Dr. Mary Kay Clark homeschooled her 7 boys so it is appropriate that she give a talk explaining the delights and distractions inevitable in sitting down in the schoolroom with a young male. I have to say that my experience has been pretty typical with Will taking forever to learn to read, being easily distracted by everything outside of his books, loving science projects, and having more of a knack for understanding numbers than his sister. I cringe when I think of what he could have experienced if we had put him in public school: doped up on Ritalin and placed in a track to special ed just for being a typical boy. Every child develops at their own speed but there are some generalizations that are true for boys that are not addressed in our female dominated school systems.
Boys learn differently than girls and they surprise us with their goodness. We can harness that desire to do good by helping them practice the corporal works of mercy and teaching them by example. Our goal is not just to raise brains capable of getting into Harvard, but to raise good Catholic men, the future's priests and fathers.
How boys learn differently:
Boys like active learning- moving while studying, hands-on science projects, serving Mass. They use few words but they will excel at competitive activities such as crossword and code puzzles, cryptograms, and Scrabble. Most importantly for their academic success is teaching them to read and to love reading. Explain pictures and diagrams in textbooks before they start reading a section. They hate to write, but you must patiently and diligently make them do it. They have short attention spans so don't drag school out longer than 6 hours. They would rather be finished than accurate so the parent must be on top of the situation. Math problems can be graded right away, preferably by the boy after each problem is completed so he doesn't continue any errors. Boys are generally not good listeners, but if they start playing a musical instrument then their ears become better trained.
Young men look to their fathers and those who share hobbies with their boys have many opportunities to teach them about being a man. It doesn't matter what they are doing together, fixing cars, fishing, sports, or electric trains, that time together gives the father the opportunity to be a role model and discuss "man stuff." Boys like a challenge so utilize competitive opportunities such as quiz games and spelling bees. Lastly, boys like to be in control so let them make choices early so they can gradually develop the ability to be in charge of a family.
All through this talk I saw many heads nodding their agreement with Dr. Clark's assessment of how boys learn best. So far we have incorporated many of these ideas into our own homeschooling but I will have to check out the Mr. Wizard science shows that she mentioned were now available on DVD. I know Will loves seeing these experiments, I just don't want to blow up my kitchen in the process.
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3 comments:
Sometimes even homeschooled kids need Ritalin, so don't judge too harshly. Did Mary Kay Clark use the term "doped up on Ritalin?"
No, she didn't use that phrase. I worked in the public schools for 3 years while getting my degree in education (middle school) and saw a great number of boys who were normal but put on drugs or labeled. I have always been suspicious of how Will would have fared in the public schools with his late talking and reading, his need to move, and his tendency to be easily distracted.
I realized that the way I wrote it up was confusing, so I put the notes in color.
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