It was a sad day when I realized that Chase wouldn't be as open to learning about everything the way his big sister was. He had very focused interests that filled his head and left little room for other topics. After several false starts, I realized that I could use his current interests to inspire him to learn in other subjects. Sometimes it's not just about lighting the fire, you have to fan the flames to spread it around a bit.
When he started showing an interest in dinosaurs, I raided the library for any dinosaur themed material. Lucky for me, he wasn't the first boy to love these prehistoric beasts. I found several dinosaur ABC books. I found some excellent picture books and early readers by Bernard Most. There were dinosaur-themed safety books by Laurene Krasney Brown and Marc Brown (of the Arthur series). I also found some dinosaur math workbooks and I read more junior dinosaur reference books than I ever knew existed. All in the name of homeschooling.
As he's grown we've seen the dragon stage, the Yu-Gi-Oh stage, the pirates stage, and lately his interests lie in computer games. As he begged for time with Spore the other day, I told him that if he wanted to play it, he had to list the subjects he thought it covered. By doing this, I figure he'll either become more aware of the learning that is happening, or at least get a lesson in persuasive arguing.
5 comments:
My kids tend to have very focused interests, which is frustrating for me, since I'd like to be more omnivorous about learning. :-) But ... ah, the blessed freedom of being able to go with whatever works! Great comic, as usual!
Have you seen these books too?
http://www.amazon.com/How-Dinosaurs-Say-Good-Night/dp/0007137281
the one about being sick was wonderful when my boys had the Chicken Pox.
-Christine
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/curiousitie
christine-Yes, Yolen's series is very familiar to us! I highly recommend them. Teague's illustrations are excellent.
You might be an Unschooler if....
Lol, seems to me you're more of an unschooler then you thought!
George has ALWAYS been decidedly focused. On the Military. He was a dedicated Army man from age 3 to around 9. I was thrilled to death when he came upon a love of dragons and elves though the military remains near and dear to his heart.
Have a wonderful day!
My son charlie is like that. We need to develop a pirate and star wasr clone war curriculum.
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