I am thrilled to present a review and giveaway for the book Jump-Starting Boys: Help Your Reluctant Learner Find Success in School and Life by Pam Withers and Cynthia Gill.
This book was presented to me just under a month ago and I thought that it was definitely I book I would like to read. After reading it though, it is definitely a book that I would like to recommend to any and all parents of boys and teachers and educators as well.
For several years now I have been very passionate about my sons education. It came to my attention before we put C into the Waldorf School that the education system has been failing boys for quite some time now. Years ago the education system began to adapt methods in order to bring girls up the learning scale and honour their rights to education. However in doing so, boys have lost out. Did you know that "this is the first generation of young men likely to achieve less education than their fathers and to find themselves on a lower rung of the socioeconomic ladder"? Well, it's true. Much like our children's health issues will be worse than ours and they'll start having shorter life spans than us, our boys are on a slippery slope. The good news is "when boys test scores go up, so do girls scores. When adolescent boys find education to be purposeful and relevant, they are less defiant and more willing to learn, which frees girls up from having to deal with hours and days of behavioural problems around them".
Sounds good to me.
This book is aboslutely filled with great advice and counsel in which I would continue to reference throughout my sons educational career. This book can help with:
:: determining your son's learning style and how best to help him learn
:: strengthening your child's memory
:: encouraging him to appreciate math and science
:: engaging your reluctant reader via book clubs, graphic novels and kinesthetic activities
:: limiting his screen time without coming off as a tyrant
:: using his interests in technology to foster excitement about learning and forming good homework habits
Did you know that: "This generation's college degree is the equivalent of last generation's high school degree".
I know for some of us, most of my friends at least, it may seem a little early to be concerned with this high school and college. After reading Jump-Starting Boys, I feel it best to be on the proactive approach to our sons AND daughters educations. The authors wrote about 3 'slumps' that can occur over the years, something that we should be in the know about, especially if we are struggling with a reluctant learner:
The Kindergarten Slump - In this first slump, relatively few boys get caught in it but, facts show that 20% of 4-5 year olds do not have the language background for kindergarten success. Too much TV, undiagnosed hearing problems, chaotic or abusive homes and families where there is little meaningful conversations between children and adults are all reason for this particular slump to occur.
The Grade 4 Slump - This is the big one, the one I feel we should all be prepared for. One quarter to one third of ALL children, but especially boys start to struggle in Grade 4. Some of the contributing factors is: parents stop reading to them (reading to children accelerates their reading); less adult supervision means less reading as an activity; vocabulary and thinking skills that are not supported by conversations with such vocabulary and ideas at home and undiagnosed reading disabilities. It's interesting to note that "typically, fourth graders who duck out on reading end up entering high school with a sixth-grade reading capacity".
High School Slump - The main culprit is that around 9th grade most teens abandon reading for pleasure, dropping all reading except required reading assigned by teachers. Why? "Most books seem irrelevent to these kids because they don't deal with a teen's world... and many highly educated parents and some teachers snub or forbid {the type of books that do deal with a teen's world}". As well, male testosterone causes males to seek their self-esteem through competition and aggression which is more than likely misinterpreted and then squelched, punished and diverted away to non-reading activities. It doesn't help that we discourage aggressive content and there are not many male authors or male characters for them to relate to.
Overall, the biggest impression left on me from reading Jump-Starting Boys are two things, one of which really has come to my attention in the past year that I have been trying to address and another that I think I really needed a reminder about.
The first is of these is male role models. Not something I thought much about until my son started asking for a male teacher and a male babysitter. It occurred to me that my son was going without daily male role models completely, even before my husband and I split, due to the long hours that my ex was working. My son was only spending weekends around a man. I had also noticed that he really connects (and sometimes clings to) close male friends and family members, almost like he is starving for male attention. Our solution was partly that we were rewarded with a male teacher this year, but I have also, on the recommendation of a family member, been looking into a Big Brothers for C. Local Big Brother (and Sister) programs are everywhere in Canada and the US. The program is available for boys 7-14 with little to no males in their weekly lives and it is conditional that the boys must be willing to participate.
Another great suggestion in the book for exposing boys to male role models is through a book club. Look at this incredible resource called Christianne's Lyceum of Literature and Art that offers book clubs for parent and child, from Preschool to Grade 12 right here in Vancouver! This book club was specifically referenced in Jump-Starting Boys! How lucky are we to have this right at our fingertips.
The second big impression from Jump-Starting Boys is this and I quote: "A shift from focusing on building his self-esteem, independence and individualism to one of modeling and promoting perseverence, humility and community service." This one is especially important to me and not just because the only thing he ever seems to think about is me buying him more toys. I grew up in a situation where there were constant reality checks, no dreaming and no love of work. However, I know that in raising my son, in compensation for what I lacked, I've already been swinging a little to much to the other side of that pendulum. For one, I have been wanting to incorporate community service into his life but he still is a bit young and I just haven't found the right opportunity for us to do it together but the intention remains and the search continues. Also, I see and hear too many "good jobs" and such to children that have done things like sharing or throwing a piece of garbage away in the trash. I stopped the "good job" talk a long time ago, thanks to Waldorf but I still have so much to learn. Let us not be the generation that birthed the laziest generation from having self-esteem with no basis. "The ability to persevere and keep going is a much better predictor of life outcomes than self-esteem". Noted!
Again, what a great book! I wish I could lend it to all who are intersted but this one isn't leaving my shelf in case of emergency!
So, instead I have a GIVEAWAY!
Please check out all the ways you can enter to win your very own copy of Jump-Starting Boys below on the Rafflecopter and thanks for stopping by!
Financial compensation was not received for this post. A sample product was gifted from Viva Editions. Opinions expressed here are my own.
a Rafflecopter giveaway