Sorry to hear about the car. Hang in there, sometimes life comes at us in waves. As the little blue fish suggests: Just keep swimming [smile].

~Luke
.-= Luke Holzmann´s last blog ..Multitasking =-.

Home[cough]schooling.

Seriously. From what you express here your child is bored out of his mind, realizes the pointlessness of homework, has discovered that the school isn’t there to serve him and is now bucking the system.

I never saw homework–when I was in high school and college–as my job. Rather, grades were a game and homework was how you won the game. And win I did. But it was a stupid, pointless game. So I played to win, but nothing more.

My wife was not that way. Grades and homework weren’t a game or a job. If they were pointless then why should she bother with them? So she didn’t if they were pointless. In many ways, she’s much smarter than I.

Homeschooling fixes all these problems. It allows your student to work at his pace on things that matter, not the insipid busywork of school. He can focus on enjoying learning rather than fighting “the man” and a system.

And what’s more, he will discover that there is a time and a place for taking responsibility for one’s own path. He rightly discerns that “going to school, doing his class work, keeping his mouth shut and doing his homework” is an unrewarding and unimportant job. He wants something greater. So he responds the only way he knows how: By getting writeups to display his displeasure.

It would be far better to teach him that he should pursue other options (like learning at home) where things can be meaningful. We do not want our children to believe that they should stay in a job that tells them to show up, perform mindless/pointless tasks and get docked if they do not. No! Instead, we want them to pursue things that are fulfilling, important and help them and others grow.

In the real world–the real world that matters and benefits people–you can explain to your boss that there is a better way to do this and s/he will listen. In the real world, toil is a bad thing. Work is a good thing. Too often in school the two are confused as one and the same.

…

[/rant]

Homeschooling, friends. Homeschooling.

~Luke
.-= Luke Holzmann´s last blog ..Multitasking =-.