Tiger Moms who never let them have fun.

[Princess Peach]

I'm just really, really tired of the opinion that all public school children are without morals.

 

I think we are getting a picture of widespread academic ignorance, but ignorance does not equal immorality.

 

You are not alone in your views.

[Vanna]

Let me tell you about dh's experience today.

 

DH is a public high school physics teacher. Today, as part of a unit on energy, he took my 3yo's marble run to class, thinking it would be fun way to introduce the topic. He gave several pieces to each group of students (juniors and seniors) and told them to put it together. He said they couldn't figure out what to do. They couldn't tell the top from the bottom of each piece. They couldn't see how they fit together. They couldn't figure out how to make a marble run so that the marble traveled continuously from beginning to end. They were absolutely baffled by the whole experience. One student responded, "You let your kids play with this?"

 

So if all your child did was play with his marble run today, he is better off than juniors and seniors in a suburban public school.

Hmmm.... this is very interesting. Thanks for the encouragement as there are days I second-guess my decision to homeschool (esp. my oldest child).

 

I would have to agree with kalanamak, this lack of imagination and skill at putting the marble run together is probably a result of the prolific video games in the households of America. I have had a "no video game" policy in my home for years, but the kids are starting to wear me down. I told them I'd "consider" XBox Kinect since the player IS the controller and there's lots of activity -- but now... I'm not so sure.:confused1: