Clear Creek Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 Did anyone else's child struggle with this? My daughter is 12 and in 7th grade, so she is the appropriate age for it, but it is *hard* for her. She is an extremely literal child, so learning to speak in figurative language (as the book's title suggests, lol) is proving to be something of a brain-stretcher. The idea that there is no wrong answer and innumerable right answers is incomprehensible. She loves math and grammar because there is always one correct answer. There may be multiple paths to get there, but there is always just one correct answer. She is supposed to be writing metaphors and similes of her own today, and the idea that she can complete them however she sees fit just drove her to tears...she was sure that there had to be one way of finishing the similes and metaphors, and she couldn't think of them. It didn't help when her younger siblings started calling out ideas to her. :tongue_smilie: I don't plan on dropping it or holding off until she is older; I think this is one of the curriculums that is going to stretch her the most this year and prove to be a winner for her. Last year she struggled for months with Red Herring Mysteries; she couldn't comprehend that the mysteries weren't supposed to be taken at face value and she had to question every aspect until she found where there were alternate meanings for words, gaps in required information that she was making incorrect assumptions about, etc. Once she grasped that and learned how to question everything, she flew right through it and I am so glad we stuck with it and wrestled with it. I feel the same way about Figuratively Speaking...it is just paralyzingly difficult for her at the moment, and since my younger two have no problem with it when they join in the discussions and provide their own examples, I was just wondering if anyone else's child struggled with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angie in VA Posted September 10, 2014 Share Posted September 10, 2014 My advice? Search for "Figuratively Speaking" posts by Lori D. You are welcome. ;) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RootAnn Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 Here are two: Figuratively Speaking and Literature Selections figurativley speaking x\post Figuratively Speaking Not sure any of them will help especially, but Lori D does suggest looking for those literary elements in other books you are reading the next couple of weeks. Other posters have pointed out how they'd found books/authors to explore after that assignment to see what those elements look like in context. Perhaps that would help your literal child? I remember someone else posting about their literal child .. but I can't find the thread where suggestions were made. Swimmermom & elegantlion have suggestions in the 3rd thread - it is one of the ones that LoriD links to (but the links don't work anymore so I linked to it for you). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EndOfOrdinary Posted September 11, 2014 Share Posted September 11, 2014 My son and I did not like the brief nature of Figuratively Speaking. So I took the concept and stretched it out so that we read a short story by an author who is very good at which ever literary device along with the Figuratively Speaking excerpts. This allowed my son to really grasp and see the ideas. I think it would have been much more difficult for him if he just received the book and did not get the extended experience. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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