Intro and dealing with anger
Rachel Oglesby
Hello All,
My name is Rachel and am a single parent who works from home. I have
an 11 year old son- David. We reside in West Virginia, USA. I pulled
my son out of PS in Dec 04. I started the traditional homeschooling
(ie- using county books) in Jan- with failure. I know, now, part of
it is not taking the time to 'deschool'. But the more I looked around
at ways people homeschool, I think unschooling might just be up our
alley. My son was diagnosed adhd in Kindergarten, repeated 1st grade
(due to maturity and at suggestion of his teacher who also was friend
of family). He's been medicated since K. I am still medicating but
slowly lowering medication.
D has always had anger management issues- especially at come off meds
time. He tends to be destructive and verbally irrate (to put it
mildy). A few months ago I came upon an idea to help both of us calm
down in these situations. I said why don't we try calling a word and
when that word is called we both have to stop what we are doing and
have a time out. D agreed and we proceeded to look for our word. We
hit the childrens' encylopedia. Just turning pages closing our eyes
and pointing. We finally found "OUR" word- ZENO - to be precise-
"Zeno of Citium (c.340- c.265 BC)- Greek philosppher. He founded the
Stoic school of philosophy, so named because he taught in the Stoa
Poikile (Painted Colonade) market place, Athens. Zeno saw the world
as one organic whole and declared that man's duty was to live in
peace and harmony with the rest of nature." Over the past few months
we have refined our ZENO method.
1. Call ZENO
2. Turn on Cd with soothing music
3. Get our paper, pens, pencils, and art stuff on table
4. Whoever called it tells the reason they called it
5. Set timer for 5-10 minutes
6. Individually write or draw or express our feelings in some manner
and tell in some way what "I" could have done differently (we try to
avoid telling what someone else did or could have done)
7. Timer goes off
8. Each discusses our feelings
9. Each tell what we could have done differently
10. That's it- the anger is gone and we each feel a whole lot better!
Sometimes our days are busy with things that have to be done away
from home and we can't always do this method. But I can sure tell you
that it hurts when we can't and there are bad feelings in the air. I
just thought we need to come up with a quick-y zeno method. I'll talk
to D when he wakes up.
I just wanted to share that method of calming anger. I am also going
to post this at unschooling message board so please forgive me if you
recieve it twice.
Be Well,
Rachel
Please Don't Take Your Organs to Heaven,
Heaven Knows We Need Them Here!
My name is Rachel and am a single parent who works from home. I have
an 11 year old son- David. We reside in West Virginia, USA. I pulled
my son out of PS in Dec 04. I started the traditional homeschooling
(ie- using county books) in Jan- with failure. I know, now, part of
it is not taking the time to 'deschool'. But the more I looked around
at ways people homeschool, I think unschooling might just be up our
alley. My son was diagnosed adhd in Kindergarten, repeated 1st grade
(due to maturity and at suggestion of his teacher who also was friend
of family). He's been medicated since K. I am still medicating but
slowly lowering medication.
D has always had anger management issues- especially at come off meds
time. He tends to be destructive and verbally irrate (to put it
mildy). A few months ago I came upon an idea to help both of us calm
down in these situations. I said why don't we try calling a word and
when that word is called we both have to stop what we are doing and
have a time out. D agreed and we proceeded to look for our word. We
hit the childrens' encylopedia. Just turning pages closing our eyes
and pointing. We finally found "OUR" word- ZENO - to be precise-
"Zeno of Citium (c.340- c.265 BC)- Greek philosppher. He founded the
Stoic school of philosophy, so named because he taught in the Stoa
Poikile (Painted Colonade) market place, Athens. Zeno saw the world
as one organic whole and declared that man's duty was to live in
peace and harmony with the rest of nature." Over the past few months
we have refined our ZENO method.
1. Call ZENO
2. Turn on Cd with soothing music
3. Get our paper, pens, pencils, and art stuff on table
4. Whoever called it tells the reason they called it
5. Set timer for 5-10 minutes
6. Individually write or draw or express our feelings in some manner
and tell in some way what "I" could have done differently (we try to
avoid telling what someone else did or could have done)
7. Timer goes off
8. Each discusses our feelings
9. Each tell what we could have done differently
10. That's it- the anger is gone and we each feel a whole lot better!
Sometimes our days are busy with things that have to be done away
from home and we can't always do this method. But I can sure tell you
that it hurts when we can't and there are bad feelings in the air. I
just thought we need to come up with a quick-y zeno method. I'll talk
to D when he wakes up.
I just wanted to share that method of calming anger. I am also going
to post this at unschooling message board so please forgive me if you
recieve it twice.
Be Well,
Rachel
Please Don't Take Your Organs to Heaven,
Heaven Knows We Need Them Here!
K Krejci
--- Rachel Oglesby <jachiebell1@...> wrote:
she began the practice of 'hat time'. She said that
once a week or more often, she and her son would put
on hats, then sit at a table and remove the hats. The
hats were 'mother hat' and 'son hat' and when they
were removed, they could talk about anything, any way,
without the constraints of usual roles. Your ZENO
reminded me of that, Rachel. Thanks!
Kathy
It's Good 2 B Dog Nutz!
http://www.good2bdognutz.com
____________________________________________________
Yahoo! Sports
Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com
> mildy). A few months ago I came upon an idea to helpA friend of mine told me that when her son was young,
> both of us calm
> down in these situations. I said why don't we try
> calling a word and
> when that word is called we both have to stop what
> we are doing and
> have a time out. D agreed and we proceeded to look
> for our word. We
> hit the childrens' encylopedia. Just turning pages
> closing our eyes
> and pointing. We finally found "OUR" word- ZENO - to
she began the practice of 'hat time'. She said that
once a week or more often, she and her son would put
on hats, then sit at a table and remove the hats. The
hats were 'mother hat' and 'son hat' and when they
were removed, they could talk about anything, any way,
without the constraints of usual roles. Your ZENO
reminded me of that, Rachel. Thanks!
Kathy
It's Good 2 B Dog Nutz!
http://www.good2bdognutz.com
____________________________________________________
Yahoo! Sports
Rekindle the Rivalries. Sign up for Fantasy Football
http://football.fantasysports.yahoo.com