Go outside and play!

photo of kids rope climbing

I can hear my mother now, telling me to get outside and play. She was always after me to get outdoors because left to my own devices, I would stay inside and read. What I did frequently was go outside and read, but my mother was happy because I was on my own. When I … Read more

Rites of Passage

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I just got back from the Boys’ Schools conference and that always gives me lots of new topics to share with you all. The theme for the conference this year was Building Boys into Good Men and there were lots of speakers talking about how to do just that. One of the sessions I attended … Read more

Handwriting: Still critical to learning

cursive handwriting image

I’m in the middle of revising my first book – Teaching the Male Brain – and I’m coming up with LOTS of new information that I’ll be sharing with you in the months to come. In the meantime, I have a topic I want to bring up because it has been something most of the boys’ … Read more

Early School – Good Idea, or Not?

bored boy photo

I was in England last week working with some schools there – a real mixed group, coed, girls’ and boys’ schools. While I was there a news item caught my attention. Someone in the UK has suggested that school start when children are 2 years old. I was flabbergasted. If you have been paying attention … Read more

What is normal?

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There is a new book that parents of boys might be interested in: Back to Normal: Why Ordinary Childhood Behavior is Mistaken for ADHD, Bipolar Disorder, and Autism Spectrum Disorder by Enrico Gnaulati. I learned about this book from a NPR interview in which Dr. Gnaulati said that many of the problems that he saw … Read more

Back to school: Ready, set … GO

For those of you in the US, school is about to start again. If you are in the UK, there’s a bit of time before school starts, but it’s still coming up soon. This post is for you all. For those of you in the Southern Hemisphere, you’re in the middle of the school year … Read more

A watershed of insight, courtesy of Doc Hendley

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At the end of June, the International Boys’ Schools Coalition had their annual meeting. It’s always a pleasure to be with a large group of people whose focus is on educating boys, especially since those schools are both state and independent schools, and they are from all over the world. Attendees came from the USA, … Read more

School’s out. What’s a boy to do?

boy lying in grass

What will your son do during his school break? Here in the northern hemisphere, children are already on summer break or will be on break shortly.  In the southern hemisphere, your children will have winter break shortly.  So what are you going to do when you hear, “I’m so bored!” All of the suggestions depend … Read more

Navigating the transition from elementary to middle school

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For any kid, moving up from elementary to middle school presents a challenge. For boys, who are almost always still children – i.e. have not hit puberty yet – when they enter middle school, that change might not seem too much of a change at first. The learning shift that happens in middle school – … Read more

Boys and elementary school: Part 1

1st grade image

If your little fellow is headed to first grade in the fall, you’ve been spending over five years getting him ready. You’ve helped him learn how to interact and socialize with other people – kids and adults. You’ve read to him, talked with him, sung songs and played games that have helped light up the … Read more