Joel Hawthorne

Forgive me if I sent this twice.

Play is wonderful. Play is the basis of all education. Play is the
creative
wonderland from whence the joy of learning comes. The need for joyless
work as an
adult will come on its own without anyone trying to plan in advance for
it...and
who knows maybe with the habits of self-direction and
self-determination your
kids will avoid the joyless compromise that so many of us make. The
idea that
something must "go" somewhere else to be worth anything is imho a
mistake.

Living in the moment, being here now, is the essence of happiness.
Something we
as adults have to strive to remember.

I hate to disagree about something that is non-testable but I think if
your kid
was left alone he would have read all on his own. Maybe years later
than you
would have liked but he would have. The fear is such a pernicious
thing. We
have most of us, been schooled til we can't think straight about many
things.
Reading is certainly one of them.


Hsmotgo@... wrote:

> From: Hsmotgo@...
>
> In a message dated 9/4/99 0:09:07 AM EST, jagwirtz@... writes:
>
> << Anyway, we finally decided to go for it. We felt
> like if we only stuck our toe in intead of jumping in completely, we
> wouldn't be able to convince our son that he really was in charge of
> his education and that it was his choice from now on. >>
> You know, I read this, and the rest of your response, and I think that is so
> great. But I don't understand it. The bones of it. Do you just get up in
> the morning and say, "what do you want to do today?" Or do you just get up in
> the morning? All summer, I let the boys pretty much do what they wanted, I
> asked them to practice their music everyday, and read 30 min. a day. They
> did that, and then played with their Dragon Ball Z action characters the rest
> of the time. Now, they don't even want to read, just play. Do I guide by
> saying, you do music, reading and something that you choose, or what? I
> know I am dense at this, I have been reading the list, asking questions,
> getting good answers, but it isn't really going well. Given a choice, they
> just want to play, and while I know that games teach some things, they have
> learned what the games have to offer already, and are not moving on. My 5th
> grader is learning to enjoy reading, but only because I made him read this
> summer. I let him buy a book of his choice, on a subject he wanted, and we
> went from there, also Harry Potter helped a lot! But, If I hadn't made him,
> and believe me, they have always been read to, and see me read all the time,
> he still wouldn't be reading, cause that's boring. Wait, he can read, he
> just never said I am going to my room to read a book. So, to make a long
> story even longer, I am reluctant to let go. Guess I have the control streak
> in me from my mom.
>
> Sorry to be so long, but geesh, I am kinda frustrated here
> Teresa
>
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--
best wishes
Joel

All children behave as well as they are treated. The Natural Child
Project http://naturalchild.com/home/

Work together to reinvent justice using methods that are fair; which
conserve,
restore and even create harmony, equity and good will in society i.e.
restorative
justice.
We are the prisoners of the prisoners we have taken - J. Clegg
http://www.cerj.org