Teaching Boys

I attended a Carole Joy Seid seminar a few years ago. One thought that I pulled away from that seminar is boys need lots of physical touch. She encouraged us to rub their back or pat their head while they were doing a particularly difficult math problem. She encouraged us to hold our little boys and rub the back of an older one while we read aloud. She encouraged dads to read aloud in the evening while mom and children snuggle together and listen to the story.

You can't do that while teaching in the classroom, but you can do that when homeschooling. Every student is different. Lamb 1 loves to get back rubs in the evening, but it would drive him crazy to have a back rub while doing math. Lamb 2 makes it through long church services when I rub his shoulders. Lamb 3 loves to sit on my lap while we read stories, but Lamb 1 and 2 think they are too old for that. Lamb 2 loves to sit right beside me during stories so sometimes we have to take turns sitting by Mama. When Lamb 3 is being uncooperative on school mornings I will have him sit on my lap to do his school work. He needs that extra attention some times.

One thing that I noticed during standardized testing is the moms touching their boys. While we can't give them answers to the tests, we can sit and be their cheerleaders. Some of the moms rub their children's backs during breaks. Some of the moms rub their children's backs during the tests. Each mom knows what their child prefers. I have whispered to Lamb 1 to keep going, he's doing great, at the half way point of the test.

I believe all this attention is good for the homeschool students taking these tests this week.