Sarah

Jack (6) is very keen on having a star chart, having seen one today at his friend's house. Of course I said yes, but I'm not sure how to approach it. I had three ideas:
1. Like his friends- every day targets (tidy room, be kind, eat breakfast etc (I'm quoting the original)... Except I'm hardly going to withhold stars!
2. More like optional tasks to earn extra cash/treats like... Well to be honest like 'tidy room'' :)
3. Completely unstructured- a chart he can stick/draw stars on.
When asked he wants one just like his friend's, and he does like a clear task with a reward, but he would want his brother excluded from any treat he had earned (but Charlie had not), which isn't an option.
So how do you set up a star chart if you're unschooling?
Sarah

Sandra Dodd

-=So how do you set up a star chart if you're unschooling?-=-

With tape?

Asking the question with "you" kind of assumes that lots of unschoolers have star charts. :-)

I think you're asking "How could I set up a star chart, since my son wants one?"

Ask him! What does he want on there?
You could have crazy fun categories along with traditional ones.

But I would ask him to help you come up with categories, and if he's tired of it in a couple of days, let it drop, or change one of the categories to "still tired of stars" and give him a star in that every day for a few days. Or let him stick his own stars on. Maybe have some columns for you, too.

Made the bed
fed the cat
had a fun idea
watched a movie
sang a song
learned something
wore shoes

I think it's more about columns and stars than anything else probably.

Sandra

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Colleen

My son often asked me to help him make star-type charts when he was 5 and 6 (he's 8 now). He would ask that we "track" things like eat breakfast, go outside, kiss the dog... Other times he wanted the times of day so he could check them off as they went by - 9AM, 10AM, etc. He liked putting checkmarks, smiley faces, and stickers in the boxes - sometimes all of the above. This to say I agree with Sandra's response - ask him what he'd like to track, and what he'd like to do when the boxes are all filled - he will probably have some awesome ideas :-)

For my son, charting has now morphed into an interest in spreadsheets and in playing with Excel (spreadsheet software). Which is not to say the same might happen with every child - but rather to mention that there are lots of fun things to do related to charts if your son is interested over time :-)

Colleen

--- In [email protected], "Sarah" <yahoo@...> wrote:
>
> Jack (6) is very keen on having a star chart, having seen one today at his friend's house. Of course I said yes, but I'm not sure how to approach it. I had three ideas:
> 1. Like his friends- every day targets (tidy room, be kind, eat breakfast etc (I'm quoting the original)... Except I'm hardly going to withhold stars!
> 2. More like optional tasks to earn extra cash/treats like... Well to be honest like 'tidy room'' :)
> 3. Completely unstructured- a chart he can stick/draw stars on.
> When asked he wants one just like his friend's, and he does like a clear task with a reward, but he would want his brother excluded from any treat he had earned (but Charlie had not), which isn't an option.
> So how do you set up a star chart if you're unschooling?
> Sarah
>

Lisa

I would do categories of whatever he's interested in - like if it were my son I would have a star for "played minecraft for 8 hours in one day" or "ate 2 apples in one day" or "did somersaults on the trampoline for 10 minutes" or "watched 3 youtube videos in a row" - you know, something he's likely to do anyway, but just note it with a star.

Sandra Dodd

-=-For my son, charting has now morphed into an interest in spreadsheets and in playing with Excel (spreadsheet software). Which is not to say the same might happen with every child - but rather to mention that there are lots of fun things to do related to charts if your son is interested over time :-)-=-

Years ago I made a graph showing the days the mail came, and tracked Christmas cards we received, just for fun, and to see if there was a jump after we mailed ours out, and so my kids would have seen a slow-building graph, in real time, with a real randomness I wasn't making up.

Now, though, there are graphs all over the place--in video games, people's blog-traffic reports or weather changes.

We have stars for sticking on a map of the U.S. to show which states which of us have been to. Holly knows it better than others. We've done Canadian provinces right up above (where they are, even though they're not marked, I think--the map's downstairs and Holly's busy). Each of my kids has been to a state the other two haven't, which I think is VERY, very cool. When I was their age my entire map (marking just what I remembered, not infancy) would've been New Mexico, Colorado, Texas, Arizona and California, and the latter two came when I was 17 years old. But that's what we've used colored stars for, and it's not gold for better-than-silver, it' one color per kid.

Sandra

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Sarah

thanks for the thoughts, I'm a little cautious because Jack tends to take these things rather seriously. He says he wants exactly the same list they had (we noted them), and the same prize (a zoo trip). I guess we'll make it and see where it ends up. I was just wondering how it has played out for others, if there are any, so thanks for the thoughts.

I'm amused and interested by the link with spreadsheets etc. My husband designs databases (spreadsheets being simple databases) and Jack is very like him in some ways.

Sarah

--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> -=-For my son, charting has now morphed into an interest in spreadsheets and in playing with Excel (spreadsheet software). Which is not to say the same might happen with every child - but rather to mention that there are lots of fun things to do related to charts if your son is interested over time :-)-=-
>
>

Sarah

Small update: we've just made a chart. He ended up editing his list as he went along to be more fun, though he has 'clean my room' and 'go to bed early' as well as 'pretend to be a ninja'. And he did a chart for me too (I got a star for being best mummy ever!).

Some disappointment when he realised that having stars wouldn't make us more able to buy some of the bigger things on his wish list- but of course if we could afford them we'd get them anyway. He had noted that stars got his friends things he wouldn't otherwise get and hoped that would work for him.

S

plaidpanties666

> Made the bed
> fed the cat
> had a fun idea
> watched a movie
> sang a song
> learned something
> wore shoes

At one point Mo got in to doing repetitions of things - like hop on one foot, run back and forth between the fridge and the tv, pet the cat, click her tongue. She made herself a kind of chart with check-marks on it - she was very into lists and checking things off at the time and I think crossed the idea with something she'd seen about exercising.

At some other point she discovered graph paper and decided to make her own sticker chart - the stickers weren't "for" anything, though, she just filled each square with a sticker. I bought a lot of little bitty stickers for awhile ;)

---Meredith

plaidpanties666

"Sarah" <yahoo@...> wrote:
> He had noted that stars got his friends things he wouldn't otherwise get and hoped that would work for him.
***************

Maybe create a chart to keep track of savings, then - money specifically being saved toward those bigger purchases.

---Meredith

Sandra Dodd

-=-Some disappointment when he realised that having stars wouldn't make us more able to buy some of the bigger things on his wish list- but of course if we could afford them we'd get them anyway. He had noted that stars got his friends things he wouldn't otherwise get and hoped that would work for him.-=-

Cargo!!

Magic.

It might be interesting for him to know about the Cargo Cults in the Pacific. If it's not interesting don't press it, but it might be fun to look into a little bit.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/john.html

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult

Maybe making a chart that's tracking other things would be fun too, if his interest is tracking things.
If the longterm interest is self-improvement, maybe he would enjoy it for its own purpose.

Sandra

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Sarah

:) I liked that thought, I'll see if he's interested later.

The motivation is combined cargo cult and dadabasey-satisfaction I think. He's still awarding himself stars for various things - 'smelling' (as in detecting the smell of cooking bacon) is my favourite! But we've also spent some time looking for cheaper ways to get some of his wish-list stuff and he's been drawing up various grids and charts on other topics. So I think that the motivations are sort of slowly separating out...

I don't think its self-improvement, he edited out most of that sort of stuff from the original list (be cheerful, don't hit my sister etc
).

I'll see if he fancies keeping track of TV shows watched maybe, he might like to note which he's seen and how much he watches each...

Sarah

--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> -=-Some disappointment when he realised that having stars wouldn't make us more able to buy some of the bigger things on his wish list- but of course if we could afford them we'd get them anyway. He had noted that stars got his friends things he wouldn't otherwise get and hoped that would work for him.-=-
>
> Cargo!!
>
> Magic.
>
> It might be interesting for him to know about the Cargo Cults in the Pacific. If it's not interesting don't press it, but it might be fun to look into a little bit.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/john.html
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
>
> Maybe making a chart that's tracking other things would be fun too, if his interest is tracking things.
> If the longterm interest is self-improvement, maybe he would enjoy it for its own purpose.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

To add to what Meredith said about a chart tracking savings .
I got a money jar that keeps track of the amount in it.

You just put in the change and it counts it  and displays the total on a digital screen. That  way my son always knows how much he needs to get something he wants.
He has been saving and paying for most of his games with just change lately . We give him half the change we have and he is happy to save it andsee how fast it adds up to what he wants, the other half goes to his sister but they give each other money too so they are very generous.

He wants a game that comes out in November and it is going to cost $60 . He is now setting up traps for gophers in the hay field to try and make money ( the township pays $2 per gopher and his dad used to do that as a child) .
He likes to save.
Last year he saved quite a bit to get his PS3 system.
 

 
Alex Polikowsky
 
 
 


________________________________

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Sarah

He would love that - do you know what the brand name is so I can see if we can get one?

--- In [email protected], BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
>
> To add to what Meredith said about a chart tracking savings .
> I got a money jar that keeps track of the amount in it.

Sandra Dodd

-=-He would love that - do you know what the brand name is so I can see if we can get one?-=-

I think if a child is saving money and the parents buy a $30 bank for them, it might've been nicer just to have given them the $30 and help them keep track of the savings on paper, or in a bank account.

Sandra

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Sarah

You're absolutely right, but a new money box is one of the things on his list and I found one for £3 on eBay, I think he'll really enjoy it. It'll be a nice little surprise.

S

--- In [email protected], Sandra Dodd <Sandra@...> wrote:
>
> -=-He would love that - do you know what the brand name is so I can see if we can get one?-=-
>
> I think if a child is saving money and the parents buy a $30 bank for them, it might've been nicer just to have given them the $30 and help them keep track of the savings on paper, or in a bank account.
>
> Sandra
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>

BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

If you google Counting Money jar you get lots of them!
We got the Zillionz one .

Very easy to find.  Walmart, Target, drugstores, ebay, Amazon...

 
Alex Polikowsky
 
 
 


________________________________
 Jack wants a star chart


 
He would love that - do you know what the brand name is so I can see if we can get one?

--- In [email protected], BRIAN POLIKOWSKY <polykowholsteins@...> wrote:
>
> To add to what Meredith said about a chart tracking savings .
> I got a money jar that keeps track of the amount in it.


__._

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BRIAN POLIKOWSKY

I got MD's money jar for about $ 5 bucks last Christmas. He likes to save money.
I agree with Sandra that if is either or I would give the  money to my child and I do.
The money jar is a cool thing for some kids, not for others. I used to just keep track of MD's money but he really likes his money jar.
Gigi likes me to keep track of her money. She likes her cow bank! She is not into saving money at this point and may never be.
Something else that has happened is that MD wanted to by a game and I just gave it to him and told him to keep his money for another

bigger purchase.   We do not make him save to buy his games.
I know some parents will make kids save to get things they want so I can see how it can be used for making kids pay for things  parents may not value like a video game while not making a child pay for a book that they value more.

I see all the games my son wants as part of his learning and we do rejoice in  getting him things that make him happy. He just likes to save money and buy them because if he has the money we may not need to wait until we have some. That way he gets his game faster in some instances or it maybe just because he likes to save and buy it with his money. Either way the jar has been cool for him.

It is also great for loose change. One time we saved over $700 in loose change! 

 
Alex Polikowsky

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Sarah

Further thrilling update: we are now having lots of excitement charring how many times the kids watch various favoured shows, and waiting excitedly for the money box (Jack wants a bar chart for that too).

I'm somewhat amused that we started at star charts rewarding conventionally approved behaviour, and have reached the point of watching extra TV- just for the thrill of putting more ticks on the chart!

S

Joanna

> It might be interesting for him to know about the Cargo Cults in the Pacific. If it's not interesting don't press it, but it might be fun to look into a little bit.
>
> http://www.smithsonianmag.com/people-places/john.html
>
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cargo_cult
>
Wow--I've never heard of this, but I checked out these links. The Wikipedia site lists cults that are still active, and interestingly, these are locations for Survivor. These cults must have paved the way for the show to have easy entry to these locations. I've always wondered why the local people seem so friendly and positive toward the Americans.

Joanna