10 Comments

  1. I loved listening to this! It was inspiring, also.

    I want to add another category of activity. You listed Productive Labor and Entertainment as two that are normal for our society. And that we ought to add Schole as another category. I want to add a 4th: Reproductive Labor. This is all the caregiving, taking care of, investing in kind of work that moms, particularly, do. I read an article that was a precursor to this book: http://a.co/c4RBlOI by Sibyl Schwarzenbach that introduced this idea to me. Now, when its one of *those* days, I can tell Hubby, “It was a very reproductive day” and he totally knows that the kids were needy that day.

    I’m wondering how help a child find interests when he is just not interested in much. He loves to play video games with Daddy (yeah, that might be part of the problem), and board games (but he cheats sometimes) and sitting on his trampoline rolling marbles, telling himself stories of what is happening in his ‘game’. He turns 7 in May, he struggles with short attention spans and TOO much energy and struggles to focus. He can act very jaded about life in general at times, and I think he is feeling the weight of his struggle to slow down. Hmmm… maybe I should build an obstacle course for him…..

  2. I do like the poll parrot, pert, and poetic to distinguish between the art of grammar and the stage, but let’s see what you come up with. The muddle is fun.

  3. This was such an encouraging episode! Thank you for giving ideas for those who struggle with the “muddlers”! It was good to hear I’m not the only one wishing my children loved reading as much as I do, and helpful to think of it in terms of developmental stages.

  4. This was my favorite episode so far! It was so encouraging to be reminded that, although my 13 year old doesn’t always act interested, I shouldn’t take his “too cool for school” attitude personally. This too shall pass.

    I saw Pam at the FPEA convention this weekend. She was excellent and my plans for Morning Time have been reinspired!

  5. I think it was in this episode that you mentioned sitting down with your kids for feedback at the end of the year on what they liked about school/ what they didn’t like etc. as I’m formulating my own list of questions to ask my students i am wondering if you actually have your list written down anywhere…

  6. I don’t have a written list, but it sounds like something I should do! I’ll try to write a post on that soon. 🙂

  7. Listening to this a little late, but I love it! Especially the talk of categories of valuable activity that are not “productive” or income-producing. Because we and our children are persons, not unit movers!

    The developmental stages conversation reminded me of a Waldorf-inspired concept: young children to age 6 or 7 emphasize their “Hands” (physical will, emerging sense of self actively exploring the world — think of preschoolers engaging their whole bodies and selves in a mud hole! <3); later elementary and middle school children emphasize their "Heart" (emotional life, sense of justice, etc.); and high schoolers and beyond emphasize "Head" (reason, analytical thinking…). And all persons have all three of these aspects, but children seem to delve in and grow in these particular areas in particular stages. Similar to what Misty said about the "trivium," I can't swallow Waldorf whole, but I think this is a helpful way of thinking about developmental stages. And it's alliterative! 🙂

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