Monday, March 5, 2012

JACK IS BACK!!!!

He and Annie have devoured loads of trivia along with some warm banana bread and now they are giddy about creative writing! They are using prompt books to do timed exercises and I must say, they are BOTH really good writers! The last think Jack read gave us goosebumps. Very creepy and suspenseful. I'm inspired by their enthusiasm!

Bryan is distracted by technical difficulties with a couple of videos he's completed and trying to post.

Also, he has started getting votes for his LandOMoms contest entry. Exciting stuff! Grand prize is a trip to NYC with vocal instruction and a few other things.

Later that same day.....

Bryan and Annie left for their voice lessons at 2:15, which gave me and Jack a couple of hours to be together and talk. He went with me to the grocery, and he was very talkative and pleasant and helpful. Imagine that! Three helpful, kind, considerate teenagers! Where DO we get this idea that teenagers are a different breed? They are not! It's all in how they are treated. Jack obviously has wonderful, loving parents, grandparents and key models in his life, as he is very gallant, sweet and very, very bright. And what a sense of humor! We are lucky he's with us.

When Jack and I returned home from the store, I started to prepare tonight's dinner in advance, as it is multi-stepped. He started to read me his middle school handbook, which prompted an in-depth discussion about school, methodology, pedagogy and what makes for the best conditions for learning. "Freedom." That's what we have discerned. Jack told me a couple of weeks ago that he doesn't like to read for pleasure. Today, he revised that statement. He likes to read, when not coerced to read something which doesn't hold his interest. WHY do we assume that kids need to be coerced, while adults get to pick and chose? If we are so hell bent on practice and success, why not let a kid practice the fine art of choosing?

We need not be fearful that letting kids choose means that they will not be exposed to a variety of things. That's where we come in. We can facilitate exposure. What me mustn't do is expect that every exposure will light a fire in another person. When Jamie and I took the kids to Monticello, for example, Annie wanted every scholarly book in the gift shop. That taught me a lot about marketing, because she was off the idea of poring over those books once we got home. A waste of money? I don't think so! She's hopefully got many years stretched out in front of her and can read about Jeffersonian policy and the love letters of Abigail and John when she is my age, or at any other time. Until then, those books are cherished memories of a lovely, family trip and are available to us all.