The whole girl verses boy issue

[MamaBear23Cubs]

Has anyone noticed if your girls enjoy the guides more than the boys? My oldest enjoys HOD and I can see that my youngest will enjoy it as well. When the youngest daugther joins in. My son isn't into that arts and movements like his younger sister. We are going to finish this guide because his sister enjoys it but I think I will keep HOD for my girls but do something different with my son. I will just have to wait and see. We are almost at 2 months into our schooling this year and he just prefers the workbook and get it done type boy right now.

[holyhart]

I'm not sure it is a girl vs. boy issue. I'm only using LHTH with my son, but so far he is loving every minute of it. And it was written by a woman with only boys with her sister-editor with only boys, so I'm thinking that they made sure it was "boy approved"

I'm thinking that it might just be that your son's personality and the guide might not be a fit. Not saying that your son's personality is wrong or bad or off, just that he might be a better fit with something else. And then, maybe he will grow into liking things like art. It certainly is good to encourage him to still do the art projects.

[lmercon]

Take all of what I'm about to say with a grain of salt, as it is only my opinion.

I'm always a little leery when people say that their child is the "workbook type." I'm not saying that it is impossible to find a child who truly learns better that way, but I don't think it is as common as some would suggest. I think it is very UNusual to find a child who learns better this way. I think it is more what we are used to doing. I really believe that the underlying issue is a matter of a "get-it-done" mentality. Most kids who seem to like textbooks and worksheets better are ones who tend to want to get through stuff and be done with it. That doesn't mean the child is LEARNING better with this style. It just means that this personality likes to know exactly what needs to be done and how long it's going to take. Now, that may not be a bad thing, but I don't think we should confuse that with actually LEARNING the material. I taught ps for 8 years, and I saw first-hand, MANY times, students reading the assigned pages and completing the worksheets. Then they would spit the information back at me in the form of a written exam after a night of cramming. But just try to ask them anything about the subject only weeks later! I was sorely disappointed most of the time. Did they get through the material in a timely fashion? Yes. Did they complete the worksheets satisfactorily? Yes. Did the score well on the tests? Yes, well, most of them. Does that mean they truly learned the material - comprehension of facts, synthesis of ideas, application to other areas of understanding? No, at least for the vast number of them.

Teaching the CM way is a big change for some and doesn't always go smoothly at first. However, the real learning that takes place over time, with lots of patience, is tremendous. Trust the method. Give it time. Don't bend to their complaints. Keep focused on the goal.

All of this is just my observations. Obviously, you can take it or leave it.
Take care,
Laura

Just wanted to do a quick edit because I didn't want to come off as bossing you around or telling you what is best for your child. I just wanted to give some thoughts that maybe could be of benefit in your decision making. I also thought this might be helpful if you were still on the fence with HOD for your ds or really wanting to use it but concerned that maybe you were making the wrong decision.

[creativemommy]

My son is 6 and we've only been using HOD for a month now, but at first he was very opposed to the songs/rhymes in his LHFHG where as my daughter (3) LOVES the rhymes & songs in her LHTH. Some of it is probably a boy/girl thing...and a maturity thing (my son thinks the rhymes are a bit "babyish").

Recently, he's warmed up the rhymes a little bit more. The thing that really helped was one evening at dinner when my husband asked him to show him what he did in school that day and specifically asked about the rhyme/motions. My ds got up from the table and proceeded to say the rhyme complete with motions...I thought he hadn't been learning much of it when we did it because he wasn't exited about it and complained. He looks up to his daddy and when my husband was excited about it, I think it helped my son to see that they rhyme was "fun" and more "cool" than he thought originally.

There are still days he complains about the rhymes or music, but I encourage him to do it (listen to it) anyway because it's a part of our school day. I also try to make it fun for him by saying it in a "high" voice or "low" voice, very slow, very fast, etc. and this will make him laugh and encourage him to do it with me. I've also had him help teach the motions to his little sister and this sometimes that gets him excited about it because it's something he knows that she doesn't know.

I look at it this way - if he were in a "real" classroom/school there would things he would have to do that he doesn't really enjoy. I'm trying to prepare him to do things that he may not always enjoy doing...especially since life is that way, too.

I'm a certified teacher and taught for a few years before I had my children...I'm not a fan of worksheets either (one of the reasons I LOVE HOD!) and echo the thoughts the previous poster/teacher wrote above.

All of this to say, maybe give it a little while longer for him to begin to enjoy it a bit more...if you have to change curriculum, find something that's still hands-on because the more senses you use to learn something, the better you'll remember it!

[juliekay]

Hmmm.... Very interesting. My first 3 are boys and they all LOVE HOD & so do I. My daughter is my LHTH one and while she likes some aspects she balks at some others. One of the things that she balks at is the rhyming finger plays and listening to music. However, with time and the more family members that participate in the activity she changes her mind.
My 7 y.o. ds is a get-it-done so I can go outside to play guy. Perhaps your son just wants to honor you by doing his "work" so he can move on the his type of learning – exploratory! I think it's more of a personality difference than boy vs. girl

[my3sons]

I am the sister/editor with the 3 boys and agree that HOD is definitely boy approved! However, there are elements of HOD that will appeal more to boys, and some that appeal more to girls (and of course these are not set in stone - some parts just appeal more to certain personalities rather than a certain gender). God certainly made boys and girls differently, and that can come through in all walks of life - school included.

I agree with what's been said about dc preferring textbooks/worksheets. I actually think what you are describing with your ds is an "I like to get it done and move on" kind of character trait. This kind of no frills, the "facts only please ma'am" approach is pretty common among boys (and men ) in general. This is a great trait, and one I like to encourage in my boys. I'm not sure what age your ds is, but if he's doing the rhymes/motions, he's probably pretty young. If this is the case, I'd say your ds probably likes the idea of finishing school to get to his playtime - another pretty common trait among boys. He also may not enjoy your dd's enthusiasm for drawing things out in school - I taught ps school for 7 years, and overwhelmingly girls just got more into school than boys, and boys just got more into recess/gym than girls.

Your ds probably enjoys finishing in a predictable amount of time, and probably does not enjoy drawing out discussions, adding detail to art projects, singing in an excited voice, etc. That does not mean these things aren't worthwhile - it just means they will take more of an effort on a boy's part. I was just thinking today watching my dh sing in church, how I wish he'd get more into it - and then I looked around and saw my sons were some of the few boys singing quite cheerfully (actually very few were singing at all ). I thanked God for them singing in school through doing HOD. My dc are all boy - and I'm quite sure HOD's the reason they sing in church - and I'm also quite sure God is brought glory through this. Same deal with art projects - sure it may not be my ds's thing - but he can draw quite well now and has learned to enjoy it so much more. My dh used to draft projects as a mechanical engineer, just one more example of needing to have some creativity/art ability. Sure, writing answers on a worksheet may be easier and more in a boy's comfort zone, but learning to discuss things is a higher level skill that virtually every job a man can have some day requires. It is this way with all of the skills in HOD, and it is worth any growing pains that may be caused by learning them.

HOD has an incredible balance of hands-on activities and sit-down paperwork - all centered around God-honoring excellent living books. It's worth stretching our boys a bit to teach them these skills in this manner. As your ds ages, you can definitely plan his day with his character traits in mind. Here are a few examples of traits I've seen in my 3 sons and some things that can be done to work within that trait and use it to our advantage...
*likes to finish in a timely fashion: allow concise answers and move on, if he is paired with a female sibling that likes to draw out discussions or projects, you may need to let him move on while finishing with dd
*likes to be in control of his day: let him use the HOD guide as his own, checking his boxes off as he goes (this works well starting with BHFHG)
*likes to complete his projects quickly and move on: as long as his work is done well, is quite neat, and completes the guidelines laid out in the plans, accept it as good (rather than expecting him to add more to match what we might have done if we'd been doing the projects )
*likes to answer questions with shorter, to the point answers: allow this as long as the question is answered (a good short answer is better than a rambling answer anyway)
*likes to have time for independent playing/creating: finish school on time in the alloted times suggested in the guides, even setting the timer for boxes if need be (we are finishing CTC in 4 hours, and my ds is thoroughly enjoying it and also is excited to get to his free time for the rest of the day as well)
*wants to feel in charge of his day: try not to hover (oh this is a hard one for me! but it helps me to give him the directions, get him started, and then literally walk away to another room - usually I'm working with my other dc anyway at that point - and come back to see how it went)

Carrie has 4 sons herself. Her oldest ds always pilots the program before she publishes it, and her other 3 sons do the programs as they are written, so she has a pretty good gauge of what boys can and will do. She writes with both the state standards and with God's "standards" in mind. If it's included in the guide, there's a very good reason for it being included, and more often than not, it is near to impossible to recreate the same learning opportunities with textbook/workbook approaches. Take it from someone who has been there done that with the textbook/workbook approach with hundreds of boys over the years - if retention and a love of learning is our goal for education (which I believe these are core goals for any level of education), HOD will meet those goals better hands-down. I hope this helps some - I think you'll come to love these masculine traits in your ds - I sure have!

In Christ,
Julie

[DHT1999]

I have two sons and both of them love their HOD program. Your question kind of makes me giggle because just a few days ago I was wondering if girls like HOD. I was thinking it seems so perfect for boys! I figured that is because Carrie has sons. I was thinking that the content seems very "boyish." And, the assignments are so focused with practically no busywork/wasted time... it just seems to fit my boys perfectly. They love the short assignments, the variety of things to learn and do and the simple activities. All of the books that we have read or are reading seem to be written for boys!

[water2wine]

My son is all boy and loves the activities. He has actually more than once complained about the fact that he never got to do all the LHFHG activities that the two younger girls did. I think most boys love doing and my son absolutely loves doing. I have two kids that I would say are the most enthusiastic about HOD activities to an extreme (almost more than I can handle ) and one is a girl the other is a boy. All my other girls love it but these two are just extreme. I think it is neutral really and applies to all. I will say in my house I expect them to love everything and think it is all cool so it turns out they do. In fact they usually voluntarily take it a step more and I really think that it is in part that we teach them why things are good and then expect contentment. So I cheer everything on all that I have decided to use and it really does transfer in attitude to my kids. HTH!

[MamaBear23Cubs]

He's 5 and never been in school. HOD has been most of our curriculum but also have other stuff laying around. He is a get it done and over with kind of boy. So different from my girls. Even with Awanas, he was dead set on learning just two lines of his verse instead of all 5. He did the two and would not do the other three. If he knows it , he does not want to go over it again. Talk about a frusterating with this little man. I love him but he is a challenge at time to work with. I had to make a calendar and highlight school days, do a picture check off sheet for when he is done (just words or boxes don't work for him) and I thought I had this parenting/teaching thing down since my oldest is now 9. I afterschool schooled her in K so this is my first time actually teaching K, its all on me. I know that Carrie has all boys but mine truley isn't an artsie type. maybe in the future he will but for now forget it. Though he is very creative in the dirt:)
thanks for the replies

[water2wine]

Though he is very creative in the dirt:)
thanks for the replies

Hahaha!

I will say this I have five girls and one boy and my son is definitely the most strong willed of the bunch. He definitely has his ways. On the one side it is good, it's leadership skills. On the other he is not ready to lead so that can be frustrating. So I completely understand about a boy that needs to have things his way.