Very cool quote in this month's TOS

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  • February 6, 2012 at 11:02 pm
    Bookworm
    Participant

    Was reading this month’s TOS and Diana Waring quoted a woman named Rosalie Pedder and I found the quote very enlightening:

     

    All learning is not fun.  Most of it is very hard work, but it does not also have to be unpleasant.  Gardening in spring is delightful–it’s hard work, but pleasant.  Only a fool would try to carry out the same activities in winter.  Why add unpleasantness to something already difficult?  But we do that in learning all the time.  Something hard but satisfying often unnecessarily becomes something both hard and unpleasant.

     

    I really needed to hear this today; I’m coming to terms with the fact that my third son is not going to be ready quite for the same program his older brothers did in junior high.  I’ve sort of wanted to just toss him in anyway, and I really don’t want to overcoddle him.  But I do need to wait for the right SEASON for the work ahead.  He still has a few buds that need to open, and I need to work with this–and rejoice in what I do see as he grows.

     

    Michelle D

    February 6, 2012 at 11:32 pm
    missingtheshire
    Member

    Isn’t that just the beauty of homeschooling our children, recognising those differences that make each of them special and working with those differences to make the whole person successful? The quote was very wise and very true…thanks Michelle. Linda

    February 7, 2012 at 12:17 am
    Laura.bora
    Participant

    Thank you!   A very good reminder.  What is TOS?

     

    February 7, 2012 at 12:40 am
    Bookworm
    Participant

    The Old Schoolhouse magazine.

    February 7, 2012 at 1:26 am
    Laura.bora
    Participant

    I knew TOS sounded familar.  I just couldn’t seem to remember what it stood for!

    February 7, 2012 at 1:35 am
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    What a great picture. Thanks for sharing. Just wondering how you determine if something is too hard/making it too difficult…or if the child is just not trying hard enough.  My 6th grader struggles more with learning. I think some of it is attentiveness and not wanting to make the mental effort…but I’m not sure.  My 3rd grader is very curious, loves to learn new things, very intuitive….and is now seeming more ‘knowledgable’ in many things than his older sister.  He can give a math, history, vocabulary answer right off the bat before she’s even had time to think or doesn’t know for sure.  He’s memorized his notes quicker (done) for his piano teacher while she’s still working on them and has had 2 yrs. more of lessons.  She can narrate a story decently to me, but didn’t do very well on reading comprehension on the ITBS (grade level, but low percentile, her lowest score)…we’re doing Reading Detective by Critical Thinking Co., and she misses quite a bit. I really don’t think her voc. is as good as it could be.  My youngest seems to get it from reading.  So now we’re looking up a couple words a day from our readings to try to boost this.

    I don’t know if I should be concerned or not!  The bright side is that combining subjects is made easier:) On the flip side, she does decently at keeping up with math, and has good grammar and spelling skills.  I just wonder if she’s learning enough and as I’m now finally reading CM’s writings I’m concerned that she doesn’t connect with things/enjoy them as well as I’d hope. She just wants to do her work and be done for the day.  I know I shouldn’t compare, but with her brother doing so well it makes me wonder if I’m preparing her well enough.  Sorry so long. Does this sound concerning?  Anyone experience something similar?  Thanks! Gina

     

    February 7, 2012 at 1:46 am
    missingtheshire
    Member

    When we started homeschooling I spent time reading books and looking into learning styles, I then made sure I found an inexpensive test and worked out what learning style/s my daughters had. One had a visual/auditory mix and the other was off the scale visual….this made perfect sense and helped me understand why in PS she had struggled with various things….once we made things more visual she was off to the races. In her study notebook, she uses different colored pens for example for different aspects of the study – that helps her remember things – it did make a huge difference even in her equestrian life. She does dressage and to learn the tests, she drawers them out, once she has them drawn on paper, she remembers it – it is quite amazing, So I would always start with figuring that out – it may be a big surprise to you if you haven’t. It may be an answer to some of your issues….Linda

    February 7, 2012 at 2:59 am
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Thanks, Linda.  I will look into learning styles again.  I quickly read through The Way They Learn a while back, but never did figure out (or maybe just didn’t take enough time) to address how that would change things in a CM read/narrate philosophy.  And I’m very non-crafty/non-project orientated. So, does your visual daughter take notes while doing a history or lit. reading?  With a 6th and 3rd grader, we haven’t started that skill yet.  And since I allow them to do some quiet things while I read, they would balk!  But maybe allowing things keeps her too distracted.  She can narrate back…but sometimes I think she’s just paying attention enough to do that, not really connecting where it goes into longer term memory.  Maybe I’m just over analyzing:)  Thanks for the tip.  I’ve got that book on my shelf and will look at it again.  Blessings, Gina

    February 7, 2012 at 3:46 am
    missingtheshire
    Member

    No she did not start that (notes) until 7th 8th grade and then much more in high school – in the early years she would do timelines, drawings and she did elaborate story boards and diagramming charts for literature and illustrations. With her story board or timeline she could narrate like a champ and her written narrations have always been very good. She is quite artistic and crafty – a while back she picked up a crochet hook, a how to book, and by evening she had made some dishcloths – I am still trying to figure it out…her sister and I are relying on the SCM DVD to help us out lol. I have to say I was shocked when I realized what a difference it made when we used her visual skills. Her twin does not care she is about equal auditory/visual, and I am more visual but not like my really visual one – she really was off the charts with her test.

    I used these materials as a diagnostic for my daughters.

    http://www.edudps.com/CLS.html

    and

    http://www.edudps.com/poc4u.html

    maybe they can help someone else. My daughter literally changed overnight when we figured this out – not to say everything came easy to her, but some things did and she was much better able to learn when we put the learning style into place. Linda

    February 7, 2012 at 12:53 pm
    momto2blessings
    Participant

    Thanks, Linda!  Those look very helpful and reasonably priced.  I appreciate the help and wish I would have considered this more earlier.  It just hasn’t really come to light for me until seeing how her brother has really taken off this year.  Blessings, Gina

    February 8, 2012 at 2:24 am
    blue j
    Participant

    Thanks for the links, Linda.

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