What would you want your 13-year-old child to learn, read or watch?

[teedubya]

I'm creating a summer curriculum for my 13-year-old son. And I'm putting together a list of books, documentaries and other pieces of wisdom to help my son become a jedi at life.

What do you wish you had known at age 13? What book is a MUST read for him? What documentary changed your life?

The US education system is great for helping kids regurgitate facts, but it doesn't excel at teaching people to become a critical thinker.

What information and knowledge should be on any 13-year-old's radar, aside from religious texts and dogma?

Thanks in advance.

[Hog's Gone Fishin]

Get him a part time job on a swine operation. His life will be changed forever.

[Hoopsdoc]

I think I read every Louis L'Amour book in the school library when I was 13. That's fiction of course, but still good reading.

[scho63]

Of Mice and Men

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Hunt for Red October

Fahrenheit 451

The Old Man and the Sea

Huckleberry Finn

Call of the Wild

The Concrete Jungle

[Eleazar]

Ken Burns' documentary series on the Civil War

[BigMeatballDave]

[stevieray]

You travel a lot, so I would say the best curriculam is YOU. He's got his whole life to study.

Take him camping, go exploring the beauty of nature..lay on the ground and marvel at the stars... teach him to bulid a fire. Teach him to fish. Teach him to cook a fish. Bulid something together, whether it be a model or shelf for his room.

The time you spend with him now is vital, you're gonna blink, and he's going to be of age.

Your time with him will give him worth, love, loyalty all things that are the foundation to his future. These are the things that will mean the most to him, and the things he will pass onto others as he matures and enters adulthood.

Give him your time, the one fleeting gift that will last for a lifetime, while you still can..JMO

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by teedubya

I'm creating a summer curriculum for my 13-year-old son. And I'm putting together a list of books, documentaries and other pieces of wisdom to help my son become a jedi at life.

What do you wish you had known at age 13? What book is a MUST read for him? What documentary changed your life?

The US education system is great for helping kids regurgitate facts, but it doesn't excel at teaching people to become a critical thinker.

What information and knowledge should be on any 13-year-old's radar, aside from religious texts and dogma?

Thanks in advance.

What are his own personal interests? I found it helps to align learning to the child’s interests where you can.

Do you want him educated to become a free man? If so see my first recommendations:

Some basic primers on free-market economics for young teens:
What Ever Happened to Penny Candy?
Comes with a workbook. It's simple to read too. Cuts through the modern Keynesian crap. Wish I knew this stuff when I was younger.

It’s available here at this link and Mises Institute also carries it. There is a series of books for kids at this link, called the Uncle Eric Series: Capitalism for Kids, Common Sense Business for Kids, Personal Model for Success, Political Philosophies, Justice, Solving the Money Mystery, Economics: A Free Market Reader. Believe there is one on finance and investment. Teaches a young person how to manage money which they do not learn in school.

http://www.bluestockingpress.com/wha...enny-candy.htm

The Mainspring of Human Progress
This is also online as a .pdf if you google the title. Is a great philosophical primer before studying economics. It isolates why some civilizations prosper....and it’s not due to govt. It’s not hard to read either because its basic which is what is lacking today with all the complicated gobbledy gook.
https://mises.org/library/mainspring-human-progress

Lessons for the Young Economist
https://mises.org/library/lessons-young-economist

History?
The Thousand Year War is another easy to read book which will give him a better understanding of the Middle-East conflict. It’s a different perspective than the dumbed done media reporting we get.

Classic Literature: You'll have to look up what falls under that for boys, his age and what he likes. He should select it. Study the era a story was told in. It doesn't take long. It's interesting and fun and you learn a lot, even some history, just from that.

Art: Bring him to one of those art centers in your local community if they have one. They often have summer programs for kids. Imo, it begins with good drawing draftsmanship. Depends on who you get for an instructor though. Some of them suck because they do nothing but be there. I would have loved an art history course
Earlier too. Look into the Great Courses for not just art history but many other subjects: photography, music, science, history, travel.

http://www.thegreatcourses.com/

If he prefers music, I can’t help you but I am sure there are summer resources.

I feel these subjects, as well as practical skills helps them learn the more academic materials if these are mixed in.


Academics subjects like math?
My one regret in my early education— I wish I didn’t daydream so much learning my math prior to high school. It was just so boring to me. (unless I was counting money) Though I did fine in high school math, that was only because I could do the tests, I wouldn’t say I could think with it beyond that.

So, as someone mentioned if you want to help him with his SAT/ACT scores look into Teaching Textbooks. They are designed for homeschoolers and are very popular with that crowd for a reason. They start as early as Third Grade but they do Pre-Algebra, Algebra, Geometry and Pre-Calc. Trig is in one of those sets. Good SAT scores have been reported by parents who've used them, because high school is not taught the way it is used on the SAT for one. SAT requires reasoning with your high school math. One boy got a perfect SAT score, got into Dartmouth for engineering. They come with a DVD, workbook etc. They also go over what was done wrong on each test too. So they don't walk away not fixing what they missed.

They’re not cheap but the second link is a swap site where parents sell theirs used.They are usually in very good condition too.

http://www.teachingtextbooks.com/
http://www.vegsource.com/homeschool/fs36/index.html

Also, SATs have an online course you can pay for which covers the verbal and writing too. It automatically scores for you too. They have daily practice on one or two problems and whole tests, including past SATs which they score for you. ACT only has four tests which they score. The course sucks compared to the SAT one. However, there's a software program that does a better job and auto scores and tells you want areas you need to relearn, review to improve. It's easier to improve your ACT score, I found, as it covers what you learn more than being a reasoning test.


Improve literacy? Obviously reading matters but the SAT is mostly about the meanings of words. Instill the discipline to look up words, including their etymologies as he reads anything. It will boost his literacy, and improve reading comprehension. This is not just a score goal...but that comes with the territory. I used my mom because she as a walking dictionary and always kept one beside her because she was always reading novels. A fun book, and I think there’s a video on it is The History of English. It’s actually fascinating and fun. It explains why English can be a crazy language due to the words from other places in it.

Writing: Try Institute for Excellence in Writing has books and programs. I can't personally vouch for this one because I haven't used it. That's only because I found too late and didn't have a chance. I hear it's good though.

http://iew.com/


Practical Skills:
Does he like to cook? Try RouxBe cooking school online. They used to have an introductory for free but not sure if they have it anymore. There’s others. Martha Stewart has a great section including cutting skills and the library has videos you can rent. My mom taught me nothing about cooking or food preparation and I used to bang around in the kitchen on my own following recipes. I’d have to ask her what certain words in them meant though. My daughter loved doing her culinary arts program. It’s a good practical skill.

Speaking of practical skills, have your son make something...like in woodshop or something. You draw on other subjects in practical skills. It's great way to learn how to apply what he’s learned. This could be nearly anything like boating, sailing, camping, survival skills etc.

[Saccopoo]

I think that the suggestion of yard work was excellent.

Books are books. Rather than trying to have him assimilate positive societal mores via literary input, teach him them through active participation.

Doing it yourself is fundamentally more solid in terms of building character than reading about someone else doing it.

The ****ing kid ain't gonna learn to use a light saber unless he uses a light saber - savvy?

You want to teach him patience and attention to detail and art and science all at once? Teach him how to fly fish.

[GloucesterChief]

Originally Posted by scho63

Of Mice and Men

To Kill a Mockingbird

The Hunt for Red October

Fahrenheit 451

The Old Man and the Sea

Huckleberry Finn

Call of the Wild

The Concrete Jungle

I would add Animal Farm.

Brave New World and 1984 contain sex scenes so may or may not be age appropriate.

[Brock]

How to tie knots and properly secure a load in a pickup.

[ThaVirus]

Originally Posted by scho63

Of Mice and Men



To Kill a Mockingbird



The Hunt for Red October



Fahrenheit 451



The Old Man and the Sea



Huckleberry Finn



Call of the Wild



The Concrete Jungle

Reading this list just put me to sleep....

[BucEyedPea]

Originally Posted by vailpass

A Separate Peace. If you haven't, read it for yourself first then talk about it.

I had to read that in one of my high school English classes. Can't remember if it was freshman or sophmore year.

I read The Good Earth at age 13 on my own and loved it. Dickens too. Loved him.

[Donger]

http://www.amazon.com/American-Consp.../dp/0199351813

[notorious]

Originally Posted by Buehler445

I wouldn't know. I spent the entire summer working 16 hours a day and like four on Sundays. That probably helped me more than any learning would have.

This.

My summer vacation was a 15 minute break from the JD 4430.

[BucEyedPea]

Can't work at age 13. His kid is only 13. I guess some things. I couldn't work until age 16. After that I worked full-time all summer and part-time during the school year right through college years. In face one summer I worked three jobs....so I could go to Europe the next summer.