4Real Forums: When do ?

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High School Years and Beyond
4Real Forums : High School Years and Beyond

Topic: When do ?

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ALmom
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Joined: May 18 2005
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Posts: 3299

Posted: Oct 24 2008 at 11:37am \| IP Logged

I just realized that others asked about when someone gets the 5 paragraph essay. When do children begin to make inferences and how do you help this skill along - besides just reading.

I just don't remember ever not being able to do it, but it seems I have a bunch of big literalists in my house. How do I help them, particularly my science fan, make this leap. He reads for information not for pleasure for the most part. He reads literature when it is required. When he chooses to read, he reads non-fiction, especially science. He is loving Swiss Family Robinson, but I can be almost sure that he is building the stuff in the backyard, but not necessarily catching the personal interactions and growth. We even went to a Reading Comp text as I suspected huge gaps here and wanted to see. Sure enough, he just doesn't get it. He can answer any straight recall questions and none of the others. He will also do it in as few words as possible, and unless I required it, he would not answer in complete sentences. I'm not necessarily a fan of workbooks but at this point I'm trying to solve several problems - one: making sure there is some way for me to hold him accountable (otherwise this is a subject he'd simply avoid and fill in with plenty of science experiments) and two: something that he can do at least some portions independently and that is easy for me to then focus on what we need to do. I need something that is time efficient for me. I have one hour each day for each child in the family as far as school. Three: I do want it to be something that will really help him. If I don't follow through or do anything, he doesn't do it and thus doesn't learn. If it takes me too long, we never get to it so it doesn't get done and it is almost like not doing it at all. He is not just getting it from reading. If I try to ask about books he is reading - well, discussion of any kind in this house is like pulling teeth. He will give yes, no answers or look at me as if I were an alien. Plus, I cannot read every book I assign every child to read so unless it is a very familiar book to me and one I have recently read, I won't necessarily know what to ask to determine whether he picked up nuances. We have done some of the Hillside books, but unless I stay right on top of him the whole way, he just races through and can tell the story but doesn't really answer those inference type questions. I'm open to lots of ideas. This child is 11 so maybe it will come later. I just don't want to neglect providing the right kind of opportunities to learn, help, point it out. What have you guys all done to help with inferences - especially those of you who have large families with more math and science geared children.

Janet

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