kbutton Posted June 1, 2017 Share Posted June 1, 2017 I am wondering about fun/enrichment subjects/activities for a 2e kid who has high fluid reasoning and nonverbal scores...any suggestions? The exceptionalities are ASD/ADHD. He does need a fair amount of structure because open-ended stuff is a little loose for him. Structure can sometimes be as simple as "solve this problem" with or without guidelines about what is available (or off limits) for solving the problem. I know entire disciplines exist that I've never heard about or thought to consider, so links are helpful. We do not have a lot of flexibility for new outside activities (DH has a weird schedule, and I can't be everywhere at once with two kids). We have to work around tutoring and music (band, choir, lessons) already. Things he can do at home would be helpful. We sometimes take advantage of an enrichment program that runs on a short trimester basis, but the classes are determined by available teachers, etc., and it doesn't work out to take classes every time it's in session. He has enjoyed Lego Mindstorms (building robots for various kinds of tasks), Scratch/Alice (but doesn't do a lot with it if not given a problem to solve), science classes, and survival skills classes. He does like to build things in the backyard--let's just call them living physics experiments. ;) The classes are things he's taken at the enrichment program I mentioned. He likes to sort things for fun, and he is very interested in mechanical stuff (particularly cars and trucks). Besides car shows (Roadkill, etc.), he has watched This Old House since he was a toddler. I am not opposed to a formal study of something, but I think next year is going to be a slog in some ways (tutoring, potential language remediation), so for now I'd like to stick to something he processes as fun. If it goes well, we might tiptoe into taking it to a more serious and challenging level. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 Board game design and architectural design are two things that have suited our child. As far as finding a program to do it, we haven't. It has had to be ad hoc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted June 2, 2017 Share Posted June 2, 2017 How about a MOOC or two? Maybe on logic, or a new programming language? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 Board game design and architectural design are two things that have suited our child. As far as finding a program to do it, we haven't. It has had to be ad hoc. He might really like the board game idea in particular. Do you have supplies around? Sketch them out? Modify existing games? Buildings don't usually have wheels, so I am not sure how much luck I'd have with architecture, but who knows? I have a blank board game, and we can easily find or make tokens and things like that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted June 3, 2017 Author Share Posted June 3, 2017 How about a MOOC or two? Maybe on logic, or a new programming language? Do you have any tips for evaluating a MOOC? I like the idea, but I am totally ignorant of how it all works. I am browsing a bit to see what is out there, but some tips for finding a good one would be fantastic. My son is very much into learning via video (no surprise). Books are not so easily implemented here for "fun" subjects to my dismay (there are Lego Technic books that he'd love, but he won't touch them if they are not a video). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pegs Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 Do you have any tips for evaluating a MOOC? I like the idea, but I am totally ignorant of how it all works. I am browsing a bit to see what is out there, but some tips for finding a good one would be fantastic. My son is very much into learning via video (no surprise). Books are not so easily implemented here for "fun" subjects to my dismay (there are Lego Technic books that he'd love, but he won't touch them if they are not a video). I did a really good logic MOOC by the University of Melbourne via Coursera a few years ago. It's not currently open for enrolment, but it's listed on the unimelb website with "Start date to be announced". https://le.unimelb.edu.au/elearning-design-and-development/melbourne-moocs-catalogue/# I recommend keeping an eye out for it on Coursera - "Logic: Language and Information 1". As far as evaluating a MOOC before starting, I'd say just dive right in and try some out. You'll know pretty quickly whether or not the presentation and content are a good fit for your son, I think. If you see any that pique his interest, you could also post on the boards and ask for reviews. :) 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted June 3, 2017 Share Posted June 3, 2017 He might really like the board game idea in particular. Do you have supplies around? Sketch them out? Modify existing games? Buildings don't usually have wheels, so I am not sure how much luck I'd have with architecture, but who knows? I have a blank board game, and we can easily find or make tokens and things like that. I haven't taken the lead in board game design, I've mostly just gotten out of the way! :) My kids will take existing board games and change them, but my especially visual-spatial child will be inspired by various things and just make them with various crafting supplies we have around. As a rule lover, sometimes when they were younger the rules were longer than the gameplay itself! I suppose we have a lot of games and decks of cards and dice around (supplies), as well as paper, cardboard, various crafty things, markers, etc. I'd bet you could come up with some type of architecture that would be useful to have mobile - for disaster relief or even just for snowbirds travelling to Arizona (if you want wheels involved). 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SarahW Posted June 4, 2017 Share Posted June 4, 2017 Homeschool Buyers Coop is doing free summer trials again for Discovery streaming, NG, and also something called a Maker Studio. The first two are videos (yes, please!) and the Maker Studio is sorta like a 3D printing design intro. I only played with it for a few minutes today. Similar to the Maker Studio is tinkercad.com. I think that's like a contemporary kid version of Autocad. But I think these work best if you can get access to special printing equipment. Sometimes libraries have them for a fee-per-use. Or a print shop. You could agree with him that you'll print one project every other month, or whatever works for you. Or he could just enjoy designing things. Seriously, my dad worked for years just designing things in Autocad (I think he started on the original 1.0 version, lol) and hardly ever saw the finished result. And that was for a company that actually still made their machines in the other half of the building. I usually just browse EdX for mooc's. They're pretty high-quality and easy to use. I've tried to interest Crazypants in a few, but he's not able to do it "on his own time" so to speak, and I haven;t been able to solve the technical and space-time logistics so we can do a course together consistently. I think I'll wait until he's a bit older before I give that idea another serious go. But your kid might latch onto the idea. Who knows? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Incognito Posted June 5, 2017 Share Posted June 5, 2017 Homeschool Buyers Coop is doing free summer trials again for Discovery streaming, NG, and also something called a Maker Studio. The first two are videos (yes, please!) and the Maker Studio is sorta like a 3D printing design intro. I only played with it for a few minutes today. Similar to the Maker Studio is tinkercad.com. I think that's like a contemporary kid version of Autocad. But I think these work best if you can get access to special printing equipment. Sometimes libraries have them for a fee-per-use. Or a print shop. You could agree with him that you'll print one project every other month, or whatever works for you. Or he could just enjoy designing things. Seriously, my dad worked for years just designing things in Autocad (I think he started on the original 1.0 version, lol) and hardly ever saw the finished result. And that was for a company that actually still made their machines in the other half of the building. I usually just browse EdX for mooc's. They're pretty high-quality and easy to use. I've tried to interest Crazypants in a few, but he's not able to do it "on his own time" so to speak, and I haven;t been able to solve the technical and space-time logistics so we can do a course together consistently. I think I'll wait until he's a bit older before I give that idea another serious go. But your kid might latch onto the idea. Who knows? Tinkercad.com looks amazing! Thanks so much for sharing that. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kbutton Posted June 5, 2017 Author Share Posted June 5, 2017 Those ideas sound great. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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