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I feel like my DD8 has lost the joy in learning


melissel
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Is it an age thing? Or have I killed it by turning school into SCHOOL?

 

We don't do much, really. We aim for a RightStart lesson, a WWE lesson, a short grammar lesson (GWG), a short spelling lesson four days a week. I'd like to also get science in there but haven't managed to, and I try to read from SOTW each week. I don't think it's too much work for a very sharp 8-year-old. She moans and groans but does her work for me. But outside that, I don't feel like she's inquisitive anymore. She does love to read and will read fiction all day if left alone, but she doesn't seem to have any desire to learn anything or inquire about anything or stretch herself in any way.

 

I'm not sure I'm expressing myself well here, but I feel like we've lost something and I don't know quite how to get it back :(

 

How do you light the fire in your homeschool? How do you ignite your kids' interest? Any advice or thoughts are welcome.

 

TIA!

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Start playing games together related to what you're studying.

Get outside together and do science that way.

Read fun stuff together vs. just curriculum.

Listen to audio books.

Instead of writing on paper, write in sand, shaving cream, or pudding.

Ask your dd what she wants to study, and take a week off and do a unit study on that topic.

 

:grouphug:

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Personally, I think the joy of learning is a myth.

 

However, it looks like you might be shorting the subjects that tend to be the most fun. I would make time every day for science and history and I would add in read alouds and hands on activities for both.

 

Some resources that have made my kids reasonably happy (in no particular order):

 

Michael Clay Thompson language arts materials

Singapore math

Jacobs algebra

SOTW

K12's The Human Odyssey

K12 literature

Mosdos literature

K12 science (grades 1-3)

Lively Latin

Cambridge Latin

Science in a Nutshell kits

Ellen McHenry's The Elements

RightStart card games

Field trips

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Personally, I think the joy of learning is a myth.

 

:lol:

 

My dd8 enjoys WWE, FLL and singapore math. She totally balked at vocab, so together we decided to start Latin instead. She's enjoying Lively Latin. She likes the evan moor daily geography, even though it's pretty mindless, because she gets to color. I haven't managed to fit in Sotw and activities yet, but she reads a two page spread in Oxford First Ancient History a few times a week and then does a narration for me which I write down. She likes that we are creating her own history book. I'd like to get geography in a more systematic way. I have a kids atlas that looks like it would be fun to go through, a two page spread at a time.

 

All that to say, maybe you are doing too little? Maybe there is not enough variety of different things to do. If it's just the same four things over and over, seems like it might get old. Maybe you could challenge her in math. Tell her she can go as fast as she wants and get to the next level sooner.

 

Just thinking out loud. Hope it helps a little bit.

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Guest Alte Veste Academy
it looks like you might be shorting the subjects that tend to be the most fun. I would make time every day for science and history and I would add in read alouds and hands on activities for both.

 

:iagree: I also agree with adding games and field trips.

 

maybe you are doing too little? Maybe there is not enough variety of different things to do. If it's just the same four things over and over, seems like it might get old.

 

:iagree:

 

I had the same problem with ds7! When we began school this year, I decided we were going all in. I'm laying out the feast, so to speak, and I'm seeing a huge change! Another big difference is that dd has officially started school (we don't do anything formal until 1st). When he was the only one with expectations on his time, it was hard on him. Now that he has a schoolmate, he is much happier. So, lining up work for both kids together might be one way to go for you.

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Guest Alte Veste Academy
I don't feel like she's inquisitive anymore. She does love to read and will read fiction all day if left alone, but she doesn't seem to have any desire to learn anything or inquire about anything or stretch herself in any way.

 

How do you light the fire in your homeschool? How do you ignite your kids' interest? Any advice or thoughts are welcome.

 

OK, on this, make sure you are spending one-on-one time with dd finding out the deep stuff that's flying around in her head that can give you insight into what she'd like more of, what her current thoughts/interests are, etc. I find bedtime cuddles work the best for this. DC are big-time talkers at bedtime.

 

How we do science here is pretty much inquiry-based now. I have a whiteboard that is a "question board." The kids can write questions whenever they want but they are actively solicited during science time. If I'm reading a book about the layers of the earth, I'll stop and ask them if they have any questions. We write them down and then later we decide if they're research questions (look up answer in a book) or testable questions (design an experiment to find the answer). This is FUN! Give it a whirl. Somewhere I have an outline of this procedure. If you are interested, I will dig it up and post it.

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Have you shown her the menu? She won't know what to order if she hasn't seen the menu. :001_smile:

 

Keep doing her regular school work, but add more exposure to interesting possible topics for further study. This can be through field trips, by buying books or materials, by modeling an interest in something, by exposing her to others with an interest, etc.

 

I continually keep many new things in front of dc. That way when they are coming to the end of an interest, they have some ideas for new ones.

 

That said, all of my dc have gone through a stage at about that age (my youngest is in it right now) where it was ALL about reading. They wanted to read at the table, on the potty, in bed under the covers... you name it. It was about the time they rounded that curve of being able to read a book quickly enough to get through multiple books in a week. They would just devour books. Then they slowly came out of that stage and kept reading as part of a balanced life. :001_smile:

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My 8yo has a similar schedule. Her musts are one RightStart C lesson, one WWE 2 lesson, and handwriting. RightStart has enough variety to it that she doesn't complain about it. I tried GWG, but it was too boring for us. Instead, I fold grammar in with WWE (using the topics from GWG), and I have tried to make WWE more interesting since the workbook does get old. Here's what we do.

 

Day 1 - Narration - I write out her narration on the board. We go through the narration together, and we revise it to make it tighter and more succinct. We then compare her narration to the workbook examples and rate how she did. My dd seems to enjoy these activities.

Day 2 - Copywork - She copies the selection and then uses colored pencils to identify different grammar items.

Day 3 - Dictation - She writes the dictation and then I pull additional grammar from it or we use it for spelling instruction.

Day 4 - Narration - Same as Day #1.

Day 5 - Dictation - I dictate her narration from Day 4. She uses colored pencils to identify select grammar items.

 

That being said, the most fun part of our schooling is history and science. Both are rather informal yet within a structure, and are mostly read alouds. We do have a history timeline, but we don't do any other activities. We use BFSU for science along with nature exploration and discovery.

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I would say that you're doing too little, but that what you're doing is too much of the same stuff. Does that make any sense? It sounds like there's a combination of boredom and lack of challenge going on.

 

My recommendation would be to add in things like read-alouds, projects, nature walks, art/craft things, maybe a unit study every couple of months to break things up. If you want her to love learning - which, promise, there is such a beast ;) - you need to give her something to love. What you're doing isn't too much, but it's also not enough to inspire.

 

I've been there, and that was a huge revelation for me. My son is actually happier (and loves learning more) when I let him study and work on things that he's interested in. I find that his motivation is much higher when his day is filled with projects than when he's done with everything in the matter of a couple of hours. It's a bit more work on me...but it's definitely worth it.

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She does love to read and will read fiction all day if left alone, but she doesn't seem to have any desire to learn anything or inquire about anything or stretch herself in any way.

 

I just read the last post, and I have to agree with that post. Even though we do pretty much the same schedule as you have, my kids still love learning. Does your dd take what she reads and interject it into her playtime? My dd is reading the Rose series from Little House in the Prairie, and yesterday she had all the dc going barefoot (to save their shoes like Rose did) and playing "It's a hard life" outside for hours. They harvested part of our real garden, put food away for the winter, and fed the chickens seeds they shucked from seed pods. Along the way they caught butterflies, frogs, and grasshoppers. We are reading about American Indians and my boys usually get out their Indian gear and go "hunting" in the grove after our read alouds. I see this type of play, and I know they are learning and having fun.

 

Another example would be if they make up their own science experiments after your science lessons? With BFSU, we usually discuss topics but rarely do experiments. I find my kids make their own experiments and draw their own connections in their playtime. My 6yo spent an hour one day making various traps that illustrated gravity and resulted in many crushed eggs.

 

I guess that's how I judge my dc's love for learning - if they internalize it into their playtime. Does your dd do this?

Edited by 2squared
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How we do science here is pretty much inquiry-based now. I have a whiteboard that is a "question board." The kids can write questions whenever they want but they are actively solicited during science time. If I'm reading a book about the layers of the earth, I'll stop and ask them if they have any questions. We write them down and then later we decide if they're research questions (look up answer in a book) or testable questions (design an experiment to find the answer). This is FUN! Give it a whirl. Somewhere I have an outline of this procedure. If you are interested, I will dig it up and post it.

 

 

Pretty please? I'd love to try something like this. How resource intensive is it? :bigear:

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Hi,

 

I'd love to see your science procedure! This sounds fun!

 

Susie

 

 

OK, on this, make sure you are spending one-on-one time with dd finding out the deep stuff that's flying around in her head that can give you insight into what she'd like more of, what her current thoughts/interests are, etc. I find bedtime cuddles work the best for this. DC are big-time talkers at bedtime.

 

How we do science here is pretty much inquiry-based now. I have a whiteboard that is a "question board." The kids can write questions whenever they want but they are actively solicited during science time. If I'm reading a book about the layers of the earth, I'll stop and ask them if they have any questions. We write them down and then later we decide if they're research questions (look up answer in a book) or testable questions (design an experiment to find the answer). This is FUN! Give it a whirl. Somewhere I have an outline of this procedure. If you are interested, I will dig it up and post it.

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Guest Alte Veste Academy
Pretty please? I'd love to try something like this. How resource intensive is it? :bigear:

 

Hi,

 

I'd love to see your science procedure! This sounds fun!

 

Susie

 

We're about to start school but I'll post this afternoon during our break. :001_smile:

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Dd went through a simliar experience when she was 7 yo.

Dh and I brainstormed over the situation.

In the end we discovered we weren't teaching to her learning style.

Because we were 18 weeks into the school year we revised the material we were using. We began reading up on her learning style and looking for resources which would best fit her.

The following year teaching to her learning style made a HUGE difference for her! The love of learning was back and it was a great school year!

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Children love to learn. They just don't always want to do school. :-)

 

You could spend some time letting her read to her heart's content (don't give up household routines like chores and whatnot, though). Do some field trips if possible, go to the library, maybe find some good crafty activities that you'll all enjoy. I'm suggesting some unschooling for a while, maybe until after Christmas, and see what happens.

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I'd ask her what she wants to learn about in science, the get a science kit to work on that topic. Doing science at this level is very important.

 

My friend struggled this year with her ds not seeming to be interested in school. She add in a free study day. She lets him choose anything he wants to spend the day studying. They get library books and he spends his day in depth in whatever he wants. At first it was very hard for him to choose what to study, but he is slowly learning to take ownership of this free study day.

 

SInce your dd loves fiction - I'd also recommend adding in some historical fiction like the Dear America series or the Royal Diaries.

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My oldest was the dream child who loved to learn.

 

My 2nd dd is a natural born Eeyore. When she was 3, as we left Chuck E Cheese, I ask if she has fun (no dua, you would think). Her answer? No. When I asked why she said because we had to leave. :rolleyes: She has never enjoyed anything about school (except by accident) and just gets it done as quickly as possible, no matter how fun I try to make it.

 

I have learned for both just to do the mare minimum and let them spend their free time pursuing what they want to. They both have great imaginations and will spend hours playing out all sorts of stories. My oldest also writes books in her spare time and my 2nd dd will build incredible things with Legos and K'nex.

 

My vote is to allow them to get it done as quickly and painlessly as possible and then let them play. BTW your schedule looks fine to me. I would just alternate SOTW and science so they get done at a regularly scheduled time, routine helps. :D

 

Heather

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Guest Alte Veste Academy
Children love to learn. They just don't always want to do school. :-)

 

This is a really good point.

 

For those of you interested in how we do science, here is a link to a thread where I spelled out what we do (mine is post #5). I started to type it all out and thought it sounded familiar so I thought I might as well be lazy and link it instead of retyping it. :tongue_smilie:

 

You do not need the list of pricey books I've mentioned. Go to this preview and read Chapters 1-4 online. They are GOLD! You can glean a lot of very useful information and dive right in.

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I would suggest making things as hands on and creative as possible.

 

Like for instance I don't know how you have your child review spelling. But mine likes to do "bubble letters" and then decorate the letters in colored pencils. Sometimes she writes her words using chalk, on the sidewalk. Sometimes she draws shapes and pictures on construction paper, writes the words in those, and then cuts and pastes those cutouts into her book. She's also made small town maps, naming the streets and buildings after spelling words, made a simple windsock, writing the spelling words on the crepe paper streamers, we chant the spelling words while tossing a ball back and forth, etc.

 

She loves environmental science right now because it entails hands on activities. She's made a really cool multi-media forest mural, we've buried items in our backyard (to be dug up soon to see what started decomposing and what didn't), we started a simple indoor worm bin (while learning about composing) and so on.

 

Social studies, we're reading about things like Christopher Columbus and Jamestown and the Mayflower and the Puritans and so on. But just reading about it doesn't make it all that fun, it's the hands on projects that do that. We've made our own compass, made a wooden sailboat, drew a picture of the Mayflower, made a diorama of Jamestown and things like that.

 

SOTW is good because she likes the hands on project and activities.

 

She loves math because we're using TT now and she finds it fun to do on the computer.

 

Does she love every writing assignment she ever gets or whatever? No. But she gets really healthy dose of hands on stuff to go with it, which is what I love about our curriculum and why she mostly really enjoys school.

 

We also do plenty of outings and field trips and social get togethers with our homeschool group, so our days aren't monotonous. I don't assign a lot of busywork, I give her plenty of time to do her own thing and so on.

 

So I think that if you can either make things more hands on or artsy (if that's her thing), it will go a long way, as will adding in fun field trips and outings, as will asking her what she would like to/be interested in learning about, and then run with that.

 

If it's all worksheets and language lessons and writing assignments and deskwork kind of stuff... then no I don't see an 8 year old loving school.

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Every now and then I have days where we don't do curriculum, but the kids are required to read and learn. They can do whatever they are interested in, and maybe write something about it.

 

You could do what TWTM suggests and have her check out different genres at the library. Have a book basket with some science, historical fiction, biographies, and let her choose. I think if they love to read, the whole world opens up and something will eventually strike an interest.

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My kids seem more complainy when they have too much unstructured free time. When their days are more structured, w/ a higher percentage of school/chores than play, they're less complainy. Go figure.

 

Anyway, when they're happy, school usually involves quick transitions, some conversation-style school w/ lots of bunny trails, & my full participation.

 

So the other day we were all spacey, even me. I set the timer for 5min, when it rang, we switched subjects, no matter what. After about 30 min of this, we were all much more focused & cheerful.

 

Conversations seem to be the heart of what we do. Ds will tell me about what he wants to build or something he read that really stick out to him, I'll tell them about something from my childhood, we'll race to finish a math worksheet or call out answers on the board. None of this is planned, it's just *being* w/ them.

 

Tuesday tea, slowing down & living life at their pace, reading stories, eating cookies, cuddling. In no particular order.

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