frustrated

[Mom-ninja.]

I am very frustrated with my 9 yr old right now. He has to do a report on karate in order to be promoted to brown belt.

 

I got him a short simple book from the library. He has to read it and give me a summary of it. I was asking him for his oral narration of what he read. This is *exactly* what we do for history, science, and so forth a la WTM.

 

The boy acted like someone poked holes in his head and sucked all brain out. He sat there with his mouth hanging open and staring at me. Is it just me or do you hate that open mouth stare?!

 

I tried to give him some leads by asking him questions like the WWE method. He still sat there like :001_huh:. He does very well at WWE so I don't know why he's acting like this is foreign material.

 

I tried asking him about Okinawa and Japan. He couldn't even tell me what a country was. I *know* I have explained about countries, cities, states, provinces, etc. He seriously couldn't tell me what country he lives in. When I asked him he first said the state then he said the city and finally he said the United States. He then told me that Japan and Germany are cities. :glare:

 

He is supposed to be in 4th grade and doesn't know the difference between a city and a country. I am not feeling very good at this moment.:banghead:

[Snickerdoodle]

Would it make you feel better if you knew that my 4th grader still doesn't know the days of the week or months of the year despite my best efforts? :o

[Mom-ninja.]

Makes you feel like you're wasting your time and breath doesn't it?

[Snickerdoodle]

Makes you feel like you're wasting your time and breath doesn't it?

 

Oh mommy, it's not even the half of it. :blink:

[prairie rose]

I was always considered one of the very bright, gifted students in school. Until I was 9 or 10yo, I thought Boston was a state. ;) :lol:

 

Have your children traveled a lot? Out of the US? I notice a big difference between my oldest boys who remember traveling to Japan and England with the military and my girls who also traveled but have no memories of their own of the travels. The ones who remember the travel have had a great understanding of geography and cultures from a very young age. The ones who don't remember don't have that seemingly innate understanding.

 

I just asked my 9yo (she has been to Japan and England but has a very limited memory of it), what Japan was, she correctly answered country. I asked her what Okinawa was (we lived in Okinawa) she said a country which is technically true, we did talk a lot about how Okinawa was once an independent country and many Okinawans still would like to be an independent country but I asked her if Okinawa was part of Japan and she said yes and I asked her what Okinawa was in relation to Japan and she said state. I told partially right but they call their states prefectures. I asked her what country we live in she said North America. I told her that's our continent. Then she said Kansas. I told her that's the state we live in. The she came up with America. I asked what the full name was , she said USA. I asked her what it stood for and she couldn't come up with it on her own. Once I gave her "United" she was able to supply the rest. (My British mil does call it America so I know why she answered that way at first.) I asked her what continent Japan was on, she had to think a second before answering Asia. She does know the name of our city but think that's more because we have to pass a giant water tower with the city name printed on it every time we go into town. She always reads the name of the city off of it as we pass it.

 

All that to say, your son is not alone. My 9yo has had much the same practice as your son with geography terms and she didn't do any better than your son did. My 10 and 12 yo both knew all the answers right off but they are the ones who remember all the travel we did and they are older.

[Sasharowan]

My dd and ds9 would ask if we were still in Florida every time we left the city we live in. Up until about 3 months ago for ds9. We have been out of FL to TX, NY, and IL. Ds4 has just started with the are we there yet, but has no clue where there is.

[lionfamily1999]

I've started making ds read small sections and narrate as he goes. Then he goes back, reads his short narrations and make one grand narration.

 

BTDT

 

:grouphug:

[Chris in VA]

I've started making ds read small sections and narrate as he goes. Then he goes back, reads his short narrations and make one grand narration.

 

BTDT

 

:grouphug:

 

Excellent idea.

[lionfamily1999]

Excellent idea.

I'm pretty sure I got it from WWE, :blush:.

[Mom-ninja.]

Thanks, this helps me feel better about not failing in teaching my ds. That's one thing about home schooling, we don't get to say that someone else is not doing the job right. We get to point the finger to ourselves.....even if we are doing a good job.

 

I think I will go back and split it into smaller sections to narrate. I just figured since he can handle the passages from WWE 3 and SOTW that he could handle the short book. I guess not. Perhaps I need to ask him better questions that will help lead him to his summary like in SOTW and WWE.

[lionfamily1999]

Thanks, this helps me feel better about not failing in teaching my ds. That's one thing about home schooling, we don't get to say that someone else is not doing the job right. We get to point the finger to ourselves.....even if we are doing a good job.

 

I think I will go back and split it into smaller sections to narrate. I just figured since he can handle the passages from WWE 3 and SOTW that he could handle the short book. I guess not. Perhaps I need to ask him better questions that will help lead him to his summary like in SOTW and WWE.

I have found that putting the pages between a cover seems to give my son carte blanche to coast through the story. Go figure. If you print it out one page at a time he'll probably remember it word-for-word :lol: