Building a Library
Last week I told the story of the late-blooming boy who demonstrated no interest in learning academic subjects, particularly reading, until much older than the “industry standard” of reading by age six. Once puberty hit and this young fellow began reading, he quickly excelled and became a power reader.
His dad was a successful investment specialist. He had an agreement with his son that he would purchase any book the son wanted (parental reason prevailing), on condition that it would be read cover to cover. The dad then purchased a bookcase that would only house books after they had been fully read and the contents discussed with dad to ensure the son was understanding what he was reading.
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Learning to Read
He was certainly an energetic boy. As he zoomed past his mother and me, I realized this fellow now registered for home education through us was not ready for formal education.
I asked his mother if she thought he was ready and her answer somewhat baffled me. She did not think the lad was ready but she was convinced she should proceed with “schooling” anyway. When I asked her to explain, she said the authorities expected a child to start formal training by age six.
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Don’t Judge
Every family has its quirks and its outstanding features; its strengths and weaknesses; how it shows up in public and its secrets. Every family is weird in some way. Most children want something different from the family in which they grew up regardless of whether their family was good, bad or ugly.
My dad was a World War Two veteran. The things he was exposed to as a teenaged volunteer marred him for life. His marriage was less than stellar, partially because of his issues and partially because of my mother’s. In retrospect, I believe my father suffered from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Nobody considered just how violently damaged the WW II vets were at the time. As a consequence of his psychological damage, my father was distant even when he was at home. So even though I believe my father loved me, my maternal grandfather played a big role in my upbringing.
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Fifty Years of Teaching
I must admit this is hard to believe. If I count my first lab assistant job at the University of Saskatchewan, this year marks my fiftieth year as a teacher. So, in celebration of this milestone, I decided to finally record some of the multitude of stories I’ve accumulated over the last half century as my vlog series for the year.
To copy an oft-heard disclaimer on some TV series, these stories are all true, only names have been changed to protect the innocent. Actually, not all these stories involve the innocent. In fact, they almost all involve students guilty of being young human beings learning how to navigate an increasingly complex world. Some of these stories also involve adults, parents in particular.