Motivation, and lack thereof....

Okay, friends, I need your help.  Best tricks for motivating an older student????

My oldest, The Writer (15/9th grade) is a wonderful student. Very self-driven, a bit of a perfectionist, works hard, does well, really a dream student.

Except for art. Which he's required to take, more or less. The state of Texas, in which we do not reside but will soon(ish) be moving to, requires one year of a Fine Arts credit for all high school students. Faced with that, he chose between Art, Drama or Music, and landed on Art.

His perfectionist tendencies collide with the course requirements, such that most projects take him a bit longer than they should, which in turn completely zaps all motivation for working on the projects.

Case in point: a multi-step project which has been "in progress" for roughly a month now; he's on the final step, with a small fraction left to go, and there it sits, unworked on, day after day after day.

In all his other classes, he's motivated. A self-starter. Diligent. Really a model student.

Just not with art.

The work he does turn out? It's pretty good. Not art scholarship good, but not bad, either. So it's not a quality thing, just a "how do I get this kid moving" thing.

Which brings me back to the question --- best tips for motivating an unmotivated older kid?

How have you dealt with this in your home school? Or even in other tasks, if you are not a homeschooler?

I'd love any suggestions you might have!

High School Writing: Six Word Memoirs

My oldest son, The Writer, had an interesting assignment last week --- write not one, but five, six-word memoirs.  His teacher (he is enrolled in an on-line distance learning program for high school) stressed the importance of each sentence telling a story, not just stating a fact.  She used the example of Ernest Hemingway, who once (it is said) answered a challenge by telling the following six-word story:  "For Sale: Baby shoes, never worn."  The Writer's teacher asked her students to do the same --- tell a story, tell five stories, in six words each.

My boy rose to the challenge, and earned a grade of 100 for his efforts. In the process, he delighted me as well, and I can't help but share his stories with you. Enjoy!

1. Do school, eat, walk dogs. Repeat. 

2. Architect, explorer, game-maker... On Minecraft. 

3. Moved to Brazil. Learned unique things. 

4. Joined a youth group. Made friends. 

5. Wrote some six word masterpieces today! 

My favorite, of course, is number five. That sums up my boy's humor in one perfect sentence. That he would have that confidence throughout all of his life.....that is my hope and prayer for him.  He writes well. He is a hard worker, unafraid to try new things, to push himself beyond his comfort zone. I love all of this about him, every story so carefully told in the allotted six words.....each one means something to me. My boy, my oldest son, who wrote some six word masterpieces this past week. How I love my boy!

So, how does that on-line high school stuff work, anyway?

As I've mentioned, this year we enrolled The Writer in an on-line high school program. We chose TTUISD because it offers a certain flexibility that not all programs offer. This flexibility is both the best and the worst thing about the program. Best in that he has no due dates for anything, so we are free to take off when & why we want, no questions asked. The Chemist travels for work pretty often, and we sometimes go with him, so this was a big deal to us -- not to have our lives disrupted and heavily altered by having to follow a traditional school schedule.

But, worst, in that he has no due dates. The only due date is that each course expires 6 months after he enrolled, which means he must submit his final exam prior that date. That gives a lot of leeway, which we love, but it also means that it is far too easy to skip over harder projects and save them for later. If they have no due date, they can not be late; since they are never late, the only penalty he will suffer for this is that one day, it will be "later" and he'll have a stack of hard projects waiting for him.

Even with that, he's learning some excellent lessons in time management; already he had to work over Christmas break to catch up on some of those "saved for later" projects, and will have to work on a few of them over our upcoming trip with The Chemist, as well.

Beyond that, though, how does his course work? Well, his particular course has been described by others as a directed study course; he does not have any live on-line lectures, nor video lectures, at all. He has assigned reading, sometimes slide shows & videos (not of lectures), and assigned quizzes and worksheets that serve as measuring sticks to see how he's doing, as well as reinforcements to help him retain the information. He also has the aforementioned harder projects.

The Writer, working on a Geography quiz
the blue folder (open) in front has his weekly assignments,
separated by day

He is enrolled in 6 courses: Biology, Art, English, Health, World Geography, and Geometry; this is a full 9th grade schedule.  Yesterday's schedule held the following:

Biology -- do workbook page 77 (20-odd questions over chapter 15)
Art -- do the self-evaluation questions about the prior Studio project
English -- take the quiz over Romeo & Juliet, Act II Quotes; read Act III in the modern text
Health -- do the chapter 22 vocabulary quiz
World Geography -- watch a video on Great Britain & the Industrial Revolution; do the accompanying quiz
Geometry -- do Chapter 3, section 7 (read section and complete assigned problems)

Now, this doesn't look like too much; that's because he spends Monday and Tuesday reading chapters, copying vocabulary, etc. and then usually has a lighter day on Wednesday, with Thursday & Friday holding more reading & vocabulary for the next chapter.

Now for the nitty gritty, how did that schedule play out....

10:00 -- wake up, eat breakfast, get dressed, etc.
10:30 -- start school; do Biology workbook page and Health quiz
11:30 -- tell Mom I'm ready for one of the hard subjects, either Geometry, Art or English; Mom prints the Self-Evaluation form for Art, I fill it out.
12:00 -- start Geometry with mom
1:15 -- take a break to eat lunch (left over homemade steak fingers)
1:45 -- get back to Geometry. This slope of the line stuff is so not fun.
3:00 -- we have worked through the section and done 3 of the 12 assigned problems. Mom has to do school with The Adventurer and The Artist, so she makes me take a break and do my other work. I hate Geometry.
3:15 -- do the Romeo & Juliet quiz.
4:00-ish -- take a break to play with the dogs; it is pouring down rain, so can't take them for a walk; play with the squeaky toy instead.
4:15 or 4:30 -- watch the Geography video and try the quiz. Doesn't make sense; ask Mom for help. Find in the chapter where it talks about this stuff; now it makes sense. Finish quiz.
5:30 -- done with the quiz. Find mom; time to finish Geometry. Work through the remaining 9 problems.
6:50 -- finally done. Copy the Geometry problems that were done in pencil into the electronic notepad (that requires an electronic pen) that I have to use so I can submit my work.
7:30 -- done tracing/copying the problems. Finally. No more school for the day. Except I either have to read Act III tonight, or tomorrow......

...and working on Geometry, despite The Adventurer's toys all over the kitchen table...

I feel for him, I really do. Geometry is kicking our behinds. Like I mentioned yesterday, I'm good at math; he's good at math; we are not good at math together. I am wide open to suggestions there. We will finish this semester and next using this same program, but next year is Algebra II and then Trigonometry or PreCalculus. I need, desperately, to find something that has someone else as the teacher. Any suggestions?

UPDATE: I'm a dork. Turns out, the textbook that TTUISD assigned for Geometry actually has, right there in the margins of every single section of every single chapter, notes to Go Online for help. I've ignored those until now. I just discovered that the publisher has linked video tutorials, practice (interactive) activities, homework help, and basically everything I've spent the last 2 days looking for in an outside source, free (if you own their textbooks). We will begin utilizing this wonderful resource first thing Monday; I look forward to stress-reduced Geometry from now on. Even if it took me three entire chapters (and 12 weeks) to pay attention and discover this. 

As for the rest....time consuming; yes. Partly because he is a perfectionist and gives his absolute best, 100% of the time. Always. Most days do not take quite this long, but just as I had an easy day the day before, he had a hard day on this day. Luckily the other courses were light so that the 4 hours of geometry was not a huge hindrance.

The awesome, amazing, makes me so very proud thing is, he never complains. Even during the geometry marathon, he keeps a good attitude and if he does get frustrated, he gets up, walks the dogs, grabs a snack, whatever. He doesn't take it out on me or on his brothers, and he has not once complained about the work load, at all. In fact, he has admitted he likes the heavier load; he finally feels he's being stretched and challenged, and this has been so very good for him.

Outside accountability, someone else grading his papers and affirming what I've always said, that he's very smart, has been wonderful as well. It's one thing to hear Mom say what a good writer you are; it's another thing to consistently earn grades of 100 on every writing assignment and project you turn in.

Will an on-line program like this be the right fit for every kid? No, of course not. But it has definitely been a perfect fit for The Writer. Except maybe the Geometry......

Teenager in the House: the part that's not talked about....

My oldest son, fondly referred to as The Writer, recently turned fourteen. A year into this "mom of a teenager" gig, I've got some new reflections or musings and wanted to share them with you, because some parts of teenager-hood just aren't talked about enough.

We hear plenty of how sullen and moody they are. How they push the boundaries and test the limits and talk back and suddenly develop Attitude. We hear all the horror stories and funny tales about surviving the teen years, and how teen boys have appetites big enough for whole countries. We hear about all of those things, often.

But we don't hear very much about the cool things, the good things, the bits and pieces of watching a teenager unfold, a boy merge into a man, before your very eyes. The mystery and joy of seeing a child grow into an adult, the personality traits that frustrated you in the toddler now making you proud in the teen. "Stubborn" at four really does look like "determined" at fourteen. The baby who thought line drawings of molecules seemed interesting now looks at those same drawings and begins to understand them. The child who recognized his letters, could name them on sight, before he was two is now reading Poe.

Yes, folks; Poe. He's reading Poe. For fun. And mostly understanding it.

In a moment of boredom yesterday he asked if he had anything available to read. I oh so kindly pointed out shelf after shelf of books that live in this house and then realized I had a golden opportunity here to suggest something he might enjoy. My suggestion surprised us both. Well, not really; he didn't know enough about Poe to be surprised. But it surprised me.

I glanced over the shelves, searching for something to capture my boy's interest, yet something that said "I know you aren't a kid anymore and don't like reading the same books as your younger brother these days...." That's when I saw it, the Complete Collection of Stories & Poems by Edgar Allen Poe. Picked up for a song at a library book fair several years ago. Tucked on the shelf for random reading. Moved to the back of a closet in recent times, and then to a bin of "to donate" books that were taking up room I didn't have to spare. The Poe, along with several other books, was rescued from the bin when we moved into the new house and suddenly did have room to spare. And so there it was. Sitting. Waiting. Ready for my boy to pick it up and begin reading.

Even if I wasn't quite. Ready, that is. I mean, sure, I suggested it. I offered it to him and found The Tell-Tale Heart in the contents and turned him to that page. I commented that The Raven was another famous poem if he finished the first one. And I left him to it, not really sure he'd like it, not really sure he'd keep reading past the first page.

But he did. He read The Tell-Tale Heart sitting on the couch while his brothers played. He flipped over to The Raven sitting at the patio table while his brothers debated a dip in the pool. He kept reading random selections while they (very briefly) swam. This morning he had it out again, reading another short story. He was intrigued, I was surprised & mystified. My little boy is reading Poe???

I'm not sure when it happened, but it did. Sure, he admits to not understanding all that he's read (heck, it's Poe. Of course he doesn't understand every single one he reads....), but he's reading grown-up stuff. No more Seuss over and over and over again. No more books chosen for size of text, number of pictures, number of pages between chapter breaks.

It's truly an amazing, wonderful, marvelous, crazy, strange, mystifying, glorious thing. A teenager in the house. Not a scary, frightening, doomed to be miserable thing at all. A chance to watch, to listen, to learn, to grow. To discuss literature. Or politics. Or philosophy.

We've lately included The Writer in our movie-watching, complete with the post-movie discussion period. A movie about lies leading up to the war in Iraq* becomes a chance to discuss how people bend the truth, distort the facts, and why that's a dangerous thing for leaders to do and something to be aware of in every news article you read.

A movie about a strange group of people whose job is to keep your life on track**, making sure you don't veer off The Plan, becomes a discussion of free will, choices, destiny, and if it's good or bad to have total freedom.

And handing a bored teenager a book of Poe's short stories leads to discussions about guilt, the conscience, death, and how to read & understand literature when at first it doesn't make sense.

But what's really going on is a parent, bonding with a child.

A discussion about these things teaches the boy that it's okay to ask questions, that his parents will answer as best they can and not judge him when he asks. A discussion about these things says to a boy "You are becoming our equal in some ways" and gives him the confidence to step tentatively forward into manhood, knowing his mom & dad respect him, value his opinions enough to ask about them, listen to them, hear him out as he speaks his mind. Even when the opinions are still being shaped, molded, tried on & tested --- these discussions let him test & try them on a safe audience.

And so a movie or two, a book of Poe, the discussions that follow....key ingredients in the transition from boy to man. Magic, happening right before my eyes. I say "what do you think about that?" and he hears "I value you, I respect you, what you say matters to me." Magic words. More powerful than any old please or thank-you ever was.

And this magic, this mystery.....this is the side of teenager that should be talked about. Not the grumpies, not the bottomless pit of a stomach, not the big bad attitude. The magic. The growing, not in stature but in maturity. The change, the shift, the subtle differences from one day to the next, the "blink and you'll miss it" growing up, from boy to man, before your very eyes.

Magic. Absolute magic. I would not trade this for anything else in the world.

for those who will ask, the movies were *Fair Game and **Adjustment Bureau. He understood, and intelligently discussed, both. Magic, I tell you. Absolute magic. 

Being a Good Citizen, from Son #1

My boys have daily creative writing for school. I print a calendar of writing prompts from Lakeshore Learning's Teacher's Corner & their Printables page, and the boys write. Easy for me, they enjoy it, and I love learning about my boys through what they put on paper.

A recent topic surprised me with their insight -- "Tell what you think it means to be a good citizen."

As this week marks Brazil's Independence Day I thought it a good time to share on this topic, and will follow up with my own thoughts later this week. For today, what The Writer (almost 14) thinks it means to be a Good Citizen (shared with his permission).

To be a good citizen is....

To be polite to our neighbors and to follow the law for sure, but it would also be pretty good to recycle and not waste things. Not arguing with your friends or brothers/sisters would also be nice.  And also, helping others in need. 

Simple. Basic. Focused on being kind and helpful to our fellow man, with no prejudice or criteria for who deserves our kindness or help.

I think he covered the important parts, don't you?

*look for The Artist's thoughts tomorrow and my thoughts later this week.....

Another Accomplished Scholar: The Writer

As you can probably guess from his blog nickname, my oldest son The Writer is more in tune to his literary side than his math side. I won't go so far as to say he's more right-brained than left-brained; the boy is phenomenally good at things like building and constructing (with Lego as well as any other material you hand him), and he's quite the engineer, really.

But math, which he's good at when he let's himself be, is not at all his favorite subject. He'd much rather be doing, well, anything else. Anything but math.

And this year, his 8th grade year, he started Algebra I. Today, he had his first Algebra test. He scored a 90, an A. And I couldn't be more proud.

(side note: I seem to say that about my boys pretty often.....)

Of course, in typical Writer fashion, he pulled some answers out of thin air. Or, more accurately, he flipped a coin for at least one of the True/False questions. (he got it right). And he let me know, though not too loudly, when a problem was tripping him up.  I've come to expect that kind of thing and just ignore it. Or tease back.

When he really showed himself? The last question was a word problem, asking "If the Henderson family traveled 782 miles, at an average speed of 68 miles per hour, how many hours did the trip take?"

The Writer added the following:

"Adding the time it took for each stop light, toll booth, traffic, and bathroom (or lunch) breaks, Who knows?"*

(*pssst, Mom, the answer is 11.5)

As proud as I am of his 90% on the test, I have to admit I laughed, out loud and for real, at his final answer. Truthfully? His creativity there makes me just as proud as the A in Algebra.

I really am Mom to a fantastic bunch of boys, and my oldest is leading the way. What has someone done lately in your family to make you smile? 

Creativity Times Three: My Three Sons

I have some really creative kids. Seriously. The things my boys come up with, it will sometimes knock your socks off. Today I want to share three of those things, one from each boy, 'cause I think they are all three pretty amazing.  The boys and the objects of creativity. I'm fairly sure you'll agree.....

The Writer's:

He'd recently been given a small magnifying glass. A lens in the hands of a 13 year old boy, mixed with tropical sunshine....I should have predicted this one, but he took "burning holes in leaves" to a whole different level. Check it out....

a bull's eye, and a smiley face burned into a leaf.
He used a magnifying glass, focusing the sun's rays, to do this. 

Next up, The Artist's:

He's been greedily snatching up all my scrap fabric, and dabbling in sewing. He made a tree shaped Christmas ornament, a blanket for one of his stuffed animals, and then this - a gift for The Chemist's birthday.  As soon as The Artist saw scraps of batting in his scrap bag, he knew just what he wanted to do. Every stitch is his, except for the binding added to the outside. He chose every color, every piece of fabric, planned exactly how to arrange it all -- this is truly his creation, start to finish. I pin for him and draw a straight line for stitching, he does the rest. Not bad for a just-turned 10 year old, is it?

front view
(he chose brown because it reminded him of chocolate pudding, and Christmas)
(no, we've never eaten chocolate pudding at Christmas....)

back view
(he wanted to use one of every fabric he had, thus pieced on both sides)

Lastly, The Adventurer's: 

This boy is full of creative fun, morning to night. All day long, every day. Sometimes it wears on me, if you want the truth. But sometimes it amazes and delights me. Like this project - "Dubloons," a board game he designed based on a Sponge Bob episode. Start at the boat, roll two dice, move the number of spaces (by jumping on the rocks) until you arrive at the "X marks the spot."  He used character legos for pieces, and even a little pick ax (lego) and golden treasure chest (also lego). When you reach "X marks the spot" your character digs with the pick ax and reveals the buried treasure. Pretty ingenious, don't you think? Remember, he won't be six until later this month....

Caught in the Act
this is right after he called me to Come see!
since I'd been cutting tape for him all morning, I was curious what he'd come up with.

"Dubloons" board game
I have to admit, I'm impressed. I think the frame around it is a nice touch.
Plus, math skills, counting all the rocks and taking turns, going the number on the dice.
Not a bad work for a morning...

Well, what'd ya think? Pretty creative, my boys. How about you and yours? What creative thing have you or your child(ren) done lately? Grown-ups, go ahead and chime in here too! All tales of creativity welcome. 

How the Portuguese is Going....

I've mentioned that my Avon Lady, Bible Study Leader, Neighbor, Friend Louci has agreed to teach the big boys Portuguese, and thought it's about time for an update on how that's going.

Louci is truly a dear lady, and I'm grateful to have met her. As one who does not believe in accidents, I truly believe she was sent to us on purpose, and I'm really, really glad that we were seen fit to receive the blessing of meeting Louci. I hope that we can be a blessing to her as well.

The boys had their 3rd lesson yesterday, right after the birth of the kitties. To say they were distracted would be an understatement, but Louci handled it beautifully, fully understanding the excitement of small children welcoming small animals into their family.

She is a very capable teacher, and as she is also a Christian, she begins each class with a short prayer; she is teaching the boys to pray in Portuguese, which I think is a good thing. She is having them memorize a prayer, which is not my preferred method, but for the meantime, I think it is okay.

She then works through the day's lesson, progressing at whatever rate suits that boy. She teaches them separately, which is new for us and I think very beneficial for the boys. The Artist can no longer coast through class on The Writer's coat tails, and The Writer is no longer bothered by The Artist's distractability during class. Each of them can now progress at his own rate, moving through as few or as many pages as he is able to absorb in a single hour. It's really wonderful.

Louci also tailors the content to fit each boy, delving deeper into more complicated conversation with The Writer than she does with The Artist, as his age, maturity, and willingness to learn allow. Her patience is tremendous, particularly with The Artist. He is not a bad student, not disrespectful or slow or defiant, but his mind wanders and he is easily distracted; it is hard for him to focus for so long on one thing. Louci does not mind this, and works quite well with him. I could not have asked for a better teacher for him.

During or at the end of class (she's begun having this time in the middle for The Artist, which I was going to suggest but she did on her own), she sings with the boys. She is teaching them common praise songs in Portuguese, and helping them to learn the words & melodies. I think that perhaps her motive here is partly to get them comfortable enough with the language that they might come with me to Bible Study (it is a family small group), but I'm not sure. Or perhaps just to get them comfortable enough that they won't mind attending church. Maybe she just enjoys singing praises to our Lord, and wants to encourage that in the boys. Whatever it is, I don't mind. The songs are fun, so far they are songs we know in English, and the boys seem to enjoy it as well.

The materials she is using are very practical, much more so than waht they were doing before. She spends much time in conversation, gently correcting pronunciation and grammar, but only enough so that they don't make embarrassing errors. She was quick to teach them to be careful of casado and cansado, the first meaning married and the latter meaning tired. I did not share with her my years-ago mistake with just those same two words, but I smiled to know that my boys will be spared such an embarrassing slip-up.

The boys do grumble about class, but half-heartedly, in a manner that says "I don't like adding new things and new work and being stretched a bit out of my comfort zone" rather than "this class is utterly terrible and I cannot believe you are making me do it." I think given a few more weeks, the grumbling will stop and they'll relax into the new routine. Already it's slowing down, which I find promising.

I really can't express just how glad I am that Louci found us; she's already blessed our family in so many ways. She is a treasure, and I hope we can show her that we consider her as such.

What My Kids Are Learning....

Since everyone in the US is in "Back to School" mode, I thought I'd at least participate with a "What the kids are learning" post. We school along the Brazilian school calendar, from Feb to Nov, with our summer break in Dec/Jan (southern hemisphere, ya know...). As such, we're approaching the end of our school year, not the beginning, but we are expecting a shipment or two of school supplies soon, thanks to the Grandmas back home. Fun times those will be, opening those boxes! We all love new school supplies.

So, what are the boys learning this year?

They are learning about people around the world who don't know about Jesus or the One True God.

They are learning about people around the world who might know about Jesus, but don't yet have the Bible translated into their language.

The Writer is learning about fractions, and percents, and performing complex word problems with same. You know, Sue sold 2/3 of her muffins in the morning, and 1/4 of the remainder in the afternoon, and then had 36 muffins left over; how many did she have to start with. Serious stuff.

The Artist is learning to multiply and divide, and is amazed that the one is just the reverse of the other. Glad he enjoys it.

The Adventurer is learning to count. For real this time. He understands numbers pretty well, and knows at a glance if there are 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 of us at the table. But ask him to count a line of shoes and he counts 1, 2, 5, 7, 9, 4, 10, 14. He is finally asking me to help him sort that out, and so I'm doing my best.

They boys are all learning what signs to look for to tell if your pregnant kitty is going to deliver soon. Nothing like lessons from real life, huh? Haven't I mentioned yet that we're expecting (kittens, I mean)?

The big boys are learning Portuguese, thanks to dear, sweet Louci. The Adventurer is learning to hide upstairs whenever she comes over. I am learning that Portuguese Class Time is my most productive time of day, because all the boys stay occupied and out from under foot.

The Writer is learning, and sometimes The Artist sneaks in a listen, about US/Japan relations in the time of the Shogun, and how steam ships were a scary looking thing back then.

The Artist is learning about God's faithfulness to His people, thanks to a great book "Missionary Stories with the Millers."

The Adventurer is learning that sometimes Mom is right when she says things like "Don't do that, you might get hurt." So far he's learned that "falling off" the bunkbed ladder to the bean bag below might hurt your back if you fall wrong. And he's learned that jumping from the rolling chair to the non-rolling chair, and back again, might send you crashing forehead first into the hard, tile floor below. No lasting injuries, but hopefully lasting lessons.

They are all learning to return their new pencils to the proper place, not spread them out across hundreds of hiding places in the house, never to be found again. 'Cause Mom does not like losing brand new pencils.

I hope the boys are learning that Mom enjoys school time with them, and play time with them, and that family is the most important thing. I can see they are learning to help each other, to interact with all age groups, to take care of little ones or weak ones, to give respect to older ones, and to get along with people, no matter the differences between them.

In short, they are learning plenty of things that will help them be successful, Godly young men one day. At least, that is my prayer.

What are your kids learning?