Thanks for the compliment.

Jennifer´s last blog post..It’s Your Choice….

Oh yeah, my kid gives me choices like her mom, yells at me like her mom, demands my help like her mom…. it’s like I have two wives! ahhhhh!

I’m sure you’ll make great parents. You’re too thoughtful not to be.

ari

You’re right that home holds the foundation for kids’ education — and it starts way before they get old enough to attend schools, doesn’t it?

If a school is rendered ineffective, the cause may very well be the parents. And there is not much a teacher or a school can do about it (even when they’re getting blamed).

Something’s wrong with this picture, but I’m not sure what the solution is….

ari

Jennifer´s last blog post..An Experiment on Thinking

Welcome to OBV! Thanks for sharing your personal experience.

I do hear that girls tend to do better with potty training — I’m yet to hear of a boy who pulls the same stunt as your daughter. Have you? My son is nearing 2 and has no sign what-so-ever of being interested in using potty.

No, homeschooling is not for everyone, and we don’t mean to force it on them, although we did agree that that’s how we’re going to start. And we have an agreement from our daughter as well. They can try school if and when they want to. We believe that we can provide superior learning environment within our family, but it’s their life.

The idea of homeschooling does sound like we’re stuck at home isolated, but that’s far from the truth — my family is very active in the homeschooling community and they get together and do their own version of preschool once a week, and go on field trips once a week. They’re so buy being social! My daughter sees the same group of kids 3 days a week, so she has friends.

Indeed, it was heartening to hear about Chase’s commitment to teaching — that’s how we want our teachers to be! If our kids do decide to go to school, we’ll seek someone like him, for sure.

ari

Well, if you do plan on being a parent one day, it’s good to think about it. But it’s also good not to have firm plans and ideas, as that’ll help you be open and respond to what your child needs. The first child is always an adjustment — there’s inevitably a gap between what you thought parenting was going to be and what it actually is.

Like the rest of life, parenting is an endeavor you want to be very conscious of, and make all decisions based on your values. Knowing you, I think you’ll do great.

Yes, giving kids choices is something we do quite often. Very effective in helping them figure out the lesser of two evils. Now my daughter gives me choices: “Daddy, either read to me or play with me!”

ari

It is hard,the issue with other kids — on one hand, we do realize that the world is not all made of nice people, but yet, we hate to see our children get hurt by others. The way I think of it is, when do you throw your kid into water and say “sink or swim?” The question is not of if, but of when. We do have to let our kids go on their own, but before we do, we want to teach them how to swim first. A lot of kids are strong and adaptable and do learn to swim on their own, but that may not be ideal. We’d rather teach them to swim well in safer waters, and then when they are ready and desiring to, set them free.

ari

Welcome to OBV, and thanks for sharing your personal experience!

Yes, your experience with your kids sound remarkably similar to ours. For my daughter, potty training was NO struggle — one day she decided to go, and there was little problem after that. Counting to 20 at age 2 is quite impressive!

And it sounds like you sought out a way to educate her in a way that you can believe in. That’s really what this is all about — being committed and involved, and seeking out methods that you really can believe in. For us it was home schooling, but it sure sounds like what you got started for your daughter fits your values.

I hope you come back and see us — I look forward to getting to know you!

ari

Education should start at home. Some parents don’t think so though. They expect me to do everything. I am one teacher. I can’t teach your child everything, neither can the schools. As a parent you have a very important job. I can see that you recognize this. And I’m glad to see that.

Chase March´s last blog post..Put Your Kid on That Bus

I think where we disagree is on much finer point than it may seem. I agree with pretty much everything you said. And yes, we are very active in the local home schooling communities. And I also agree that home schooling is not right for everyone. We’re doing it simply because my wife is interested and able.

“But I do still say that kids need to struggle through some learning and working through tasks that wouldn’t have chosen. This is real life. We all have to struggle through things we don’t want to.”

I do agree that learning can sometimes be a challenge — and kids should experience the joy of breaking through and persevering some growth pain. Hopefully they will see that there is reward waiting beyond momentary discomfort or frustration.

That said, I’m not sure about the benefit of making kids do stuff they are not interested in. I think you used taxes as an example — while I agree that not everything we do is fun, but even in taxes, we have vested interest in doing — or should I say, we’d rather do it than face the consequence of not doing it?

There are plenty of things we do in life that’s not exactly fun. But I think we do them because we find motivation somewhere, if not within then externally. And I’m sure we’ll have plenty of occasions for such not-exactly-fun-but-beneficial things for our kids to do.

ari