First there is this book. Raising Boys by Steve Biddulph. Interesting and informative, a first look into the idea that there are actual physical differences in the brain in boys and girls.
When I wanted to learn more about this and also to make sure the science was accurate about this, I turned to the Eides. They are a husband and wife team, one a neurologist and one a neuropsychologist I think, that are on the cutting edge of research about learning and the brain and all that jazz. Check them out. They have written many books (i've only read the Mislabeled Child) and they have an awesome blog that is very informative. Start here to read about Gender differences and the Brain and then you'll have to follow it up by looking at the other links to their other posts at the bottom of the page. There are countless studies that they have cited....here is one that I found particularly interesting about hearing and gender from Indiana State University.
I first found out about the Eides through Tagmax, our online community for gifted children who are being homeschooled and their families, which has been an excellent resource for us. If you'd like to check out Tagmax you can do that here. They have other branches of the community to support gifted kids that are in the school system too.
That's all for now, I guess. I do believe that there are many things that we teach our children in regards to gender just by the way we live. And we need to be thoughtful about this just as we do about all aspects of living and parenting. And I also don't mean to imply that somehow the value of a child is different simply because of gender....only that science is finding that though we may be capable of many of the same things, we may go about them differently. We actually use our brains differently. We process things differently. If I am going to be present with my boys as they learn at home, then I want to understand this to the best of my ability.
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