Student directed learning, can you help me think about this?

[Amy loves Bud]

Have any of you let your child direct the history/science portion of their education, either completely or partially?

 

We are covering Medieval times in our history cycle right now and we all like it. But Luke seems to take a shine to various topics outside of our cycle and want to learn all about them. Right now he's interested in WWII. I very much want to encourage this.

 

What I'm considering is to continue with our history cycle, but mainly just reading SOTW/Usborne - so only about 15-20 minutes 3 days per week. Then let him pursue whatever area interests him in the remaining time - it could be WWII, paleontology, astronomy, the people of the Pacific Islands, whatever floats his boat. I'm thinking of spending an hour or two per week at the library with him alone, so I can focus on teaching him to research his areas of interst. I would also give him a timeline book to add his findings along with whatever we are reading about in our history cycle. Finally, I'd probably require a written summary of his findings once a week.

 

If at any point he doesn't want to do this, I would just beef up what we are doing in our official history study.

 

Have you tried anything like this? How did it work? Thoughts or suggestions are very appreciated!

[Michelle T]

This year, I asked DS what he wanted to learn in science, and that's what we are studying (human body and solar system). I have asked him about history he wants to cover, and it was WW2, we spent a couple months on that. I've asked him if he wanted to do ancients or US history, he chose US, and that's what we did for a year. Now we are doing ancients, my decision this time, and he is enjoying it.

 

For middle school science, I plan on using Prentice Hall Explorer, and letting him decide what order to do the books. I'm sure there will be a couple we won't do at all.

 

I've found that giving DS some input guarantees his interest and cooperation. Without those, a child isn't going to learn anything anyway.

Michelle T

[Amy loves Bud]

Michelle, thank you for the response. For the subjects he wants to study, does he have much responsibility for researching and reading on his own, or do you take the topic he is interested in and do the lesson plan?

 

I'm interested in getting Luke to research and study the areas of his interest on his own, with me just helping and guiding, but not planning it for him.

[Jean in Newcastle]

We do formal study in history based on where we are in the 4 -year - cycle. By that I mean projects, papers, narrations etc. But ds10 is a voracious reader who reads about all sorts of subjects that interest him. Right now he is reading on his own about WWII fighter planes. Formally we are studying ancient history this year.

[fivetails]

I do this a lot :) ... dd11 chose apologia's astronomy for science this year and already has the zoology1 picked out for next year. She also chooses the countries that she wants to learn about and a lot of other stuff as well. She came out of ps last year having lost most of her interest in learning, (surprise surprise) and I've found this to be the best way to bring it back.

[Sue G in PA]

I already have the majority of our schedule mapped out, but some wonderful lady on this list (sorry I forget who!) shared her end of the year evaluation with us and I'm going to give it to my dc. Basically it asks what they like/dislike about school, what they want to study next year, careers they are interested in and how we can help them study more about it, etc. While I can't change much of next year's plans...I'm hoping to see what each dc is really interested in learning and helping them do an independent study of sorts or a summer project pertaining to that topic, KWIM? It could be ANY subject. They have no interest in history, so I'm hoping to figure out if they have ANY interest in ANYTHING historical and focusing on that a bit longer than the rest of our history studies.

[Michelle T]

Michelle, thank you for the response. For the subjects he wants to study, does he have much responsibility for researching and reading on his own, or do you take the topic he is interested in and do the lesson plan?

 

I'm interested in getting Luke to research and study the areas of his interest on his own, with me just helping and guiding, but not planning it for him.

 

My DS has fairly severe LD's and ADHD, he is nowhere near ready for any real independent learning, although he is nearly 12. I still need to sit by him and help him through most subjects, although I am slowly getting him to be able to do a bit more on his own.

 

I do intend for him to be able to pick a subject, research it, read about it, and write a report, but I don't expect that will happen until he is closer to high school age.

 

In the meantime, by giving him some input to what he studies, I am getting more cooperation and interest. DS is hard enough to teach without having to struggle for his interest on top of it!

Michelle T

[susie in tx]

My oldest loves to hear about the holocaust. I've just started giving her literature books to read for this period. I read them first, and then she read them. Then, we discuss. She does this on her free time.

[Maria/ME]

I don't have much to add to these already wonderful ideas and suggestions.

 

I tend to really lean toward child led/unschooling approach.

 

In September, whenI was creating a rough draft of what we wanted to accomplish, I was on a four year cycle for history. I asked my daughter for input as to what she wanted to learn. History was high on the list...so I mapped out a master plan. When we hit Elizabethan history she went crazy! She loves English history. So we got "sidetracked" and while I felt oh- so- guilty for not sticking to the schedule, my daughter has learned SO much via English history. We had to delve into genealogies of kings/queens, historical fiction and non fiction books, we've discussed living conditions and language of the time. This has fueled her interest in word origins...we've gone every where with it. We're still kinda stuck in Old Merry England when we should be in the Age of Exploration!! And now, due to a high school play she's seen she wants to study more about WWII! "But WAIT!!" my inner voice cried, "We haven't studied to that point chronologically!" But her interest is more important to me. She "gets" where WWII is in the time line. She "gets" what led up to it. We are grooving on her lead. When her interest has petered out a bit, we'll go back. Or we'll let her lead. I figure when she is in high school she'll read a text book or something and fill in the cracks of history. Heck, I"m still filling in the cracks of my historical knowledge...

 

...but then again, I'm not really hung up on testing and we don't have to be at a certain point in our schooling for the states satisfaction.

 

It's amazing what kids learn when they feel they have the control and responsibility to learn...it's SO neat to watch...if only that little voice would get out of my head telling me she has to be forced to learn....ah, the public school influence.....:glare:

[Amy loves Bud]

You all are a great help and encouragement! Thank you for the feedback.

 

I think we might give it a shot at the beginning of the year and see where it goes. If not we'll go back to the way things have been - which is pretty good - and keep trucking along.

 

Thank you all very much - and keep the feedback coming!