Help...I think?

[4Kiddos]

I would like some help or perhaps perspective on my oldest son. He is 6 1/2 and is in first grade and doing very well. He is doing 2nd grade math (half way through 2nd grade Miquon/Singapore), he is reading well (2nd grade readers,chapter books, and sections of Bible), and seems to love and retain things well. He is a very linear and mathmatically minded child (like Daddy!). He has always been quite serious about things, not pretended or imagined very well, and been super high energy.

 

I am asking for help because the one area he seems to struggle in is patterns, imagining, non-linear thinking. I don't know what the correct word for this kind of thinking. But, he seems to be a child who likes reality- solid, real, concrete type things. He is a huge builder and inventor. But, he tends to think of things only as how they were intended. Like we bought some car Zoob sets for my boys and he only wants to make cars. I made a dog with them for my littlest son and my oldest was completely suprised! I adore him the way he is and I don't want to chage that! But, I would like to try and help him expand his horizons a little and help him with the struggles he does have. But, I am not quite sure what to do. How do you help a child be less linear in his thinking? How do you help him learn to recognize patterns and to have more out-of-the-box thinking? How do you help him be more creative? He flies through math and only struggles with the things that require seeing a pattern. It just totally alludes him.

 

I hope I am being clear. I don't even know how to ask what I am asking! :) Could this just be something that comes with age? He is only six! Well, I would appreciate any advice/help/resources you might suggest!

 

[HS Mom in NC]

Part of it may be age. That part of his brain may not be developed yet.  The younger the child the more concrete, as opposed to abstract, the thinking. You may just need to wait longer and try again when he's older. 

 

There's also a personality aspect to it.  Some people are just that way.  There's nothing wrong with them and it's nothing to fix. Not everyone is a creative type.  Not everyone is an out of the box thinker but nature. Not everyone needs to be. At 6 he should just be exposed to worthwhile things and free to follow his own interests when he's not doing school or a group activity. 

 

If you're doing pattern recognition you can try saying the pattern aloud to connect with it verbally/audibly. You may want to try with 3 dimensional concrete objects that he can feel and place.  Start with the simplest, most obvious ones first and don't move on to more complex ones the second he gets it. Let him steep in the easy ones until they're effortless for him. You may want to try using things in a pattern that have the most meaning to him like construction pieces and construction directions instead of things less meaningful like a series of colored dots on a page.

Some approaches to pattern recognition are inductive like the game Zendo. Basically (and I'm over simplifying it)  it means having been explicitly taught little to nothing of the pattern and putting something in front of a child to observe so they intuit the pattern on their own. This is exactly the opposite of how many people think.  They do better with a deductive approach which is basically (and I'm over simplifying it) going through the process of elimination by comparing a list of things to a list of known and mastered possibilities.  So, you'd have to give him a large bank of types of patterns that you explicitly teach him step by step (don't ask him what the patterns are, build the pattern with him and explain it as you do it for a whole lot of them) until her masters them and then put an unexplained pattern in front of him that he can compare to each kind he knows until he eliminates all but the one that matches.  At least that's would be my guess on how to do that with someone like your son.

 

 

[Incognito]

You might be looking  to develop "flexible thinking".

 

As far as how to do that - there are books that encourage it, and you can just encourage it on your own too.  Talk about aspects of things and how they could be different.  Use normal, everyday things to make interesting projects (encouraging improvisation).

 

 

[4Kiddos]

I really appreciate these responses. Thank you!

 

Homeschool Mom in AZ- Thank you for your help with pattern recognition. I will try this today!

[Farrar]

Look at some of the Tin Man Press materials. They're really good for outside the box thinking. Also the Anti-Coloring books (they're on Currclick now too).

 

Destination Imagination has been something that has really encouraged this in my kids.

[LaCEmom]

Tin Man Press materials was what came to my mind too. I think they're going to have a Black Friday sale on some of their ebooks in case you're interested.

[MrsRobinson]

Following. My dd is exactly like this. 6 years old, 2nd grade math and reading level, doesn't really like pretend/make believe play. Very literal. I will be looking into some of the suggestions posted here. Thanks everyone.