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ALmom
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| Posted: Sept 18 2008 at 5:32pm | IP Logged
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I have one child who is a very interesting learner - almost all kinesthetic. Does everything on the floor with a disaster of a desk (it is mostly the collection point of all partially finished projects and the supplies needed for said projects). This child grasps concepts quite readily - ie he will make any number of things. History was fun while he was building a replica of an ancient farming village in the Fertile Crescent. I really think the fun part was the mud (oops excuse me, the clay - he did actually distinguish which parts of our yard were real clay and which were too sandy) and had to harden it the Indian way (ie he had to burn something like leaves in his village to create smoke and heat to harden the clay to keep it from cracking. Now, where he learned any of this is beyond me, but I'm glad he is learning and am in awe many times.
However, he is getting older and needs to learn a bit of how to do things in other ways when he will need to - ie pay attention to details, follow directions, slow down enough to learn vocabulary related to the subject, etc. I don't want to dampen how he learns - just expand his abilities a bit. It would be nice if he could do an occassional workbook or answer your typical textbook question.
Any ideas? Workbooks?
Janet
He starts out playing, gets an idea, pursues it, researches and builds, modifies, etc. He designs all his own experiments. He is interested in other things only in so much as they relate to his area of interest or feed the idea bank. Math is really a bothersome subject except that he wants to learn how to balance chemical equations - problem being, well, he just hasn't quite locked into some basic math - He is in too much of a hurry to get to the part he wants that he doesn't bother to notice the mundane things like order of operations.
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mariB
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| Posted: Sept 19 2008 at 4:41am | IP Logged
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How old is he? I had one son that would get on his desk and stand on haunches while reading assignments he was 10 at the time. He never sat while doing any school related items and loved building things out of nothing. He painted with two hands and was very creative. He was also a kinesthetic but also any outside noise like someone talking, something dropping, etc. and he would leave his task. Needless to say, he is 16 now doing school work in a very organized manner (Kolbe...thankfully to some of your advice!) He is still very creative and hands on!
I had one son that would come downstairs to school dressed up in a costume. One week he was "Godzilla" another week he was "Zorro", etc...
We couldn't even call him by his given name. I'd have to say, "Zorro, have you finished your reading?"
Is it just maturity or are you concerned he's not moving along?
I have one daughter who just wasn't getting math no matter what I tried.
this year she is really getting it...and it is not clear to me why all of a sudden things have clicked outside of maturity. She's nine.
I wish I could give advice. But maybe knowing that there are different learners out there and they change as they mature will help you.
Blessings,
marianne
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marib-Mother to 22ds,21ds,18ds,15dd,11dd and wife to an amazing man for 23 years
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Willa
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| Posted: Sept 19 2008 at 9:32am | IP Logged
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Janet, it sounds like a gift. Have you checked out Theresa's blog? Your boy sounds a bit like her Superboy. La Paz Home Learning
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Willa
hsing boys ages 11, 14, almost 18 (+ 4 homeschool grads ages 20 to 27)
Take Up and Read
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 19 2008 at 1:45pm | IP Logged
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Willa wrote:
Janet, it sounds like a gift. Have you checked out Theresa's blog? Your boy sounds a bit like her Superboy. La Paz Home Learning
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LOL! That's what I was going to say! He sounds so much like my son.
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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ALmom
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| Posted: Sept 22 2008 at 9:51pm | IP Logged
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I tried to check out Theresa's site from links here but it must be down - or I'm just showing my total lack of computer saavy.
He is 11 and really does write better than most in my house at his age. That is the only way I even had a clue about half the dangerous science experiments he was doing. He has expanded beyond science to include history ever since we did the Minn of the Mississippi series. He just manages to avoid literature and I'm not sure he'd slow down long enough to appreciate a good story. I describe him as a man with a mission, it is just 100% science. I don't know a thing about science - which maybe is a good thing, since I cannot even offer suggestions and cannot impose my visual/auditory style on him. I love school, I loved research papers. The only things I hated in school were PE, music, art and science experiments.
I think one of the biggest difficulties for me is that I am totally Not kinesthetic. I am also doing therapy with 3, so my energy and time are limited. I was the kid who read her books going down the PE bus steps to the horror of my teachers, avoided all group projects (always volunteered to do the writing 'cause I'd be the only one who wanted to do that part - and then I didn't have to mess with all that other "silly" stuff). I have nothing to do with these projects. He is not particularly creative in the literary sense but very much so in the area of science - and if I were in a trench or abandoned on an island, I'd sure want this guy next to me. He'd figure out a way to make anything work and make do with whatever was available and somehow come out with his head still on. He kind of reminds me of what Einstein or Edison must have been like at 11.
I know dh and I watched a show about the terrorist plot that was broken up. My dh laughed and told me, "don't you dare let x watch this - they were discussing common household items used." We didn't and would not have but somehow the liquid's being banned came up in conversation and he already knew what they used (from his study of chemistry). At least he didn't tell his 5 and 8 yo brothers.  The 5 yo was trying to use a soldering iron the other day (it was off but still warm) to melt plastic and the fumes were horrid. When we told him it wasn't safe, he assured us that it was okay because he had goggles on (a rule for all of them ever since he managed to have a hommade axe (all stryofoam) scratch his cornea - luckily healed quickly.
I don't know if a Reading thinking skills workbook or something that forces a bit of literature - for a short period of time, would help him or smother him. I guess we'll find out. Right now I'm having a hard time staying on top of making sure he does something in the way of reading outside of science. I'm not worried about science - but you read one way when you are looking for specific information and another when it is literature. He is, by request, doing the PH Physical Science text and having no trouble with it - other than not bothering to read directions on the quizzes. He has already read and learned the basic concepts with his own experiments several years ago. AT the time I didn't realize he really did read and study the whole book but didn't understand the math, now he wants to do the math. He wanted to do the text to learn how to balance chemical equations. I'm honestly not sure what to do.
I am open to all sorts of suggestions. This is so totally outside my comfort zone - but also very inspiring and amazing to me.
One day I'll write a book about a day in our life from the neighbors perspective. Mind you, we live in suburbia in a neighborhood of manicured lawns, etc. Then you have our house with the fire in the driveway, the deer hide curing on the grill, a hydroelectric dam in the front yard - now replaced by the garden and various and assundry projects of explosive or messy nature. I think we need to find a country place. The kids now want to build their own glider  .
Janet
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lapazfarm
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| Posted: Sept 22 2008 at 11:51pm | IP Logged
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Oh, my goodness, Janet, he sounds like a wonderful kid!He and my boy would get along fabulously!
IMHO I wouldn't do anything to squash that love of learning he has. What I would do, if you honestly feel like he has to read some "literature" is start with things that appeal to his thrill-seeking nature. Perhaps some Shel Silverstein poetry, short stories like "To Build a Fire," "The Most Dangerous Game," "Ransom of Red Chief," and "Occurrance at Owl Creek Bridge"(those are some of my son's favorites).
Then if those click you could have him listen to audio books of Jack London tales, or "Horatio Hornblower" and the like.
Perhaps he would like the book "Hatchet." Ds also really like "A Samurai Tale."
Oh, and my blog is down for some reason right now. It isn't you!LOL!
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Theresa
us-schooling in beautiful Fairbanks, Alaska.
LaPaz Home Learning
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4Real Forums : Living Learning
Topic: attention to detail - thinking out loud
