Catherine Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 My 15 yo ds is in tenth grade, and after 2 years homeschooled, went to school last year, and is back home now for good. At the beginning of the year, he struggled with the lack of structure, but now is hitting his stride. My biggest question is, how to assist him in pursuing his arcane interests, and help him to get the most from what he is doing? He is interested in many things, but right now one of his academic rabbit trails is linguistics. He is reading a lot of things, one leading into the other basically, and watching two Teaching Company lecture series on linguistic topics. But, he just reads. No writing, note taking, projects, talks, anything. Except for discussion with me where he explains things. Is this enough to "learn linguistics"? Just reading a bunch? He is taking a full load of traditional courses, and gets credit for his self designed linguistics course from our umbrella. I guess I wonder if he will retain this if he just reads. Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kareni Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Hello Catherine, You may wish to check out this site: Computational Linguistics Olympiad. It could be right up his alley. Regards, Kareni Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jenny in Florida Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 I was chatting with my daughter this afternoon, and something she said might be of interest to you. (Quick aside, in case you don't know her story: My daughter will be 14 next month and is in her second year of college.) Anyway, she told me today that, although the material she's now studying is a good level for her, in some ways she feels like she learned more when she was homeschooling. She specifically mentioned that she liked the freedom to absorb the majority of the material through reading (which was pretty much all she did for some of her courses) and is a bit irritated by the inefficiency of the requirement in college to attend lectures AND read, since the lectures so often cover the same ground. She said that she felt like it was more meaningful to just read and then discuss things with me. She has, by the way, found herself very well prepared for college academically, despite my occasional late-night panics. What I did when I got worried about having her "just read" was to require some kind of project related to that subject. I often gave her wide freedom to choose or design the project, but did make sure she did it. Maybe you could consider something similar? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
danielle Posted November 13, 2008 Share Posted November 13, 2008 Sounds to me like your ds is pursuing things just the way life long learners do. To take it a step further, adults might write an op-ed piece linking their knowledge to some contemporary issue or a magazine article, or review a book or even begin writing a book. If he gets enough into the topic, there will soon be more HE wants to remember, and he might choose to make some notes for himself, or feel inspired to record his reactions. I think "begin with the end in mind" is often a good principle when planning high school. If his goal is college, then exploring interests in high school is great, and a somewhat unusual extra pursuit is a standout for admissions. But more importan, if the goal is to be an educated person who can pursue lifelong learning, he's doing a great job. Danielle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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