Video on education...

[bellebud]

This video was just posted on the Family homeschool thread by someone, but I wanted to post it here for discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

I think it's brilliant and I hope our schools someday catch on...

 

[Lisa loves Pooh]

This video was just posted on the Family homeschool thread by someone, but I wanted to post it here for discussion.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zDZFcDGpL4U

I think it's brilliant and I hope our schools someday catch on...

It is interesting. It does give some credence to the Montessori concept as that is not factory like.

I admit that as a homeschooler, I am more factory like--though I will progress along if it fits. Right now we are actually slowed down on the American revolution to allow it to all sink in. We are reading Johny Tremain aloud and that is a long book. My younger children listen in on the 5th graders work and sometimes contribute.

But reinventing the wheel of an entire system--is a long uphill battle and unlikely to occur any time soon.

 

[PollyannaMom]

I love the format of that video!

Content-wise, I'm not sure about every single piece, but I do agree with a lot.

 

[palavra]

I am an educator, a proponent of homeschooling for those who choose and the mother of a child with ADHD. While there are some very good points in the video about the fact that schools are using a model of education that does not fit with society today, he is way off the mark and doing much damage to the parents and children who have ADHD.

As a parent of a child who literally never slept and was extremely active from birth, I know for a fact that ADHD is real. One of the glaring misconceptions that he is perpetuating in this video is that kids are being medicated for school purposes only. In no way is that why my daughter is on medication. If it were, I would gladly withdraw her from school and home school her myself. No, we medicate because it is a quality of life issue. My daughter literally can't stay still when she is off her medications. If anyone here has ever suffered from restless leg syndrome then you understand a bit of what my daughter faced every day. As her wise physician said, "It's like being uncomfortable in your own body all the time. "

My daughter's attention was never our main problem; her out of control movements were. Now that we have found, through trial and error, the correct medication and dosage, she has a much better quality of life. She is not zombie like at all. In fact, she has said on several occasions that she is so glad she can focus better and not feel the need to move constantly.

Yes, i am on a soapbox because of the ignorant and often harmful things that people believe about ADHD because they don't have experience with it or understand it. Just look at the comments under the video posted on Youtube.
One of them states the "ADHD is just lazy parenting." That is what we face on a constant basis. How sad that these myths are being perpetuated.

 

[cglaura]

Kind of on-topic, kind of not, but it is something we read in one of our homeschool books that always stuck with us (dd19 was schooled at home K-12).

Red Flower

Once upon a time there was a little boy who studied at a big school.

One morning the teacher said "Today we’re going to draw."

"Good" thought the little boy.

He liked to draw lions, tigers, chickens, trains and boats.

He got his color-pencils and started drawing.

"Wait!! Don’t start yet." said the teacher.

She waited until all the students were ready and then said ...

"We’re going to draw flowers."

The little boy started drawing beautiful flowers with his pink, orange and blue pencils.

"Wait" said the teacher. "I’ll show you how to do it."

And the flower she drew was red with a green stem.

"Ok" said the teacher "now you can do it."

The little boy looked at the flower the teacher had drawn , looked at his own flowers and liked his best. He couldn't say that so he turned the sheet of paper over and drew a flower just like the one the teacher had drawn - red with a green stem.

Another day the students were having class outside and the teacher said ...

"Today we are going to play with clay."

"Great" the boy thought.

He liked to play with clay.

He could make things like elephants, mice, cars and trucks.

He started to take some clay in his hands and make a big ball.

Then the teacher said ... "Wait ! Don’t start yet."

She waited until all the students were ready.

"Now" she said "we’re going to make a plate."

"Good" thought the little boy.

He liked to make plates of different sizes and shapes.

The teacher said ... "Wait !! I’ll show you how to do it."

It was a soup-plate.

"Ok" she said "now you can start."

The little boy looked at the plate the teacher had made, looked at his own plate and liked his best. He couldn’t say it so he got his plate, made it into a big ball and started it again.

He made a soup-plate just like the one the teacher had made.

And since early in his life he learned not to do things by himself but to wait for a model.

And then the little boy went to another school.

This one was even bigger than the other one.

One day the new teacher said ... "Today we’re going to draw."

"Good" thought the little boy.

He waited to see what the teacher would draw.

The teacher didn’t draw anything.

She only walked around the room.

Then the teacher approached the little boy and asked "Don’t you like to draw?"

"Yes" he said "but what are we going to draw?"

"I don’t know" said the teacher "draw whatever you want."

"How can I do it?" he asked.

"Any way you want." said the teacher.

"But what colors should I use?" he asked.

"You choose. If everybody makes the same drawing with the same colors how can I know which drawing is yours?" she said.

"I don’t know" answered the boy.

So he drew a red flower with a green stem.

Many times we want our children, friends, relatives, people we love, to do things the way we believe is the correct one.

Are we right?

Other times we sit and wait until someone tells us what to do.

Is that right?​

 

[Nicolepa]

As a parent of a child who literally never slept and was extremely active from birth, I know for a fact that ADHD is real. One of the glaring misconceptions that he is perpetuating in this video is that kids are being medicated for school purposes only. In no way is that why my daughter is on medication. If it were, I would gladly withdraw her from school and home school her myself. No, we medicate because it is a quality of life issue. My daughter literally can't stay still when she is off her medications. If anyone here has ever suffered from restless leg syndrome then you understand a bit of what my daughter faced every day. As her wise physician said, "It's like being uncomfortable in your own body all the time. "

Yes, i am on a soapbox because of the ignorant and often harmful things that people believe about ADHD because they don't have experience with it or understand it. Just look at the comments under the video posted on Youtube.
One of them states the "ADHD is just lazy parenting." That is what we face on a constant basis. How sad that these myths are being perpetuated.

But part of the problem (and a big one IMO) is that most of the kids on ADD medication ARE being medication for school. The symptoms of ADD mimic a lot of other things (Sensory Processing Disorder for one). My son has SPD but if you look at his actions you'd swear he was ADD and he scores very high on the ADD evaluation. If you were to medicate my son I bet it would do no good. If you were to use techniques used for ADD it would do him harm. ADD and SPD have a lot of overlapping symptoms but they are totally different disorders. But ADD is the one that is known about and therefore diagnosed more often.

Is ADHD/ADD real YES. Is it often incorrectly diagnosed YES. Do a lot of parent medicate so they won't have problems at school ABSOLUTLY.

 

[emma'smom]

Barring the whole ADHD issue (which I don't feel qualified to speak to), the rest of the premise is another call to action regarding the importance of 21st skills and it's spot on! Much has been written about this issue and the need for a paradigm shift....

We can say it is an uphill battle and sigh---or we can recognize that awareness is one step of this process and talk about it and push the change!

 

[bellebud]

I am an educator, a proponent of homeschooling for those who choose and the mother of a child with ADHD. While there are some very good points in the video about the fact that schools are using a model of education that does not fit with society today, he is way off the mark and doing much damage to the parents and children who have ADHD.

As a parent of a child who literally never slept and was extremely active from birth, I know for a fact that ADHD is real. One of the glaring misconceptions that he is perpetuating in this video is that kids are being medicated for school purposes only. In no way is that why my daughter is on medication. If it were, I would gladly withdraw her from school and home school her myself. No, we medicate because it is a quality of life issue. My daughter literally can't stay still when she is off her medications. If anyone here has ever suffered from restless leg syndrome then you understand a bit of what my daughter faced every day. As her wise physician said, "It's like being uncomfortable in your own body all the time. "

My daughter's attention was never our main problem; her out of control movements were. Now that we have found, through trial and error, the correct medication and dosage, she has a much better quality of life. She is not zombie like at all. In fact, she has said on several occasions that she is so glad she can focus better and not feel the need to move constantly.

Yes, i am on a soapbox because of the ignorant and often harmful things that people believe about ADHD because they don't have experience with it or understand it. Just look at the comments under the video posted on Youtube.
One of them states the "ADHD is just lazy parenting." That is what we face on a constant basis. How sad that these myths are being perpetuated.

ya know, when I was watching it, I was thinking that a parent of a TRUE ADHD child could feel this way.

I totally get that your dd actually HAS ADHD, and he doesn't say that every child diagnosed w/ it doesn't have it and shouldn't be medicated. He was saying A LOT of them are misdiagnosed... and I believe that. I can see where as a parent of a TRUE ADHD kid, this stuck out to you. Listen again to it if it got you upset... he's not saying ADHD doesn't truly exist, but that it's overly misdiagnosed and we're pouring meds into some kids who don't need it.

I remember my ped once saying about my ds when ds was about 4yo and doing somersaults on the exam table as the ped and I were talking. He had just gotten back from a conference regarding sleep disorders and how they are finding that kids w/ apnea are mimicking ADHD symptoms (like hyperactivity - my ds doing somersaults on the table), and being medicated for ADHD, while they really don't have it. So I totally get where the video is coming from (but can see where you'd be offended - but really, listen again if it bothered you - he's not saying your dd doesn't truly have it). But it IS over diagnosed and kids are being medicated unnecessarily. The part where he draws the doc pouring meds into a kid, saying "trust me, I'm a doctor"... that made me instantly think of the posters my stepdad has in his den from years ago saying "9 out of 10 doctors recommend x-brand of cigarettes". My mil was given by her doctor a cigarette to smoke while she was in labor "to help her relax" (this was in the 60's). (btw, mil was just diagnosed w/ lung cancer). So, just saying... not your dd, but he's talking about many other kids.

 

[palavra]

Bellebud,

I hope you don't think I took offense to your posting the video. In fact, there are some very good parts of the video that I agree with. I also happen to agree that there are kids who are misdiagnosed with ADHD and medicated inappropriately.

I do hope that education will continue catch up with our kids and how they learn today. This year, I've got a an interactive white board in my classroom that allows for more movement for the students overall. It has been a great asset to my style of teaching which tends to be hand ons and active rather than sit in your seat facing the front.

 

[bellebud]

Bellebud,

I hope you don't think I took offense to your posting the video. In fact, there are some very good parts of the video that I agree with. I also happen to agree that there are kids who are misdiagnosed with ADHD and medicated inappropriately.

I do hope that education will continue catch up with our kids and how they learn today. This year, I've got a an interactive white board in my classroom that allows for more movement for the students overall. It has been a great asset to my style of teaching which tends to be hand ons and active rather than sit in your seat facing the front.

I'm glad you didn't take offense as a parent of a true ADHD child. Again, I thought to myself while watching the video that a parent like you 'could' take offense. You sound like a great mom and teacher! My kids also have a medical condition (periodic paralysis - a form of MD), and they need to be able to move "at will" to dissipate the potassium build up in their muscles. It also causes their muscles to be weak or tight at times... any time. It's one of the reasons we started homeschooling - it's just better for their bodies. So I totally get "real" medical conditions. I'm glad your dd's ADHD is able to be helped by meds... that's what the meds are there for. And I accept your and give you one back