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| Raising Indigo Children |
| Public online group |
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I came back from a long weekend or relaxation and found that we have several new members and I want to say "welcome."
Welcome to Dawn, Elaine, Michelle, and Sunee Skye.
I find myself thinking so much about this theory of "indigo children" as i watch my daughter with a close eye. It’s quite interesting - her defiance to school, conformity, and sometimes authority. She's a sweet girl regardless of her unruly behavior, and I believe it stems from her frustrations. It's like she KNOWS we're running this place incorrectly. And when i say "we" i don't literally mean "us" but I do mean the overall "system."
My belief is - i think if she really is a 5 year old with these frustrations - I completely agree with her. I dealt with very similar "problems" in school and I felt completely isolated from my peers at times. The behaviors vary and the frustrations do as well, so if this does not sound exactly like your situation - please, do not disregard this theory. What IS similar is the fact that something - something you might not necessarily be able to place a finger on - but something is just different about your child. I think this something is something wonderful and beautiful. We as parents need to encourage this uniqueness.
Back to the "system" being set up wrong... perhaps I mean the school system, but I’m still observing because I think it extends beyond that. The world has so many people so we feel this need to (and I’m not sure how we got to this point) shuffle ourselves around in the most efficient way. Which to an extent is necessary; however, where we go wrong with this is the fact that people are so different from each other that there is no "right" way to do this. For example, with the school system - we need more flexibility with the way we teach and WHAT we teach. There ARE schools that offer this but many are hard pressed to find them so they home school. Great option but not everyone can do this, and some choose not to because it does not fulfill their needs as a human being.
I'm sure a few people will wonder what i mean when i say "we need more flexibility with the way we teach and WHAT we teach." I hope you can follow me on this. My daughter, for example, is bored with school. Her teacher argues that's not the case. She feels Kaitlyn is just plain old hyper and can’t sit still. There is some truth to that. She's eager to learn. She feels she knows her ABC's and she's learning to read (her way) why does she need to sit and hear about letters and sounds when she can be learning about Why there are stars in the sky…and why does the pumpkin make a different noise when you knock on it opposed to something solid. I know in my heart that she’s craving more stimulating things to learn – not so much more challenging “boring” stuff. She’ll learn to read while learning these other things – but she needs more. How does the sail boat move? She asks me questions like this.
Anyways, I’m at work and should get back to business. I just needed to speak my mind and hopefully get everyone to think a little bit about this…see if it makes sense to anyone. Can you relate? I’d love to hear back from someone.
Peace,
April
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| Posted by April on 11/19/2007 10:40 AM
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Hi April,
I share some of your frustration on the school system. I have good relationship with my teachers' kids and sometimes I point out that such and such book is boring and they tend to agree with me but they also have to comply to a system.
I feel that especially one my son is making a lot more progress during weekends and holidays that in the long day at school. Homeschooling would be a solution but I would have to take care of the social aspect because none of the kids around us are homeschooled.
What I do is always making him feel good about wanted to do things differently but I also tell him that he should try to use a "minimum compliance strategy" to make our lives easier.
Vero |
| posted by Vero on 11/19/2007 12:33 PM
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| Vero, I will be homeschooling James next semester, I did a search on organizations in my area and got a HUGE packet of groups locally that I can do field trips with all kinds of social interaction. Also James is in sports (taking a break right now) and Cub scouts which is a wonderful thing for him and he loves it!! Find out what your community offers and see if maybe it would be right for you. Not saying you HAVE to home school to get better results for your child, I am just saying there are options out there and it seemed to fit for us, after 2 years of trouble and his eagerness to learn at home and not be distracted and learn at his pace. Hope this helped :) |
| posted by Nicole on 11/19/2007 01:11 PM
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hello gals!
i am new here but feel so at home. gee i wonder why? it is that special something isn't it. april when you described your daughter i thought, "oh my goodness she reminds me of me!" then i read on and see you ae i are totally of like mind.
april the system probably started out with good intentions but they went south real fast. that is such a dam shame. and yes there are waldorf schools and the like but they are really expensive, can you say no more college money???!! yikes!!
here's what i think. our parents and society at the time we were kids did not have the tools and resources avaialble today. i am on board with the moms here who want to homeschool. in fact i am leaning that way right now.
we recently moved from marin county, ca down to LA and what a shocker the public schools are here! i took my girls out pretty much right away. they were getting a great social life going, but not learning anything. how can you with 700 plus kids in a school prey tell?
my youngest has some special needs going on and qualifies for the early intervention program through that dreaded word "the system". but they are really good. they have top notch skilled professionals in there. i was so impressed with it. it is only preschool but they can really help with his speech and what not.
so here is the scoop on what i am doing to prepare for homeschooling next year. i did not feel comfortable doing it without knowing enough. i found out so much! in my area there is a great group of people who do A LOT together. they go ice skating once a week, have a park day that has spanish, french, sign language and so on. they have a big and little girls group that does a craft each week at the park. their message board is so informative. since it is a big group they have group activities during school hours so that it is only the homeschool crowd. for instance a dance studio and an art studio, a shakespear play that the kids put on once a year. so i am not worried about the social aspect.
i have also ordered the laurel springs cirriculums for both of my girls to do in conjunction with school work. and no! this is not too much because i am instilling in them a love for learning. this will bridge the gap for next year when we jump right in.
additionally for those of you with gifted kids (probably all of us), i encourage you to check out stanford university's online gifted youth program. my oldest daughter is going to take a couple english classes starting in january. they are based on age-approriate clasic novels such as a wrinkle in time, black beauty, and heidi (the list to choose from is long)
now there are other options too. connections academy and k12.com are run through public charter schools throughout the us. this means that there are no legalities involved. you are hooked in with an actual school system but you get everything brand new, even computers and microphones and online hookup FOR FREE. not kidding. the kids take their classes at home, online with a live teacher and they get book work.
they even have their own principal. this is a way the system can work because there is nothing standing in the way of the children and their actual work. none of that peer pressure nonsense, not even a nasty drive to bring your kids to school (forget about the commute!!yuck!)
the charters are more structured than the privates like laurel springs. i do encourage those who want to homeschool to make sure you do follow a cirriculum of some sort. you never know if god forbid they have to go back to school how much that will benefit them. the beauty of laurel springs is that they have project based cirriculums as well as standard ones. this enables creative kids to use their artform to acquire credits. although laurel springs is not overly expensive (1600 for the whole year), it caters to a lot of actors, iceskaters and so forth as well as kids living abroad with their families. their cirriculum has been approved by the university of california. that means these kids get into colleges with ease, and many in other parts of the country as well.
i cannot believe all i have found out. we have the chance to nurture our kids in ways no one ever did before!
happy thanksgiving!
elaine |
| posted by on 11/20/2007 01:53 AM
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april your daughter sounds just like me! i have done a little research and i'm not sure if my daughter is (going) indgo but im sure i am, and its like a 95% chance that kailey is.
Kailey is only 2 months old, not even, and she is so alert she hates to be cradled and will wine till you put her up on your sholder or in a sitting possition. she is already strong enough to push her self up to stand her neck was stronger then my wrist when she was born which is part if the reson i didn't brest feed. she also dosen't sleep will unless she is proped up. |
| posted by Lacey on 11/23/2007 01:44 AM
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I am new at this email group, but thank God what an awesome group, I feel very much at home.
For what I had read and compared, all ordinary school systems are very much the same...it's frustating most of it for my son especially. Thank goodnes I've found that montessori system ( and wardoff, but they don't have it yet in Indonesia ) is good, and I found one nearby my house in my city. Basically it is depending on us as their mum to defend what our children needs. So based on that, regulary I meet with the teacher and headmaster of my son school, in order to discuss Maula ( my son's name ) progress. They understand about his condition, but still they need someone to remind them....again.... and again of their understanding. Who will fight and defend for our kids, if it wasn't us their parents...
The teacher gives Maula reason ( resonable ones ) of why, and how, for all conditions.Why you can not running around the classroom, why you have to finish what you've started before starting another one, why this, and why that...and try to engage and occupied Maula from his vision/angle to be able accommodate school program. It works a lot.
Apart from it, I ( truthly us as a family ) conducted a healthy diet for Maula, and put him into detoxcification program from homeopathy. The homeopathy is to make his body chemestry, system and metabolism balance. I've chosen it apart from chemical supplement, as Maula already has so much toxin from his hair and blood test. Tried no to give him sweets / sugar, and junk food. I've changed Maula's finger food to something healthy...it helps reduce his hyperactifity, build up his concentration more ( including his sense, so beware..& prepare ), and making him more comfortable...
Be happy, have lot's of love....and we should thank you our kids for choosing us as their parents....What a joyfull journey we have. |
| posted by syanaz on 01/02/2008 08:26 AM
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