(no subject)
May. 27th, 2003 10:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ravencallscrowsWell, people keep asking alexander if he's ready to go to school now, especially since he's turned 5 (i think a good double-handful asked him today).
Now, if you ask the boy where he wants to go to school, he'll tell you- "College."
It'll probably be his first experience with a conventional classroom when it happens, too. He'd be an absolute nightmare to turn loose on a poor elementary teacher who was tied into a lock-step curriculum. Quite simply, alexander can't be dragged into learning something he's not interested in learning. On the other hand, once something catches his interest, he's going to absorb as much information about it as he possibly can in a short period. Things he's expressed an interest in recently: geology and vulcanology; recycling and the environment (the whole hippy/Green thing. Can't imagine where he gets it!); today, it was geography and flags, probably spurred by one of the pages in his new LeapPad's demo cartridge. How many five-year-olds do you know who can pick out Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map? Or for that matter, point out the differences between the flags of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland? Mind you, he still can't be bothered to try to colour within the lines, and has limited interest in learning to write (although he is interested in spelling). In a conventional classroom, he'd be a nightmare- either he'd be bored silly and getting into trouble, or he'd just turn off completely. Thankfully, he'll get home Un-schooling, where we can work in the important elements of basic education within the framework of what interests him. I think he'll be better off for it. Who knows- he may beat both of his parents and start taking isolated college classes before his age reaches double-digits.
Now, if you ask the boy where he wants to go to school, he'll tell you- "College."
It'll probably be his first experience with a conventional classroom when it happens, too. He'd be an absolute nightmare to turn loose on a poor elementary teacher who was tied into a lock-step curriculum. Quite simply, alexander can't be dragged into learning something he's not interested in learning. On the other hand, once something catches his interest, he's going to absorb as much information about it as he possibly can in a short period. Things he's expressed an interest in recently: geology and vulcanology; recycling and the environment (the whole hippy/Green thing. Can't imagine where he gets it!); today, it was geography and flags, probably spurred by one of the pages in his new LeapPad's demo cartridge. How many five-year-olds do you know who can pick out Bosnia and Herzegovina on a map? Or for that matter, point out the differences between the flags of Sweden, Finland, Norway, Denmark and Iceland? Mind you, he still can't be bothered to try to colour within the lines, and has limited interest in learning to write (although he is interested in spelling). In a conventional classroom, he'd be a nightmare- either he'd be bored silly and getting into trouble, or he'd just turn off completely. Thankfully, he'll get home Un-schooling, where we can work in the important elements of basic education within the framework of what interests him. I think he'll be better off for it. Who knows- he may beat both of his parents and start taking isolated college classes before his age reaches double-digits.
