I have yet to hit the RR cataloge, which usually inspires ideas, but thought I would ask you all if you had any ideas. I was sitting here making my own list of "electives" for Garrett.. then I though what the heck am I doing, I want him to want to learn, and if he chooses his electives he just might put in some effort So what I'm thinking is making him a list of things he can choose from. I'm thinking things that can fit in a 9 week marking period, or in 2 marking periods or the whole year. I have some in mind, some would require daily work, others would only be once or twice a week (we are not scheduling anything for Fridays right now so daily is really 4 days a week). Here are my ideas: home ec topics.. but choose only one: cooking, sewing, knitting, crocheting, cross stitch (I know not so boyish but I want to keep it open to what he wants) photography (this would have to wait till the last 9 weeks because I would buy him his own camera and can't afford it till tax time) stop motion animation art (something specific like water colors, oil painting, drawing, cartooning) other craft type things (wood burning, friendship bracelets and other jewelry, beading) typing foreign language (would be a full year option) auto repair wood working computer programing web design What do you all think? Some of these things I would be learning right along side him .
Good options, you listed a lot of crafts. Is he interested in Crafts? Maybe you should ask him to come up with any other ideas. I didn't see an instrument/music on the list... You should start a class called "I.S." or "S.I.S." being Independent Study and Self-Initiated Study respectively in which he can truly follow his own interests, dont put a "term" limit on anything. Just let it roll over and be Subject I, II, III etc, until he finishes or exhausts his interest. I noticed that everything on your lists is also on my own list of interests I'd like to pursue. What about gardening? You could get seedlings from your local walmart and have him keep a daily checklist/journal on his care of the plant. I am going to suggest that you AVOID textbooks for the majority of these subjects and go with "self learning" books instead, they tend to be funner, more interesting and produce better results, especially with foriegn languages and Web Design. IMO, he should learn typing period so if he doesn't want to do it as an elective, just make it a class for him eventually. GoodTyping.com has a series of 27 lessons, also, google Typing Games for more links or Typing for kids for more "friendly" and usually less thorough typing sites.
That is a great idea. I have always tried to give my kids some say in what they study - and they appreciate that. At the high school level they choose manny of their electives (which are remarkably similar to your list ). I am a computer programmer and have a web page on programming languages for kids which might help you - Scratch is a good one as it is free to download and has free tutorials. The links are all on my web page.
Thanks for the link Merylvdm I'm trying so hard to lean more towards child led learning, but can't seem to break free from the "they NEED to learn this and that" mentality.
There needs to be a balance of course. There are certain things every student needs to know. Those are non-negotiable in our house - but I do let my kids have a say in what curriculum I use for those things (well, sometimes - sometimes I select when there is a book / course that I believe is excellent and they need to use). The kids do co-operate and enjoy school so much more when they are part of the decision-making process. Meryl
