Tia Leschke

> I enjoy reading about history, but there is a lot I still don't know. I
> was actually startled to read in an article about Trent Lott that when
> Strom Thurmond was running for prez, 1948, NO African-Americans in
> Lott's state of Mississippi were allowed to vote.

I always thought that slavery was never legal in Canada. Doing a column on
Canadian black history sites put an end to that notion.
Tia

Tia Leschke

In the spring of my second year of teaching, I read
Summerhill, and was forever changed.

It did much the same for me when I read it in grade nine. After that, it
was really hard to play the school game anymore. I eventually "rose up"
from school in grade eleven and began unschooling myself, many years before
the word unschooling was coined.
Tia

Tia Leschke

> I can't say I've ever had many fears per se, but I too have had some
> serious doubts, like when our then 16-year-old son just wasn't the
> least bit interested in reading. Nothing. Nada. He seemed to get
> along fine without reading, so we left him alone (which wasn't easy,
> *believe* me), and suddenly one day - nobody knows how - he was
> reading as well as anyone else in the family (a family of VERY
> serious readers - hey, we're *publishers!*). Would he have learned
> sooner if we'd "encouraged" him? Maybe. But we knew he'd get around
> to it eventually, and he was getting along just fine without our help
> - enjoying an extremely busy social life of snowboarding, working,
> travelling and filming professional-level videos with several
> friends. Reading just wasn't on his list of things to do that week.
> Or month. Or year. But he figured it out somewhere along the way.

Neat to hear this, Helen. Last time this came up on the list he still
wasn't reading.

Does he read much now that he can? I had a hard time accepting that even
though Lars can now read, he still doesn't particularly want to. He'll
probably never use reading as his main tool for learning, and he much
prefers his fiction to be on screen. Funny thing. Now he's jumping into
film-making as a big interest. <G> He wants to make mountain biking
videos. We helped him buy a mini-dv camera for Christmas.
Tia

Helen Hegener

At 10:36 AM -0800 1/4/03, Tia Leschke wrote:
>Does he read much now that he can?

Not really. Sometimes when he's bored he'll pick up a book and read a
few pages, but he doesn't read for hours like his brothers will, but
it's not surprising given his *very* active personality. In school
this kid would have been on behavior control meds, no doubt about it.
At home we just know he's a fidgeter, always needs to be doing
something physical - or sleeping. He'll do cartwheels across the
living room, powerslide down the hallway, chase the dogs through the
house (luckily we have a large house and they can do a full circle
through the front room, kitchen, pantry, hallway, and back into the
front room <g>). He has a hard time sitting still long enough to eat,
or to play a game; always has to be tapping his foot or drumming his
fingers if nothing else. We figure he'll either outgrow it or learn
to deal with it.

We tried to get him interested in sports when we realized how active
he liked to be, but the only one that ever caught on was
snowboarding. And swimming in the summer. He loves to walk - will
hike to and from his best friend's house three miles away, sometimes
a couple of times a day. Interesting kid, to say the least. <g>

> I had a hard time accepting that even
>though Lars can now read, he still doesn't particularly want to. He'll
>probably never use reading as his main tool for learning, and he much
>prefers his fiction to be on screen. Funny thing. Now he's jumping into
>film-making as a big interest. <G>

Maybe there's something to this... At least two other kids we know
who either didn't read until their teen years or who seem to avoid
reading whenever possible are seriously interested in film-making.
And the fidgeter above will sit stock-still through a two-hour movie.
Is there something about the flickering images fulfilling that "need
to move" that he seems to have?

Helen

Betsy

**At home we just know he's a fidgeter, always needs to be doing
something physical - or sleeping. He'll do cartwheels across the
living room, powerslide down the hallway, chase the dogs through the
house (luckily we have a large house and they can do a full circle
through the front room, kitchen, pantry, hallway, and back into the
front room <g>). He has a hard time sitting still long enough to eat,
or to play a game;**

Oh, that reminds me.

We just moved, and as a consequence we (temporarily?) changed our
Nintendo 64 set up. Previously the system had been in a small room with
a loveseat just a few feet away. Now it's hooked up to the big TV in
the living room with a lot of empty space. (The new house is bigger and
there isn't money for more furniture.)

I've seen a total change in how my son is physically when playing
Nintendo. Before he sat pretty still, sometimes talking to himself and
exclaiming with pleasure. (He's not really wiggly by nature. He has my
well developed capacity for sitting and vegetating.) Now that he has
the bigger space with no close enough place to sit other than the floor,
he puts his whole body into it, leaping and wriggling all over the
place. It looks like a pretty good workout. Also, I can really see his excitement.

I had to see it with my own eyes, but now I understand more why some
people say "my kid is quiet like a zombie" when he plays Nintendo or
watches TV and others say "my kid is very active when playing Nintendo
or watching TV". If this much variation is possible just in the
behavior of one kid, then I have a clearer understanding of how much
variation is possible in a whole universe of kids.

Betsy

[email protected]

In a message dated 1/5/03 11:22:13 AM Eastern Standard Time,
ecsamhill@... writes:

> Now that he has
> the bigger space with no close enough place to sit other than the floor,
> he puts his whole body into it, leaping and wriggling all over the
> place. It looks like a pretty good workout. Also, I can really see his
> excitement

My boys do that too.. They play video games standing up. Its almost like they
are playing a "virtual" game.. they put thier whole bodies into to. . they
made sound effects and scream and yell .. its really funny.. And to think,
most folks view video games as "sedentary".. LOL.. not in this house :-)

Teresa


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]

Tia Leschke

>
> Not really. Sometimes when he's bored he'll pick up a book and read a
> few pages, but he doesn't read for hours like his brothers will, but
> it's not surprising given his *very* active personality. In school
> this kid would have been on behavior control meds, no doubt about it.
> At home we just know he's a fidgeter, always needs to be doing
> something physical - or sleeping. He'll do cartwheels across the
> living room, powerslide down the hallway, chase the dogs through the
> house (luckily we have a large house and they can do a full circle
> through the front room, kitchen, pantry, hallway, and back into the
> front room <g>). He has a hard time sitting still long enough to eat,
> or to play a game; always has to be tapping his foot or drumming his
> fingers if nothing else. We figure he'll either outgrow it or learn
> to deal with it.

I wouldn't describe Lars as quite that active, but he does say the
inactivity is why he doesn't like to read.
>
> We tried to get him interested in sports when we realized how active
> he liked to be, but the only one that ever caught on was
> snowboarding. And swimming in the summer. He loves to walk - will
> hike to and from his best friend's house three miles away, sometimes
> a couple of times a day. Interesting kid, to say the least. <g>

Both my boys have always wanted wheels under them - hate walking. And Lars
does like team sports. He's very good at them. (Hard to imagine me as a
baseball and soccer mom, but there you have it.)
>
> > I had a hard time accepting that even
> >though Lars can now read, he still doesn't particularly want to. He'll
> >probably never use reading as his main tool for learning, and he much
> >prefers his fiction to be on screen. Funny thing. Now he's jumping into
> >film-making as a big interest. <G>
>
> Maybe there's something to this... At least two other kids we know
> who either didn't read until their teen years or who seem to avoid
> reading whenever possible are seriously interested in film-making.
> And the fidgeter above will sit stock-still through a two-hour movie.
> Is there something about the flickering images fulfilling that "need
> to move" that he seems to have?

Might be something to it. Lars had no answer when I asked why he can sit
still watching TV for literally hours but doesn't like to sit still reading.
My daughter met a woman whose son had spent most of his growing up time
watching TV and videos. He's now a film-maker. <g>
Tia