I need some ideas!!

Discussion in 'Homeschooling' started by Angel, May 4, 2004.

  1. Angel

    Angel New Member

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    My son has lost his curiosity about learning. I have asked him to think about things that he would be interested in learning about. I then suggested some things and he replied that is stupid. He replies nothing. He used to be such a curious little boy. I guess I should explain a little bit. My son gets everything very easily. I don't have to repeat things with him. However he has been in public school for K-4(he is finishing his 4th grade year in public school) I plan to homeschool both my boys next year. I have been trying to get him into an enrichment program of some sort since he was in k. I would just appreciate any ideas on how to recover a zest for learning!!!
     
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  3. Deena

    Deena New Member

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    Hi,

    Maybe you need to just de-school him for awhile. Go to the library and let him pick out books for awhile, take "field trips" to places he's interested in, relax, listen to decent music, read, etc. It's not a time to play Nintendo, or whatever thing like that, but a time to deschool, and get to know each other better, and chill out. Some schoolwork does seem stupid to kids, but some of it's gotta be done anyhow! So, don't get overwhelmed :eek: just try to make a relaxing atmosohere for awhile, then try again...
     
  4. Mom2ampm

    Mom2ampm New Member

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    I agree with Deena....

    Maybe he is just burned out. He'll probably have more ideas after a long period of rest and "deschooling". Next time, make a game of it. Don't ask what he wants to learn about. Pretend your doing an interview or something and ask your kids to tell about themselves. You could even get a printout (online somewhere) of a list of favorites. Have them fill them out. These kind of lists tell a good bit about a student. Then, you can make up a list of themes from the ideas from these activities.

    Good luck!
     
  5. Terry

    Terry New Member

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    Your story sounds alot like mine. My son is gifted. He is finishing up 4th grade. He hated school. He thought it was "stupid". He came home in the first grade and said school was dumb and a waste of time. He threw his back pack down and asked to be home schooled. I wish I had listened to him then. We fought with the school through first and second grade to get him put in advanced classes. They finally tested him at the end of second grade. I laughed when they called me in to ask if I knew how smart he was. What did they think I was trying to tell them!

    Even with APEX one day a week he was still bored. We finally pulled him out this past Christmas. (Middle of 4th grade.) He had also started thinking of learning as stupid and boring. I took him to the library and had him look through the historical fiction books. He loved them! He began reading a series of books. He couldn't get enough. He started asking questions on the time periods in the books. Off we went to the library to get books on the time period he was working on. We created our own unit studies using history to branch off from. He loves it and even suggested I send this email to you. He is reading over my shoulder as I type. LOL :) He is now so excited about learning he has several friends asking, no begging their Mom's to homeschool. Now if I can just find a way to get him back into math. He has been working on it this semester, but he still hates it.

    Just give your son time and watch him. Pay attention to what he likes. If he likes trains, study trains. Steam engines vs. electric for science, give vocab words that are train related. Have him read books about them and write stories about them, have him read about the history of trains and the time period when they were invented. Have him read about how the west grew due to the Transcontinental Railway. Pick a subject and run with it. Maybe this will work for him, too. Good luck!
    Terry
     
  6. She

    She New Member

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    Oh my...I'm am sooo glad that my son is not going to ps. THANK YOU!!!!

    Oh my!!!

    Have to share it's a little off topic - ok a lot but... in another post I had shared that the gals at the nursery area of our gym were amazed with ds's smarts. Well...I got some more of the story today. I guess ds asked a 2 year old if he wanted him to read him a story. I guess the *teachers* were completely amazed with jaws open. One of them says to ds, wow you can read and his reply way of course I can read I do 1st grade work. ROFL. They all about fell over!!!

    But...yes ds does learn VERY easily and it always blows my mind to see/hear some of the things that I didn't even know, he knew. BTW he's 5 and 3 months so....
     
  7. Brooke

    Brooke New Member

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    My gifted son begged to homeschool again, too. He went from K-November of 1st grade in ps, then we hs'd. Back to ps for 2nd, and in the gifted program, but begging since January to homeschool again. We decided to homeschool after this school year since ds was finding creative ways to get into trouble at school and his wonderfully understanding teacher overheard him say, "if I (do this) I'll get to go home." I sympathized, but needed him to learn a lesson more importantly.

    As a general rule, we unschooled in the past and it works very well for a gifted child. Ds will dig and dig into a subject that he is interested in. I just help him learn how to find the information he is looking for. He enjoys reference material as opposed to fiction, except now we are reading LOTR series (starting with the Hobbit) together. In fact, I better get off of here.....it's that time again!

    Keep us posted on his progress. It took my ds time to deschool. Sometimes it is hard for them to believe it is "okay" to learn what you want on your own time frame! lol
     
  8. Brenda

    Brenda Active Member

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    Angel,
    We took our nine year old out of public school mid year and what a time we had 'de-programming' him (actually we're still doing that). We have found that he is a hands on learner so to work in books all the time was useless and frustrating for him and then for us because we were getting no where with him. We still work in books occasionally, but we rely on the hands on techniques and let him guide us...

    For his math, he plays games (ie Uno) and he does the counting of points (working on his mental math strategies and sometimes, we're able to teach him new ways of doing the same calculations), we've gone into the grocery store (or other stores) and said ok, we need five cans of soup - one can costs 0.49 how much will five of them cost? For his social studies, he wrote a penpal letter and 'taught' the other child about the area in which we live (we had to guide him a little but he had lots of good ideas and so he only needed a little push to get him steered in the right direction). He likes being outside so science wasn't really an issue (well, not for him). He likes bugs and things so I had more of a problem than he did learning about them.

    Take it slow with your son, let him guide you. It will take some time, but you'll do fine. Don't worry about being caught up in text books - spend time de-programming him and let him guide you. Take him on field trips - explore the area in which you live. He'll come around, but it will take some time.

    Brenda
     

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