Online Public Homeschool...Need your opinions about Trouble?

[patandchickens]

13 is a hard age to start "wholesome" activities however when you child already thinks he should look tough.

Well what about encouraging him to experiment with some of the More Traditional Manly Man Skills involving building and fixing things? Using tools, estimating materials, figuring out how they go together, budgeting, reading instructions, possibly WRITING instructions, etc etc etc. If he's at all interested in that sort of thing, that is.

Pretty 'wholesome', definitely educational, and also darn USEFUL

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[big brown horse]

13 is a hard age to start "wholesome" activities however when you child already thinks he should look tough.

Well what about encouraging him to experiment with some of the More Traditional Manly Man Skills involving building and fixing things? Using tools, estimating materials, figuring out how they go together, budgeting, reading instructions, possibly WRITING instructions, etc etc etc. If he's at all interested in that sort of thing, that is.

Pretty 'wholesome', definitely educational, and also darn USEFUL

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

This is excellent advice!! I couldn't agree more!! Same goes for girsl too.

This weekend my 13 daughter and I built a nice nest box for our duck. We also strung up 120 feet of fencing for a pig. She never complained about being bored etc...not once.

 

[tamlynn]

Ditto the decompressing, except we called it detox.

 

[savingdogs]

The building and mechanical ideas are great, I love that. He is very handy with tools. His dad is Mr. Fix it so he comes by it naturally.

We live near Mt. Saint Helen's (yes, the volcano) and today he was actually talking about visiting it for fun (he is studying geography). By chance his computer text was using the very same mountain that is only 20 miles from us and dominates our landscape in the county we live in.

I'm so impressed so far by this curriculum. It presents the material in such an interesting way, I can't help being interested watching over his shoulder. If anyone else has the opportunity in Washington State to use IQ Academy, I think I'm going to be someone who is a real supporter.

Today Trouble finished all his assignments in a couple of hours and then cleaned his room......I'm in shock. He also got his corrected assignments back and he did everything correct!
I couldn't be happier.....

 

[Annarie]

I graduated high school online via IQ Academy WI. It's great, except that I was a "gifted" student to begin with in my brick-and-mortar school (I made the switch to online because I was having social anxiety issues) and I was finishing an entire semester of schoolwork (including the AP classes!) in a month, and then I had nothing to do for months.

I started volunteering to keep myself busy. I spent a lot of time at my local humane society, and even received training as a veterinary assistant during their spay/neuter clinics to the extent that I now draw up all of their vaccines and monitor the animals during surgery. I was also trained as a volunteer naturalist at the International Crane Foundation, giving visitors tours.

I don't have nearly as much free time now that I'm in college, but I'm still an active volunteer at the humane society, and I'm majoring in Natural Resources thanks to the time I spent at the Crane Foundation, learning about preserving wetlands.

Is there anyplace your "Trouble" could volunteer? It would do both him and your community some good!

 

[Dace]

So if I have this right, Trouble (who needs a new nick name BTW!) needs some things to fill his time to keep him off the net and off play station type activities?

Living in the woods and being at work means that he is home alone with no transportation yes? So a job is out since he can't drive and nothing is with in walking distance.

I love the building things idea.

I love the starting his own business idea (perhaps building nesting boxes, or coops, milking stools, owl boxes...whatever floats his boat) this gives him something important that he can build (a biz) over time and also gives him on going busy work.

I think that teaching him some cooking skills would be wise. I know it may not seem 'manly' to him, but he can be learning great skills and helping out the family by making dinner several nights a week.

Taking up a musical instrument? Guitar would be cool and you can buy instructional videos

Chores get boring and can feel like punishments....he needs something that he is excited about.

It sounds like you have found a great program for him! My son is not yet nick named Trouble but is on his way if he stays in traditional ed. I am waiting to hear if we got excepted to a fabulous charter school!

 

[savingdogs]

You are right, I should not call him Trouble on here anymore. His name is Alex so I might as well just refer to him that way.

He has lately figured out the fastest way to do the bare minimum (his favorite) and is successfully completing that. But at least he is completing the minimum whereas before we had very little control or knowledge about where he was in which class.

We actually have been and still are very active volunteers with a group that fosters dogs from the humane society. Alex has never known a time that we were not working in this field. He really had a knack and calling for it and has always attended adoption events with me, for years and years. He handles the dogs for us and makes an excellent screener for our adoptees. Lately I've taken a step back and my husband has taken over handling events (I've lost my hearing) and Alex went from attending with me, to attending with my husband. We have a regular round of events we do throughout the year each year. Plus Alex helps with these dogs 365 days a year (the ones in our home). He is actually more dog savvy than the average adult and would like to find a career with dogs although we are having a hard time coming up with a good goal in this regard for him (beyond veterinarian or police office with K9). We actually put in so many hours in this group usually that there is little time for other things. But it has encompassed a variety of things, from bagging dog food for the poor, to bathing dogs for events, to bottle feeding puppies in the middle of the night and working booths at fairs. I did not mention this because we have always done this, since Alex has been a toddler, and he has grown up volunteering.
It is when we are doing this work that we see the "good" side of this child, his compassion, his quick thinking and his ability to get animals to do what he wishes them to do. He is actually a real asset at these adoption events because people say things in front of a "child" that they would not say in front of an adult. They have no idea he is listening for little phrases that I don't like such as "the dog will live outside" and comments about not being able to afford a dog. He understands responsible dog ownership as we see it and works to convince people to spay and neuter their pets (a goal his parents share wholeheartedly).
Annarie I am so glad to see on here someone who graduated from his program. I wish Alex had been a gifted student prior....I believe he is very smart and should have been gifted, but somewhere along the line he became gifted at avoiding work instead. I do hope with us pushing him along he can stay on track. Your volunteering sounds right up our alley. We are one of those people that comes down when the HS calls because they are too full. Our group selects dogs for us and we pick dogs to foster until a home is found. Right now we have two, Zoe and Mocha, listed under Petfinder.com or Mustlovedogsnw.com Zoe is getting adopted this weekend!

We also have ducklings now so Alex is learning about baby waterfowl first hand. He is enjoying them I think.
Thank you again for your imput.

 

[Dace]

Sweetie, Alex sounds like a great kid who is just not a great student! I hope you know I was just teasin' ya about his nick name maybe Responsible is a good new one

Anywho.....it is so easy for parent and kids to blur the line between kid and student. They just do not all learn the same way. School is hard for many smart kids, for many different reasons.

I told you already a little bit about my son, who can't stand school. I also have a 19 yr old, 16 yr old and 7 yr old. My 19 yr old always struggled

By the middle of 10th grade we pulled her out pf traditional school and put her into a charter work from home type of school. One teacher, one subject at a time. She busted out her work no problem. No more 'lost' assignments, no more 'I forgot'.....she just got it done. The reason we pulled her out of traditional school was that she was spiraling. Her self esteem was in the toilet....everyday her teachers told her she sucked (more or less) all of her friends were doing well in school and of course there was friction at home. I knew we had to rescue her before she ended up in the wrong crowd looking for trouble.

She graduated on time and is attending community college and doing well. She is responsible and has held a job at the same place since she was 15 1/2.

BTW....my other two DDs, 16 & 7, do fantastic in school. They just happen to fit the mold

The lesson here is the student and the child can happily blend into one, but at the same time if the education does not suit the child's learning style, then the 'bad' student can overshadow the 'good' child!

Hugs, I am always happy to hear when someone finds something that works for their struggling student!

 

[hwillm1977]

I believe he is very smart and should have been gifted, but somewhere along the line he became gifted at avoiding work instead.

This is my brother. He went all the way through traditional school failing grades, cutting classes, getting expelled... he hated school more than anything. He even managed to get a ZERO in a class once for his final mark... I can remember dad screaming at him 'how can you possibly get a zero in an entire class?' David said 'It's easy dad, don't do anything'

Anyway, long story short, when my brother finally did graduate from high school he went to a local college and took computer classes (something he loved). He graduated with the top mark in his entire school and did the speech at the graduation.

It's sounds like your son may find in the IQ program what my brother found in college... something that he enjoys and will eventually push him to WANT to learn...

 

[tamlynn]

Savingdogs- you mentioned trying to come up with a career goal. Have you thought about him becoming a trainer/employee for guide dogs for the blind or other service dogs?

I know there are now even dogs people can get if they have severe peanut allergies. These peanut dogs can warn the person if peanuts are around. A friend of mine had a dog that could alert her to epileptic seizures. My parents and siblings raised tons of puppies for Guide Dogs for the Blind. They were volunteers, but the people who ran the agency weren't. Just a thought!