What have you done to get your 1st grade BOYS interested in learning?

[HappyGrace]

Ds6 (7 in Feb) is compliant with sitting for what I teach him, will do what I ask, but is more interested in getting it over with and getting back to the Legos :D

 

It's so weird for me because older dd didn't like to play toys much, so all her free time was an extension of her school-if we read about Egypt in school, after school time was done she'd write a story about Egypt, make or draw pyramids, ask for other books about it, etc. She had a wide variety of interests, loved to read and be read to, etc. She was always pretty high maintenance since infancy, and I did a TON with her (1st child-lol.) She was (and is) very advanced, reading at age 3, etc. We were reading Shakespeare at age 5 and she loved it!

 

And then there's ds with the Legos. ;)

 

Partly my fault-he was playing so nicely all his years up til now, I didn't bug him to do many readalouds, school, etc.

 

He can read at about a 2nd grade level, but is still shaky at it and doesn't choose to do it on his own, only during school time. He can physically write very well, and is at least two years advanced in math-a real natural at math. I realize boys just aren't as verbal, generally, but I know if I could spark his interest, he'd come around. (BTW, very limited screen time here-carefully picked videos only.)

 

I would love to find ways to spark his interest in learning. I got some of the "easy readers" about Legos-those were kind of a hit. But I'd like to expand his horizons and not do twaddle either. What to do with boys who are pretty smart, but not interested in learning? Unit studies, maybe? Lapbooking? HELP!

[...................]

My ds doesn't want much teaching. He would also rather do Legos. That's ok.

 

I would drop as much teaching as possible, (if you must,get a bare bones, quick history program), and then I said to my ds, every day all school year, "you can read or take a nap.". He had to read some non fiction and some fiction every day. He learned a lot!!!! He never chose to nap, so he read at least 40 minutes a day.

 

I can't see how they can not learn if they are reading a lot, from a variety of genres.

 

Anyway it has worked for us.

[stripe]

I'd have him read (or look through) non-fiction books. Do lots of experiments. Build things with those Legos with him. Have him keep on building things with his Legos and other things. Read books like Let's Try It Out with Towers and Bridges by Seymour Simon (OOP, maybe your library has it). Read stuff about bridges and tunnels and whatever, and then try branching out.

 

I also recently checked the book Gotcha for Guys!: Nonfiction Books to Get Boys Excited About Reading by Kathleen A. Baxter and Marcia Agness Kochel out of the library. There are lots of ideas in there about many subjects that may appeal to boys more, and be underwhelming to most women. I sat there and listed all the topic areas, and asked my son which sounded interesting (bugs? space? the military? disasters? etc). You may find he has other interests after all. Or you could just try some out and see what happens.

[King Alfred Academy]

My boys like to narrate with their legos and Playmobil. They'll set up battles and act them out explaining to me what they are doing. They've set up a "before" of what the lost settlement of Roanoke may have looked like and then what it looked like "after". Lots of hands on stuff. My 1st grader likes lapbooks, but my 3rd grader never has :glare:. They also like pretending they are the people we read about and act out various things we have read about.

[mamapjama]

There are Lego Kits http://www.legoeducation.us/store/default.aspx?pl=6&c=0&t=0&l=0 (the Homeschool buyers coop is going to be running another coop for these soon). But I would think focusing on something like this and using the kit materials (or lego books from your library) as his reading material would be a great start. Focus on his interests for the time being. When he discovers what he can accomplish with greater reading skills etc. he will be motivated to try the books on his own.

[elise1mds]

My son is only motivated if there is a reward and/or sense of accomplishment at the end. Boys are usually 'doers' by nature and they like to see the result of their work (like a finished Lego project). There's no tangible reward at the end of a book until you're a proficient reader and are able to get a sense of satisfaction out of finding out the ending. When DS was learning to read, I put a sticker on every page of Dr. Seuss books till he made it to the end. Reward programs for reading were great motivators as he progressed. I also let him read or nap during the day, and he typically chooses to read. When we hit the library, he gets to pick most of his books but I also throw in a few that are topic-related to what we're learning about. He doesn't seem to mind.

 

I don't often find him doing school-related stuff on his own time except for science, but that's okay with me because as he learns more and more about science, he'll pick up on math; writing, spelling, and grammar when he writes out experiments; and history when he reads about scientists. It's somewhat more of an unschooling approach than I normally take, but I just remind myself it's okay because he's enjoying it! :)

[silvermine]

My 6.5 year old plays with clay while I read the lesson. We do whatever we can orally (or I'll write for him). Each day I ask him to write a sentence or maybe 6 spelling words.

 

He loves SOTW! We sometimes read 3 chapters a week. While he plays with clay. ;) (Or legos, or whatever).

 

For math, we use MUS. He can do online drills, use the blocks, and he does a few written problems. He usually writes them, but I always offer to write for him. I'd rather his math/history/science/etc. isn't held back because he doesn't like to write.

 

His reading and spelling just had a massive leap forward, thanks to our new Nintendo DS game, Scribblenauts -- while he had the flu. :D For days, he just spelled stuff for that game. If he couldn't figure a word out, we'd help him and boy did he get a lot of practice! (He was sick enough he actually sat still!)

 

While waiting at doctor's offices or restaurants, we used to always play hangman. For simple math, domino or card games.

 

And before we started FLL, we did a lot of MadLibs

[SilverMoon]

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Edited September 23, 2023 by SilverMoon

[KrissiK]

I hear ya, sister!;) My 5 & 6 year old boys are still much more interested in playing than anything else, although they do their school work with relative cooperation and interest. Of course I'm heavy in to the history aspect, and my 6 year old would rather do science. So, I'm wondering what to do about that. Science has been getting short shrift because I've been planning a lot of history stuff, but I'm thinking about changing that a bit.

[laundrycrisis]

I started giving our son a weekly spelling list of ten words. They are from the Mrs. Perkins Dolsch sight word list. He works on reading, writing and verbally spelling the words all week. Then on Friday morning I give him a spelling test. He has become much better at learning all ten words. At first he could only learn six a week. (The words he misses get recycled onto the next week's list. ) Within five weeks he was getting them all right. The first time he got them all right, he was super excited ! He asked for something to celebrate with - so now I give him a dum dum if he gets them all right. He enjoys his candy and is extremely proud of himself. It sounds so basic but this is the first aspect of his academic work he has been really excited about. He also gets excited when we are reading and he recognizes words from past spelling lists, and he is pleased with how much easier reading is becoming for him since we started the spelling lists. All in all it's been a very positive, motivating thing to add for him.

[ClassicalTwins]

I have two books that are great with putting Motion in everyday learning. I have 6yr old twin boys so I know how you feel, legos and trucks and dinos generally join us everday.

1. How to get then off the Refridgerator and onto learning

2. Games for Learning

 

Great ideas to incorrporate movement into learning and not just sit and listen!!

[mom2boys030507]

My 6 year old ds loves to read but when it comes to what I would like to teach, well he is not always so interested. I have just started asking him what he would like to learn about. I explained to him that for a time we will take turns picking our next topic. He chose Electricity. Ds told me that the Magic School Bus book he has just doesn't give him enough information and he wants more. BTW Magic School Bus picture books were what hooked him into reading and he is also a lover of Nate the Grate.

[Leila]

Boys are very different especially when they are young. I have 3 boys and I have experimented so many times on what works best. These are the things I did and still doing. I try to make their lessons short as possible. Game time is part of our schedule so they look forward to that and try to finish what they are doing so we could do game time. In reading, we do oral reading, so I could hear him read (short stories) just to check how is his reading doing. We go to the library once a week and let him check out books he is interested. For me when they are just learning to read, it's good that they practice reading and if they like the material, they will read it rather than me choosing and they get bored and not read it at all. But having done this, I take charge in reading a lot of books to them. One book at a time in different time each day because I know boys can't sit still too long and have their attention still with you. After reading to them I ask simple questions to check if they get the story and also for narration purposes. Eventually as they get older you can lengthen the lesson, include more stuff and choose the books they read to themselves.

[HappyGrace]

Thanks for all the responses. One thing I decided to do was go back to nonfiction PICTURE books. I've been trying to kill two birds with one stone by having him listen in with older dd to chapter readalouds, which is really only so-so for him-he wanders away a lot-so I'm hoping this will help.

 

Thanks for all the great ideas so far-and I'd love to hear even more!

[rafiki]

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[FO4UR]

Read books that will interest him. We read a picture book of King Arthur last week and my ds6 (7 in Jan...we should get together for coffee and let the boys play legos LOL) is still talking about it...making Excaliber out of my coat hangers:lol:

 

Boys like to listen to us read. They just often want some action, and much of what *I* want to read is not so action-packed. The REAL trick is putting Daddy in charge of bedtime story - and finding books dh loved as a kid.

[TundraAcademy]

Just so you know...all 3 of my boys are like this! I have spent oodles of time trying to make learning "fun" and they still can't wait to be done. I now just have a list for each one and they check it off as the go. Fortunately none of them want to go to PS, so that is incentive to get their work done!

 

My 7yo is a major lego/hands on kind of guy. He is very intelligent and does well on his seat work (but very quickly). I have spent a lot of time trying to get him to sit longer for read-alouds. His 10yo brother loves to be read to, but my 7yo hates it. I require it everyday and give him something to color/create while he listens. It is his most difficult subject!

 

One thing he has really started to enjoy are short nonfiction readers. We follow SL for our other reading and I just added these in with our science. He has a box of the Rookie Reader Science readers and picks one everyday. I also have purchased several hands-on science kits for him to mess around with (no structure).

 

I notice as my boys get older they seem to get more interested in learning. My 10yo really loves cowboys/mountain men/trappers and other topics we hit in history. He now will (finally!) voluntarily pick up books on our history topics and read through them!

[Tree House Academy]

My 1st grader doesn't much care for Legos, but he would rather be watching cartoons, playing bakugan or transformers, etc. We started a school store to motivate him. If he whines about school, he loses money for his store visit on Fridays. Once he gets down and settled, he will do 2 hours of seat-work without a complaint. We do some rhymes with HOD that he loves. He enjoys getting up and moving some. He also adores art and making crafts, so we try to do that everyday at least in some small way. Tomorrow, we are painting with sugar water and chalk. Once it dries, the sugar crystals will sparkle. :)

 

I am not sure I answered your question really, though. I think some kids "love to learn" and others learn because they have to. My kids are both, "get the work done, enjoy it when you can, always want to be doing something else" kids. I can't imagine them ever being like I was and just LOVING every second of school, learning, etc. My dh hated school as a kid. He managed to get through it, went to college, and is now a very successful engineer. I guess hating school doesn't have to mean anything more than just wanting to get back to something "fun." School can't be fun sometimes, but not always. I don't think that is a fair representation of life if I try to make school fun all the time and in every subject.

[HappyGrace]

Thanks so much for all the great posts! I've been following up on my picture book idea, and it's working well. I got a BUNCH from the library-books I remembered that dd loved, like Snowflake Bentley and other such "living" picture books. It's going great!! (I even started a separate post looking for more "living" pic book ideas.)

 

Just sitting down and having that "special" reading time with just him, not having him tacked on to whatever I'm reading to older dd, is really getting things rolling. We read a book about seeds, and I asked if he wanted to make a poster with a seed "collection" and label them, and he really liked that idea.

 

So I think I just kind of needed to in my own mind go down a level for him, back to what dd enjoyed at that age, with the hands-on and the fresh excitement about learning basic science things, etc. in an engaging way. Instead of just doing what the older is doing all the time! :tongue_smilie: Or my other mistake with him-going right into curriculum mode and skipping over phase of getting them to love learning first!

Edited November 12, 2009 by HappyGrace

[MeAndTheBoys]

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