mlbuchina Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 interested in anyting! I was rereading some of WTM about science, and so far in our studies my dd6 hasn't seemed interested in anything enough to want to spend weeks on it. We are studying animals right now, and we looked together at the contents to pick what she would like to learn about. So far, there has been no sudden devouring interest in anything, although she does say that science is her favorite subject. I'm not sure if that is because she enjoys what we are learning, or because it doesn't seem to take as long as the others!:001_huh: We are covering the bare basics as described in WTM, but I just wonder if there will ever be that "Oh, Mom, we HAVE to find out more about THIS!" moment. Do I need encouragement or do I just need to :chillpill:? (That has been known to be the case more often than not!:tongue_smilie:) Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SonshineLearner Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 I'd say "Chill" :-) The girl is 6. Course... I'm not the serious with kids who are 6 kinda person. Does she like princesses? Look up one to study about... Cooking?? double and a half a recipe... (you'll be surprised what they can understand)... Cooking the dinner? have her practice writing the menu... Even though my daughter is older.... on Friday... I just told her... find out about one of the meals you like... List 5 things about history... that happened around the time that the meal may have been "developed". Write down your favorite recipe for what you investigated... ETC... Carrie:-) PS. My son likes skip counting, jumping off things.... memorizing poems... etc.... (he's 6). Sure, he might not be doing everything else that other kids do... but he's doing things that will help him..... (he learned to multiply with the help of his sister...) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mom31257 Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Is this a new attitude or has she always been that way? What did you do for Kindergarten or preschool learning? Is using the WTM method much of a change from those years? If she enjoyed learning before this year, I would evaluate which method works best for her. As far as science goes, we are not following the WTM method. My ds likes science a lot, but he enjoys many different aspects of it. I think a whole year of one type would really bore him. We've done health, seasons, and weather. We're still going to do some physics, chemistry, life science, and earth science this year. Don't worry, I'm sure there are things that she is going to love learning about. Just give her time. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
prairiegirl Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 My kids have never developed a passion until they were older. My ds, who is now 8 has just recently been interested in King Arthur, knights and castles. My dd was about that age when her interest in horses won out over anything else. So, just give it time. It will happen. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
2_girls_mommy Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Have you tried field trips on the subjects? When we were doing animals, we would pick one, read about it, and especially in the beginning we would go to the zoo to observe the animal. At times we did crafts of them (simple paper puzzles, or paper plate type things..) and I also tried to get books at the library that just had the animals as characters, not just non fiction. For human body, we went to the science museum to see an exhibit. For rocks, we went to a fair put on by our geological society in our state after reading about them for a few weeks. This stuff really helps mine. I have one girl who is interested in everything, and one who gets more after these hands on trips. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pageta Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Does she get enthusiastic over other things? My son is 6 and we're doing the first year of WTM. He has developed his favorite subjects, but I wouldn't say he is passionate about anything we do. He likes school. When I ask him at the end of our school day what he liked best, he always says math, which always surprises me because he seems to not "get" that the most. I say, ask her what she likes most and least and see what she says. It might be enlightening. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterPan Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Hehe, you're so funny! What does she do in her free time? That's what she's interested in. My dd says she likes science, but it's the hands-on stuff she wants, not the book reading. She would go through spurts of reading dog or cat or horse encyclopedias, but then go right back to her historical fiction, her true love. And of course art projects, sculpting, anything hands-on. WTM is really idealized and makes it sound like all kids are going to respond the same way, which they AREN'T. If they don't like something or don't naturally go farther themselves, you figure out the bare minimum you need accomplished, require it, and move on. And maybe you'll be able to find ways to tweak your method and bring in more of what she DOES like. I'm saying you can alter the methods and keep the content. If she craves hands-on, then you cover the material through hands-on instead of books. You can get those narrations done another way, in another subject, so they DON'T necessarily have to be done in science. Or read the two-page spread, do the hands-on, then do the narration on the hands-on. Tweak the method to fit her. You're going to figure all this out. Be brave, be fearless! :) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LibraryLover Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 (edited) She is 6! She doesn't need an academic passion. :D I swear. Your assignment, if you choose to accept it, is to go here: www.novanatural.com Not to shop, but to be inspired by early childhood and the importance of play. Play will inspire passion. PS I just like looking at the pretty photography. lol Oh, and here is an article on play. http://www.waldorflibrary.org/Journal_Articles/GW5002.pdf I want to write my own article on play entitled You Can Get There From Here. Edited November 9, 2009 by LibraryLover Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lulubelle Posted November 9, 2009 Share Posted November 9, 2009 Since there are so many stories with SOTW for the chapter we are on, I asked my son last night if he wants to take another week and read more about it. He said he does. He is a history buff, but if I didn't ask, I don't think he would have asked by himself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ellie Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 :chillpill: It's our job to guide our dc until they find their passions. I don't think we should start out by asking young dc what they want to learn. Sometimes they know, sometimes they don't, and sometimes even if they do know, they only know for a minute. :-) Pick something and go with it, being ready to go on rabbit trails. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
5LittleMonkeys Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 My 6yr.old is passionate about many things none of which have anything to do with school. Right now we are building academic foundations for her to build upon as she grows. We spend just enough time on those to guarantee mastery and then she's free to be 6. Her school day is complete within 2 hours and then she spends her days learning her way. She is an amazing gymnast, knows everything there is to know about princesses, read a book about Picasso (on her own...no prompting by me) and now is painting pictures of everything Picasso style, and loves designing outfits. The reason I mention all of these things is because sometimes our children's passions may not be based in a subject we are trying to teach them. We hear all the time on this forum that so and so's dc is passionate about history or loves science and we think how great it will be when our own dc reach that point. In the coarse of trying every which way we can think of to fan the flames of interest in any given subject, we may be overlooking what our dc are really passionate about and possibly gifted in. Just something to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
HappyGrace Posted November 10, 2009 Share Posted November 10, 2009 I was going through this w/ my 6yr old son in the beg. of the year with a sci curriculum (just reading to him from Bob Jones 1, also a little of The World God Made by CLP) and he was bored to death. The only reason I got a curric with him is because he's my second child and I didn't want to have to bother with hand picking lovely sci picture books on a huge variety of subjects from the library like I did with older dd at that age. Well, I dropped the curric and went back to picking out the lovely picture books, and that is going much better. From there he has gotten interested in dinosaurs and other things. Also the books make a great jumping off point. An example of what I mean is this book: http://www.amazon.com/Snowflake-Bentley-Jacqueline-Briggs-Martin/dp/0547248296/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1257859894&sr=8-1 about the man who first took pictures of snowflakes and learned more about them. From there you can explore internet links, etc., about snowflakes and you'll get a lot of sci AND math. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Join the conversation
You can post now and register later. If you have an account, sign in now to post with your account.