Son wants to be an architect
Sherry Franklin
Good afternoon!
My son is 12 and we have been unschooling for four years. He loves, loves, loves Minecraft and has been drawn to architecture for the last three years or so. He talks about being an architect all the time and broached the topic of going to college this morning. (I am appreciating the discussion going on in the other thread about another child wanting to follow a curriculum.). He is now asking in earnest to begin catching up on his math so I got him a Kahn Academy account today for him to dive into at his leisure. He has also asked me to look up colleges that he might attend and classes that he should consider in the future. He is very, very excited. I have also looked up some online games that lend themselves to people who like architecture and there are a lot of them.
Does anyone have any other ideas I can consider as I support him in his passion? I want to be able to turn over all the stones that I can for him, but I know nothing at this time about getting a degree in architecture.
Thank you in advance,
Sherry
Sandra Dodd
-=-He loves, loves, loves Minecraft and has been drawn to architecture for the last three years or so. He talks about being an architect all the time and broached the topic of going to college this morning.-=-
Drawn to on one side, and loves, loves on the other.
Stick with minecraft! Encourage and enable that.
Broached the topic is light. It’s a light enquiry. Don’t pounce on it—you might kill it. Don’t take it over or try to own it. Don’t do ANYTHING that will make it seem like a failure if he changes his mind.
-=- I have also looked up some online games that lend themselves to people who like architecture and there are a lot of them.-=-
He loves Minecraft. It sounds like he made one statement and you want to replace it with something that could lead to university studies.
-=-Does anyone have any other ideas I can consider as I support him in his passion? I want to be able to turn over all the stones that I can for him, but I know nothing at this time about getting a degree in architecture. -=-
It’s too soon to know, for one thing. He’s four years, eight years away from that. Programs and requirements could change in that time.
What I would do is not “turn over all the stones” for him at all, but add a new awareness to your everyday life. If you’re going out to lunch, consider a building he’s never been in, with interesting architecture. If you’ve driven the same route for years to get to the store or wherever you frequently go with him in the car, take another route that goes by different buildings. Don’t make a “field trip” of it. Don’t make a lesson. Just broaden his visual field and opportunities.
If there’s construction or remodelling, and if it’s convenient to do so, and if he’s interested, maybe walk by and watch, or drive by. Marty and I got lunch one day and ate it in the car, facing a construction site where men were building a cinderblock wall, with rebar supports, quickly, in a light snow.
There are books and videos about famous buildings. Looking up traditional house-building in different parts of the world could be fun, too. Not only materials and construction methods, but layout—what would rich people (what DO rich people) put into a house, when they can spend money on doing something traditional in that culture?
More questions for yourself, more learning about architecture quietly, while he’s playing Minecraft, is what I would recommend.
Sandra
Drawn to on one side, and loves, loves on the other.
Stick with minecraft! Encourage and enable that.
Broached the topic is light. It’s a light enquiry. Don’t pounce on it—you might kill it. Don’t take it over or try to own it. Don’t do ANYTHING that will make it seem like a failure if he changes his mind.
-=- I have also looked up some online games that lend themselves to people who like architecture and there are a lot of them.-=-
He loves Minecraft. It sounds like he made one statement and you want to replace it with something that could lead to university studies.
-=-Does anyone have any other ideas I can consider as I support him in his passion? I want to be able to turn over all the stones that I can for him, but I know nothing at this time about getting a degree in architecture. -=-
It’s too soon to know, for one thing. He’s four years, eight years away from that. Programs and requirements could change in that time.
What I would do is not “turn over all the stones” for him at all, but add a new awareness to your everyday life. If you’re going out to lunch, consider a building he’s never been in, with interesting architecture. If you’ve driven the same route for years to get to the store or wherever you frequently go with him in the car, take another route that goes by different buildings. Don’t make a “field trip” of it. Don’t make a lesson. Just broaden his visual field and opportunities.
If there’s construction or remodelling, and if it’s convenient to do so, and if he’s interested, maybe walk by and watch, or drive by. Marty and I got lunch one day and ate it in the car, facing a construction site where men were building a cinderblock wall, with rebar supports, quickly, in a light snow.
There are books and videos about famous buildings. Looking up traditional house-building in different parts of the world could be fun, too. Not only materials and construction methods, but layout—what would rich people (what DO rich people) put into a house, when they can spend money on doing something traditional in that culture?
More questions for yourself, more learning about architecture quietly, while he’s playing Minecraft, is what I would recommend.
Sandra
cheri.tilford@...
at the Boston children's museum there's an entire room dedicated to block building, with truly amazing structures encased in glass for inspiration. we had so much fun we purchased a set of blocks for ourselves.
Colleen Prieto
***My son is 12 and we have been unschooling for four years. He loves, loves, loves Minecraft and has been drawn to architecture for the last three years or so. He talks about being an architect all the time and broached the topic of going to college this morning***
My son is going to be 13 this week, and we’ve been unschooling since he was 5. He loves birds and birding, and spends as much time as he can watching birds, reading about birds, talking about birds, and hanging out with other people who love birds too.
A few months back, he mentioned that he though it might be cool to be an ornithologist “one day.” He asked if you had to go to college for that, and I said that there are several schools where people can study birds and ornithology-related topics. He asked if Cornell was one (he uses eBird, which is a Cornell project, so he’s very familiar with that name). I said it was, and he said “probably one of the best, right?” I said yes, their reputation is of being one of the best in that area - and he said “then that’s where I go, if I decide I’m going to go.”
I said “cool” and left it at that - and later that night when he was asleep I went to the Cornell website and bookmarked a couple pages about requirements, offerings, etc. on our iPad. I do the same when he expresses interest in a new video game or board game - or a birding event - or most anything else that might have a web presence. I look things up, do some reading on my own so that I won’t seem clueless on the subject :-) and bookmark what I’ve read if I think he might find it helpful or interesting.
The next morning over breakfast, he said “oh - by the way - I thought about it last night while I was sleeping, and if I go to college, Cornell is for me.” I told him that I’d looked up some information on the school website and bookmarked it - a couple pages about what things he’d need to know before he got there and classes he might need ahead of time (like some formal math, science, etc.), and what he could study once he got there - and he said “oh cool - I’ll probably look at it later.” I told him that I’d also seen a list of other colleges where one can study ornithology - but he said “I don’t need that list.” :-)
Since then in various conversations, he’s occasionally said “when I’m an ornithologist…” and “ornithologists are so cool!” and “you know, you can spend all day working with birds *without* actually being an ornithologist!” and other such things - which lets me know that he’s still playing around with the idea, but that it’s just one of several that are in his head :-)
He did ask one day if the community college where his dad is an adjunct professor is good for helping kids who haven’t been to school get caught up on school-type subjects, and his dad told him “absolutely!” - which made him quite happy. He’s also occasionally along the way mentioned the idea of being a guide who helps other birders, or a National Wildlife Refuge manager - none of this because anyone has brought it up, and not because anyone has been asking him his plans for when he grows up - but simply because it’s something he’s thinking out loud about once in a while lately. Mostly, he continues to talk about birds themselves - or upcoming birding events in which he’d like to participate - or the upcoming Spring migration - or Luigi’s Mansion, which is his latest video game passion :-)
If I pounced on the college thing - something that right now is a thought amongst a zillion others he’s probably having about his future, his plans, his vision for himself, his life past what he’s doing right here/right now - I’d ruin it for him. I’d run the danger of making it my thing instead of his - or of it becoming something he might feel pressured or obligated to continue past where his interest stops.
His dad and I have talked about it, and we’re in agreement that if our son chooses to go to college - if it’s something he wants to do somewhere along the line - then we will help him do what he needs to do to (hopefully be able to) go where he wants to go :-)
And if he doesn’t want to go to college, we’re a-ok with that too. Just like we’re a-ok if he hits age 14 (or whatever age) and never wants to see another bird again - or if he takes up surfing or writing or computer programming or whatever strikes him as interesting and worthy of his time. It’s his life. Trying to push him one way or another has never been our goal, and we want him to make his own choices, for his own reasons, without ever fearing that he’s letting us down or not meeting our expectations.
So the way we’re supporting our particular 12 year old in his potential college interest :-) is by being available if he wants to talk more about it, or if he has questions or things he wants more information about - by continuing to support and participate as much as we can with him in his birding adventures - by continuing to buy him books, field guides, and whatever equipment he needs to help him find, document, and enjoy the birds he loves so much - and by continuing to link him up with people who know much more about birds and birding than his dad and I do. It’s the same way we support any of his interests - we’re there, we’re as involved as he wants us to be, and we provide as much as we can of what he needs to be happy and successful in what he wants to do, for as long as he wants to do it.
Colleen
Cass Kotrba
-=-He loves, loves, loves Minecraft and has been drawn to architecture for the last three years or so. He talks about being an architect all the time -=- -=- He is very, very excited. -=-
I wonder if part of his excitement about becoming an architect could be connected to a more general realization that he is learning useful skills doing something he enjoys doing. And that the things he’s learning have real world applications.
My kids, now 11 and 13, went to school for a few years before we started unschooling (3.5 years ago). This idea that “important” learning is painful has been one of the hardest ideas for them to deschool from. For a long time there was a nagging worry in them that they were wasting their time and they were not learning the important things in life compared to their schooled friends. It seems like in this past year they are starting to see the irony in that.
Being an architect sounds all fun and nice and maybe he’ll stick with exactly that. But there are tons of options in life, most of which he has never even conceived of yet, so who knows. The skills that he is picking up in Minecraft are useful in SO MANY ways! If thinking about becoming an architect helps him feel better about spending his time playing Minecraft then that’s great, but don’t let that idea become a limitation to other ideas. Support his interest in architecture, buildings, the building process and every other thing he is interested in without any fixed label that might hold back his evolution.
-Cass
Sandra Dodd
Cass has made a great point:
-=-Being an architect sounds all fun and nice and maybe he’ll stick with exactly that. But there are tons of options in life, most of which he has never even conceived of yet, so who knows. The skills that he is picking up in Minecraft are useful in SO MANY ways! If thinking about becoming an architect helps him feel better about spending his time playing Minecraft then that’s great, but don’t let that idea become a limitation to other ideas. Support his interest in architecture, buildings, the building process and every other thing he is interested in without any fixed label that might hold back his evolution.-=-
"What do you want to be when you grow up?” has damaged many, many people. It creates a failure every time the statement is answered, and then the child doesn’t grow up to do that. “I thought you were going to be a _____ [pilot, astronaut, nurse, lawyer].”
It does NO good and all damage. Even if people DO do what they said they wanted, it might feel limiting or stifling, or disappointing, or if they quit then, it seems failure.
BUT there’s another whole way to go.
Instead of saying “going to be an architect,” turn the phrse to “is interested in architecture.”
Such an interest can be temporary or lifelong.
Interests can be fed and encouraged without it being “a path to gainful employment.”
The more one knows about anything, the more one knows about everything.
(I better save that one for Just Add Light. :-)
What I mean is that any deep interest has applications to other aspects of life. An interest in Elvis has connections to history, music, geography. An interest in WWII will lead to all sorts of logistical questions (plus music, geography, technology, religion, politics….) that can be useful in looking at ANY international matters, or any wars or battles in history. WHY did those individual men go to battle? How did they government get food to them?
I mentioned those two because there are already bits on my site about them.
http://sandradodd.com/dot/elvis
http://sandradodd.com/checklists (in the Universe-in-a-Drop-of-Water Method section)
Sandra
-=-Being an architect sounds all fun and nice and maybe he’ll stick with exactly that. But there are tons of options in life, most of which he has never even conceived of yet, so who knows. The skills that he is picking up in Minecraft are useful in SO MANY ways! If thinking about becoming an architect helps him feel better about spending his time playing Minecraft then that’s great, but don’t let that idea become a limitation to other ideas. Support his interest in architecture, buildings, the building process and every other thing he is interested in without any fixed label that might hold back his evolution.-=-
"What do you want to be when you grow up?” has damaged many, many people. It creates a failure every time the statement is answered, and then the child doesn’t grow up to do that. “I thought you were going to be a _____ [pilot, astronaut, nurse, lawyer].”
It does NO good and all damage. Even if people DO do what they said they wanted, it might feel limiting or stifling, or disappointing, or if they quit then, it seems failure.
BUT there’s another whole way to go.
Instead of saying “going to be an architect,” turn the phrse to “is interested in architecture.”
Such an interest can be temporary or lifelong.
Interests can be fed and encouraged without it being “a path to gainful employment.”
The more one knows about anything, the more one knows about everything.
(I better save that one for Just Add Light. :-)
What I mean is that any deep interest has applications to other aspects of life. An interest in Elvis has connections to history, music, geography. An interest in WWII will lead to all sorts of logistical questions (plus music, geography, technology, religion, politics….) that can be useful in looking at ANY international matters, or any wars or battles in history. WHY did those individual men go to battle? How did they government get food to them?
I mentioned those two because there are already bits on my site about them.
http://sandradodd.com/dot/elvis
http://sandradodd.com/checklists (in the Universe-in-a-Drop-of-Water Method section)
Sandra
Sandra Dodd
A Japanese architecture display in New York City:
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2016/01/28/a-constellation-of-japanese-architecture/
The show will be on display at MoMA from March 13, 2016–July 04, 2016.
I’ve seen this building, in Peabody, Massachusetts:
http://www.pem.org/visit/yin_yu_tang.php
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a prosperous merchant surnamed Huang built a stately sixteen-bedroom house in China’s southeastern Huizhou region, calling his home Yin Yu Tang. Among the many literary interpretations of this name is the desire for the home to shelter generations of descendants. Yin Yu Tang was home to the Huang family for more than two hundred years until 1982 when the last descendants moved from the village.
The original construction is very old, but there is a loudspeaker put in by the cultlural revolution, and posters and stuff from Chairman Mao’s days.
If you tell us where you are, or where you have relatives and might visit, people here could give you ideas of building to see, or museums, or something.
Sandra
http://www.spoon-tamago.com/2016/01/28/a-constellation-of-japanese-architecture/
The show will be on display at MoMA from March 13, 2016–July 04, 2016.
I’ve seen this building, in Peabody, Massachusetts:
http://www.pem.org/visit/yin_yu_tang.php
During the Qing Dynasty (1644-1911), a prosperous merchant surnamed Huang built a stately sixteen-bedroom house in China’s southeastern Huizhou region, calling his home Yin Yu Tang. Among the many literary interpretations of this name is the desire for the home to shelter generations of descendants. Yin Yu Tang was home to the Huang family for more than two hundred years until 1982 when the last descendants moved from the village.
The original construction is very old, but there is a loudspeaker put in by the cultlural revolution, and posters and stuff from Chairman Mao’s days.
If you tell us where you are, or where you have relatives and might visit, people here could give you ideas of building to see, or museums, or something.
Sandra
Sherry Franklin
--If you tell us where you are, or where you have relatives and might visit, people here could give you ideas of building to see, or museums, or something--
That would be great. We are currently in Cyprus exploring the island. We are going to Mexico at the end of the month for five months. The Playa del Carmen/Cancun area. We plan on exploring all of the Mayan ruins. My son is a Mayan from Guatemala, so that will be very interesting and exciting for all of us. We will return to our home in Cuenca, Ecuador at the end of July. We are originally from Ohio and will continue to visit. I know there are a lot of amazing architectural buildings in Cleveland.
Thank you for all of the suggestions so far. It has helped my husband and I tremendously to not go overboard with our support and to treat it as we would any other interest or passion of his.
Sherry
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Michelle Marr
There's a site called WhatWasThere <http://www.whatwasthere.com/> that lets you compare historical photographs to the current Google Street View. When the shots are lined up just right, it can produce some really neat images. You can fade from what's there now to what was there a hundred years ago (or whenever the historic picture was taken) My kids and I were looking at photos of places in California a while back and found some really neat buildings shaped like things -- we were looking for the Brown Derby restaurant and found a music shop shaped like a giant piano. And on the east coast there's Lucy, the giant elephant <http://www.lucytheelephant.org> I know we've seen at least one documentary about her restoration.
Those might provide some fun inspiration for Minecraft structures.
Michelle
Those might provide some fun inspiration for Minecraft structures.
Michelle
Katerina Koleva
What about watching Grand Designs with Kevin McLoud on you tube?
I've always find it very interesting.
Katerina
2016-02-11 22:16 GMT+00:00 Michelle Marr michelle_m29@... [AlwaysLearning] <[email protected]>:
There's a site called WhatWasThere <http://www.whatwasthere.com/> that lets you compare historical photographs to the current Google Street View. When the shots are lined up just right, it can produce some really neat images. You can fade from what's there now to what was there a hundred years ago (or whenever the historic picture was taken) My kids and I were looking at photos of places in California a while back and found some really neat buildings shaped like things -- we were looking for the Brown Derby restaurant and found a music shop shaped like a giant piano. And on the east coast there's Lucy, the giant elephant <http://www.lucytheelephant.org> I know we've seen at least one documentary about her restoration.
Those might provide some fun inspiration for Minecraft structures.
Michelle
Cheri Tilford
Cyprus has some incredible ancient mosaics, and while they may not be what you'd initially think of as "architecture", they were an important part of building designs 2000 years ago.
There are so many ruins in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, and at the lesser known ones you can climb to the top of the pyramids (you can't do that at the most visited ones, like Chichen Itza - someone fell and died once, or twice or more, I don't know), looking closely and touching all the stones, studying how they were put together. That will be so exciting!
Have fun exploring.
cheers,
cheri
There are so many ruins in the Yucatan peninsula in Mexico, and at the lesser known ones you can climb to the top of the pyramids (you can't do that at the most visited ones, like Chichen Itza - someone fell and died once, or twice or more, I don't know), looking closely and touching all the stones, studying how they were put together. That will be so exciting!
Have fun exploring.
cheers,
cheri
jane.clossick@...
I am an architect by training (although not practising - I teach it in a university). If your son enjoys the building aspect of Minecraft I recommend also downloading and playing with SketchUp (there's a free version) - you can build anything you want with it. It's a 3D modelling program. And real architects use it, even though it's utterly simple.
The other thing he might like may be making real-life models. You could find a local architectural modelling materials shop and go and look at the miniature textures, Perspex, hot wire cutters. You could make models of Minecraft. You can use models to take super cool pictures with your phone, too (or YouTube vids).
Enjoy!
Jane
The other thing he might like may be making real-life models. You could find a local architectural modelling materials shop and go and look at the miniature textures, Perspex, hot wire cutters. You could make models of Minecraft. You can use models to take super cool pictures with your phone, too (or YouTube vids).
Enjoy!
Jane
gibsondeis@...
Another way to explore design and architecture is to "feel" the building and think about the ways your body interacts with the spaces. You and your son could start noticing how you feel in different buildings and talk about why this is. Does your home feel cozy? Why? How does the post office feel? Do you feel bigger or smaller in some spaces? Do you feel uplifted in some places? Why is the kitchen counter at that particular height? Also, noticing the materials in a building is another fun way to think about architecture. For instance: how does the wood handrail feel in your hand? How do the tile floors feel on your bare feet? And you can play "what if" by asking "what if this tile floor was carpet instead?" Another approach is to imagine what a space would be like if changes were made, such as the door was moved or more windows were added. Would the space work better or not? Would more windows improve the space? Where would you put the new windows and how many would you add? There's a part of architecture that is about the human body and how it interacts with space and this is often forgotten in our fast-paced world.