Child resisting school? Try a sabbatical for kids.

A kiddie sabbatical is a break to recharge batteries and reassess values. It isn’t the same thing as long-term home-schooling. The strain on parents is short-term. In the Internet age it is often possible to work at home for a few months. I have found no data on this, but we could be seeing a trend toward sabbaticals for the young and restless.

The Washington area has the highest concentration of ambitious and challenging schools in the country, a result of both the quality of the educators and the affluence of the parents. But such educational riches come at a price. Schools that demand so much don’t work for some kids. Parents, including some Post colleagues, occasionally tell me about their bright children who see no point in many assignments and don’t do them, leading to tension and heartburn for the adults.

When it gets too bad, a family may pull the kid out of school to let everyone calm down and see if another approach can be found. The pause in schooling doesn’t usually last long. The student reads on his or her own for awhile–something they like to do—until the parents find a different school or a new year begins with new teachers better tuned to different rhythms.

more… http://voices.washingtonpost.com/class-struggle/2010/05/child_resisting_school_try_a_s.html