schedule and excouraging excellence

[MSNative]

I did search for this b/c I'm sure I'm not the first to beg for help on this subject. I'm looking for ways to require more from my kids (and myself) and am hoping for some inspiration. (kids are older elementary/lower middle)

 

Like most of your kids, I'm sure, mine can pretty much cruise through most of the work I give them without too much effort. We go quite quickly thru curricula but I don't feel like I'm challenging them enough. Basically, what are you doing to encourage your kids to meet or exceed their potential?

 

Thanks!

[zaichiki]

Basically, what are you doing to encourage your kids to meet or exceed their potential?

 

Hmmm... beyond choosing resources at their challenge level, not much. My kids pretty much do it themselves... I find it rather easy to keep them challenged in math by using Singapore Math at whatever level they need. For the other subjects I find Sonlight and SOTW challenge them fairly well, though I'm not beyond picking and choosing from various levels independent of age suggestions.

[mcconnellboys]

I stepped things up a notch when my son entered logic stage work last year, in fifth grade.

 

I began to ask for more depth in writing (and a better written paper, in general).

 

I began to work on languages more in depth, with more grammar and associated written work, rather than just playing around with vocab.

 

He did more memory work last year. This year, he's been involved in more outside classes which have included online research work, testing, final projects, etc.

 

This year, he's doing higher level maths.

 

Next year, he will continue in these areas and will add in more reading on his own each day, as well, for science and history, as well as lit. He's always done some of this, but it's really going to be stepped up starting next year.

[Nan in Mass]

When he was little, I added Latin, French, drawing, piano, puzzles, encouraging him to do his own experiments, chess, and tons of non-fiction library books to his basic school (TWTM). When he was a bit older (age of your children), I combined him with his high school brother for some subjects (higher input but I let him give me significantly less for output), and tried to get him to use his French more. Now that his brother has begun college and he is 9th grade, I am challenging him by:

 

Adding NAM to NEM (Singapore math)

Using textbooks from France for language arts and history

Having him design and properly write up (which he wasn't doing before) his own sicence experiments and be a scientist

Trying to teach him to do research

Trying to teach him to use his laptop (Skype, photos, ebay, Youtube, Word, Excell, programming, and other things so he will technically savy)

Continuing to do great books using TWTM/TWEM

Trying to get him switched to reading in Latin (rather than studying it)

Trying to give him time in which to improvise on the piano

Trying to give him time to do technical projects of his own (since he is headed for engineering)

Getting him his own sailboat

Encouraging him to travel and peacewalk (he walked to DC and spent a month in Europe last year)

Gymnastics

Trying to give him lots of time to play strategy games, role-playing games, and LARPs with his friends

Trying to bring his writing up to grade-level

 

I expect that next year or the year after he will begin to do math and science at the community college, while continuing Latin, French, and great books at home with me.

 

I'm not sure how helpful that is. There are many ways to challenge a student. You can go deeper, exploring every aspect of something and dwelling on it. You can go wider in a subject (like a survey class). You can do more subjects. (We did lots of this.) You can go faster in a subject and wind up working many grades ahead. (We didn't do much of this.) You can encourage your child to study a subject independently. You can encourage general independence. You can separate input and output, giving input at a very high level but letting the output be age-appropriate. (We did lots of that.) You can encourage your child to develop passions and follow them. You can go for well-rounded or decide to let your child be lopsided. You can decide to work on weaknesses or decide to try to make the child very good at the strong points. You can look for mentors and role models and outside opportunities and like-minded students to challenge them. You can choose to do a few big projects that incorporate many subjects, or look at each subject separately and decide how to challenge your child within that subject. People here do a wide variety of these things. The tricky bit is finding just the right balance between all these for your particular student at this particular time, and then changing it when your student changes (like next week LOL).

-Nan

[abbeyej]

Like most of your kids, I'm sure, mine can pretty much cruise through most of the work I give them without too much effort.

 

That's what I address, mostly. I want my kids' academic work to be "just a little bit hard" in almost everything. If that means that they're working on average 2 years ahead of age-grade level, and in some subjects up to 5+ years ahead, so be it. I also add in supplementary material to broaden what they're doing as well as push them forward, and it's a balancing act to determine whether to go faster, deeper (or both) and in which subjects with any child at any time... But I try. ;)

 

So my seven year old might still be done with her work before lunch nearly every day. That's okay. Her work is challenging to her, but it doesn't necessarily take all that much *time*. I consider half-days age-appropriate and I value the creative play she gets on her own -- the pretend play, the arts and crafts, the running around the yard -- as part of her education.

 

With my ten year old, he spends a full school-day (time-wise) and still has reading (and sometimes other homework) to do after that. But that's what it takes for him to do work that's moderately challenging on an academic level. If he were doing work according to his age-grade, or even just a year or two up across the board, he could be finished much earlier. But it would be a waste of time. And I want him to have the experience of facing a challenge -- one that's difficult, but not overwhelming -- and working through that.

 

So that's my philosophy. Make everything "just a little bit hard". Not so frustrating and overwhelming that it results in daily tears or anything (though I think very occasional tears are fine -- or tears that arise because of other issues and have little to do with the actual work), but not so easy that the child isn't learning and growing (and learning to face work that requires effort).

[abbeyej]

Oh, and I really like what Nan had to suggest in terms of practical ideas. In terms of things like that, yes, I surround the kids with logic games and activities, drawing materials and other art supplies, science-oriented materials, math games and activities... We start Latin young (my oldest was 4, lol) and by 7 or 8 I expect some fairly rigorous work. The ten-year-old studies ancient Greek as well. He participated in First Lego League for several years (playing up on an older team), and has done Math Olympiad for the last three years or so. We have lots of math supplements and games, etc. We don't have a lot of "kinds" of toys, but the toys we do have encourage a lot of creativity (Legos, Playmobil, dolls, Kapla blocks)... And of course lots and lots and lots and lots of books.

 

The kids also do classical ballet three times a week...

[Nan in Mass]

I should add that one of the focuses of middle school was academic and organizational skills. There comes a point (and if your children are accelerated, it will come sooner) when the child needs better writing skills, needs to know how to study, how to take notes, how to keep a calendar, how to organize his materials, how to do research, that sort of things. We do lost of non-academic learning, but there usually comes a point where learning non-academically becomes more difficult, either because it requires driving someplace or because it is expensive or because it takes too much time. Academic learning is efficient. It works well to pick some subjects to learn academically and some to do non-academically. Academically can mean with a textbook. Sometimes a textbook is a very good way to get something in which your child is uninterested but which your school system says they need to study (or you feel they need some exposure to) out of the way efficiently. It doesn't have to, though. I tend to define academically as using reading and writing. Sometimes, non-textbook academics are often a way to go deeper or wider. You can use a textbook as a spine and then branch off into non-acaademic or non-textbook learning for lots of bits of it. Sometimes it makes more sense to just read the textbook, or just read and outline, than it does to "do" the textbook. Adults use textbooks this way all the time. If you have an child who is accelerated to the point of being an adult learner, you many need to supply several different textbooks, lots of other books, and lots of non-academic sources in order to satisfy the child's curiosity or let them pursue something. Just make sure you don't expect uniform performance in everything LOL. It appears to be normal for students on this board to be reading college-level textbooks and books written by experts for other experts in their field for some subjects, and be doing remedial work in others.

-Nan

[mominsac]

Nan, I really like your suggestions and perspectives - that really resonates. Also, I love all that your son is doing, it sounds wonderful and enriched -- I'm assuming he is homeschooled? (or I"m impressed if it is all done as after-schooling):001_smile:

 

I agree with the idea of "notching things" up as they grow older. Also with the idea of going wide in some areas, going deep, accelerating, and even reviewing/solidifying. I guess we do all that, and in different things simultaneously, depending on the kid and interests. My kids have been very fortunate to attend a GT school with wonderful teachers, curriculum and 1-2 year acceleration. Other than encouraging lots of independent reading (mostly fiction), fun creative play like building, tangrams etc, I didn't do much else outside of school during the primary years. However, as they have moved to upper elementary and getting ready for IB MYP MS and hopefully to IB for HS, I've seen the need to intervene and not rely 100% on school (its no longer just good to be reading alot, but, I've started to require reading of classics , non-fiction etc), we do extra math, problem solving, speed math, etc, and work with them on home science projects (luckily my DH loves to do science/math with them). Also, I've become big on having them form good "work habits" -- efficiency, time management, study habits, even how to "lay out the math problems" etc -- that will be critical. My 5th grader is loaded up on tennis this year 2-3 hrs daily afterschool, but, that has immensely helped her learn to manage her time, and become very efficient in her studies - that will help her when she moves up to MS, and she is already chomping at the bits to join various clubs at school - debate, Science Olympiad, Math Olympiad -- ie. more time commitment. Also getting involved with talent search etc, so that you and your kids have exposure to what else is going on with similar-ability or similar-interest kids beyond your neighborhood, state, or region.

[Colleen in SEVA]

:bigear:

[Nan in Mass]

Yes, homeschooling LOL. Mine couldn't vanish mid-school year otherwise.

[MSNative]

May I please enroll in your homeschools?!! They sound awesome.

 

Ok, so I was inspired by y'all and in true homeschool fashion - jumped right in without planning. So, after book work, we did mindbenders (which my kids always love), started a anatomy unit by having one son trace the other on a rolled out sheet of paper and cut out organs and pasted them on it. On such a roll, I decided to push the limits and we started on the electric car kit they got for Christmas. Did I mention that we're in temp. housing and have 0 tools? Hmmmm, not helpful when you need a hammer, screwdriver and wrench for this. But of course, I hadn't read the directions until AFTER I let the kids gleefully tear open the package. Thousands of tiny parts are now strewn across the carpet. Whee!!! :)

 

Seriously, thank you for the ideas and inspiration. Please keep the ideas coming! I'm loving hearing what y'all are doing.

[Nan in Mass]

Oh dear! I can relate to the lack of tools and the many tiny parts spread all over GRIN. Next you will start making trips to Radio Shack to replace some of the missing little parts. And to buy things like solder suckers.

-Nan