I am over half way through Why Gender Matters. This is a fascinating book. Luke has recommended the book several times. I finally got around to reading it and I’m glad I did. It is fascinating.
In our politically correct public schools there is a push to treat boys and girls exactly the same. This book explains why that is doomed to fail. In general the brain of boys and girls are wired differently. For example boys will be attracted to movement while girls will be attracted by faces. This happens long before society has had a chance to imprint anything.
Our son is an example of this. When baby bop showed up at 14 months old we didn’t have any cars in the house. He crawled around the house for a while looking and looking. Finally he took a shoe and moved it around on the ground while making truck noises.
Why Gender Matters reviews dozens of studies. Here are some of the differences between boys and girls the book shares:
Girls hear better than boys.
Music therapy helps premature baby girls but does little for baby boys.
Girls draw nouns. Boys draw verbs.
Women and men use different parts of their brains when navigating.
Boys often know what types of toys they like before they know their gender.
Boys will fight with someone and be best friends the next day. Girls will fight and hate each other for years.
Girls and boys assess risk differently. (Boys are much more likely to do something risky when they are with other boys.)
Boys and girls feel pain differently.
Girls’ friendships are face-to-face. Boys’ friendships are shoulder-to-shoulder.
Stress improves learning for boys but impairs learning with girls.
I hope to have a review up in a week or two. I am so impressed with the book that I bought a second copy and have asked my oldest two daughters to read the book
This book re-enforces how glad we are that we can homeschool. We are able to treat our daughters like girls and our son like a boy.
8 comments:
I'm so glad you're getting a chance to read that book... and that my recommendation proved legit [smile].
~Luke
Thanks for your contribution to this week’s Carnival of Homeschooling. It will post Wednesday morning, July 13th on my blog, A Life Supreme (www.asupremelife.blogspot.com ). I’d appreciate it if you could advertise the carnival here on your blog. And please consider using one of the COH images found here: http://whyhomeschool.blogspot.com/2008/05/we-have-winners-of-carnival-of.html.
Blessings,
Laura
This is so true!
My older son made friends with another boy who had four sisters. Both boys are really into air soft wars, and knew all about weaponry, etc, despite living in predominantly feminine homes. The boys get together to do something, rarely saying more than a few words for hours, whereas talking is the whole reason girls get together.
Yay, homeschooling!
Good post although another great thing about homeschooling is that we can adjust easily when the oddballs come along - the girls that are more like boys in some areas and vice versa.
Great post! I love that book, too!
This is just what I'm learning about at the moment-I love your examples. Do you know about the BoysAlive site? They're having interviews on line at the moment addressing these very issues you're reading about! Here's a contact address Boys Alive! or just google it......I'm sure you'll find it interesting!
This definitely grabbed my interest, and I'm putting this book on my "to read" list!
I keep meaning to write a review. It really is a great book.
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