What do you do to help build a love of learning. I need help thinking outside of the

[momee]

box.

 

I sure would appreciate some creative teaching ideas to infuse some "gumption" in my boy's school days.

 

We're studying the Odyssey right now with Tapestry of Grace and while he's learning a TON, I'm not sure he's exactly enjoying his schoolwork.

 

Don't get me wrong, I'm all about keeping it real in terms of academic output, but he sure could use some FIRE and desire, kwim?

[JennW in SoCal]

Well, I'm all about thinking outside of the box as we spend all kinds of time outside of the box around here, but I'm not sure how to answer you! But I'll give it a try, thinking as I type.

 

I like to let the interests of my kids influence our studies to one degree or another. Sometimes it is in the choice of materials we study, and other times it is in the kind of projects assigned. If I think there have been sufficient "nuts and bolts" kind of assignments for a while, I'll let them take the video camera to make a report, for instance, as when my oldest did a public service announcement video on the benefits of coffee for his health class. It was pretty funny, filled with facts from his research and he had a great time doing it. For science he did a Mythbusters style video about the special effects used in Disneyland's Haunted Mansion ride, complete with diagrams of the lighting, and his own special effects.

 

Is your son interested in movies or fantasy literature or video games? You could tie in those interests to the study of the Odyssey. What about watching a video version of the Odyssey, or if those recent productions are not appropriate for your family, you could find some older movies based on Greek mythology, like the 1963 Jason and Argonauts with stop action special effects by Ray Harryhausen. Your ds could then write an essay about the choices made by the directors in presenting Greek mythology. If he is into fantasy literature, he could compare the Odyssey to modern epics -- has the idea of "hero" changed? Or the quest? Are there modern versions of Penelope out there? Or he could draw story boards that show what kind of video game could be based on the Odyssey, describe the kind of game play that would be cool.

 

It depends on his interests, and if these kinds of projects interest him. Some kids just want to do the cut and dry assignments and be done with it! And, like you said, you have to keep it real and continue with pure academics, but it doesn't hurt to let the creative juices flow once in a while.

 

I think a love of learning includes the world outside of school. The ideal is for our kids to be enchanted with all the have to learn, but the reality is that school is hours of drudgery. I'm jazzed when my kids listen to NPR with me in the car, that they drop what they are doing to watch Mythbusters or NOVA or other documentaries, that they read the newspaper, enjoy visiting museums, reading books. I appreciate that they like talking about things that interest them, that they'll listen to me talking about what interests me.

 

All the above is what I think of when I think about high school done out of the box. It either will seem really cool or completely nuts!!

[Lori D.]

Any ideas about "outside the box" I have are all pretty sedate compared to Jennifer's! :001_smile: And I totally agree with her that so much of school seems to happen outside of schoolhours -- when (we too!) watch Mythbusters or NOVA or a documentary or discuss current events or at the dinner table read/discuss The Screwtape Letters or The Pig Who Wanted to Be Eaten, or watch/analyze a film together, or visit a museum...

 

But just to add on (feebly -- lol) to what she said, three other things we do to try to stimulate interest in school:

1. allow them to choose programs/courses where possible

2. bend programs/courses to fit their interests

3. find ways to count their personal interests as school credit

 

 

1. they choose programs/courses

Last year, they chose to do Literary Lessons from the Lord of the Rings for literature. This year I gave them the choice of what history period to study -- they chose 20th century. So, I try to find books and resources they'll find interesting. They are really enjoying the Visual History of the Modern World (loads of photos and short articles on major events year by year through the 20th century) and some of the historical fiction set in the various decades (i.e.: Cheaper By the Dozen). Also, we're watching some documentaries (we all love those!), and we try to watch fun feature films set in the decade of the 20th century as we study it. (Example: when we did the 1900-1910 we watched "The Great Race" which is very fun, but if you watch closely, you'll also catch the ideas of suffragettes, invention of the auto, and the coming to a close of the great European empires!)

 

 

2. bending programs/courses

Of course English is a requirement, and literature is part of our English requirement. I like to match up the lit. with our history, but didn't want to have to do all that depressing 20th century lit. A lightbulb went on for me that our oldest son loves science fiction and he loves worldview stuff, and much of science fiction is a 20th century literature. So, we created our own lit. course: "Worldviews in Sci-Fi and Horror", picking 9-12 works and lit. guides to use with them. He's having a blast with lit. this year! : )

 

 

3. personal interests as school credit

It is a "must" here to have something to look forward to, to help get through the "drudgery" parts of school. For one son that is filmmaking; for the other, it is working with the computer software Garage Band. We've laid out some guidelines as to what has to be accomplished with each, and are counting those personal interests as elective credits. And we make sure to include time in the schoolday schedule each week to work on those electives, so not ALL of school is "drudgery".:tongue_smilie:

 

 

BEST of luck in livening up that love of learning! Warmly, Lori D.

[laughing lioness]

I know that when I am excited about learning my kids will be too. This year I have a "spine" that we are following but I am using it as a jumping off point to build a year-long unit study . We are doing geography notebooks that continue to evolve and lots of read alouds from our shelves and memory work and timelines. I love how Jennifer uses video cams. Both my boys want blogs and I'm thinking that might just be the ticket to really get their writing/keyboarding up to speed.

Also, we spend a lot of time talking. We do a lot of narration around here. Who said what, what was that called, what date did it happen, who else do we know, etc. My kids, at least, love the interaction, and so do I. When we aren't interacting, I am bored and boring as a homeschool momma.

And my kids see their dad and I learning; he is studying Hebrew, I am studying gardening and blogging, etc. They are invovled in those things with us. We welcome their input and encourage them to inspire and teach us about what they know.

[danielle]

Wow what a terrific thread! I really can't add much except to say that sometimes I think at our house we're not so much child centered as parent-lured. Both dh and I have so many interests and talk about what we're reading so much that dd is often begging for us to finish the book so she can get her hands on it.

 

Seriously, tho, I really do believe we set the example for our kids. If we are avid for sports, or woodworking, or nature study, or Herodotus (the latest fad around here), I really believe our kids will learn to value working at craft or outdoors or challenging literature--maybe not exactly the same thing, but the general trend. It's all about developing a culture of learning, life-long learning, by setting the example and by our dc seeing us sometimes struggle with that learning, sometimes relish it.

 

Also, as a little aside, I've really found that with ancient literature, the translation can make a huge difference in the enjoyment. If the translation is antique or difficult, you are really translating twice--from the origininal,then from the Victorian to current vernacular. Try browsing different translations if you can. Also, sometimes something as minor as a contemporary cover and better typography can make all the difference.

Danielle

[Nan in Mass]

Do your children work together? In our family, we're more enthusiastic working together. My boys spent a lot of time enthusiastically discussing between themselves how their gymnastics training compared with some of the training in The Republic for example. This wouldn't have happened if I'd assigned the reading to be done on their own, or if it had been one child alone working on The Republic, or even if it had been me and a child reading. Reading aloud together and discussing it as we notice things keeps everyone happier here.

 

Are the discussion questions open ended enough to let your son look at aspects of the work that are interesting to him? My son's most enthusiastic discussions usually involve Star Trek, gymnastics, or something else that they are interested in.

 

Do they have to memorize everything they do? Or write about everything they read? That kills enthusiasm fast in our family, for me as well as my children. Some things we just read and talk about. And often I substitute a project for a paper, especially if the child thinks up a fun one, going out into the lake and collecting reeds and building a model boat for gilgamesh.

 

Do they have enough background information to make the reading interesting? For example, we are finding Common Sense much more interesting after reading the brief biography included in the introduction (fortunately LOL).

 

Are their textbooks, when they use them, cluttered? Are there plenty of pictures? If you can bear cluttered textbooks, they sometimes make a textbook more interesting. Spielvogel's Western Civilizations has fun extra bits on many pages, and tons of illustrations.

 

Do they have time to learn something they want to learn? Do they get to choose the way they learn it, like by asking someone about it rather than doing research with books? One of mine decided to learn by traveling.

 

Just some thoughts. Maybe something will be helpful. Or maybe you are doing it all already GRIN.

 

-Nan

[pianoplayer]

1. Set an example--if we parents want our kids to realize that learning is for life and not just for "school hours," we need to model that attitude. I do think it helps for our kids to see us doing serious reading and learning new things (even if it's not as easy at our age as at theirs!:D)

 

2. Incorporate fun learning opportunities in areas of current interest to the kids. For us, this meant buying a telescope when the kids got psyched up about astronomy after studying Space & Earth Science.

 

3. Incorporate outside resources like those from The Teaching Company. Their resources have been terrific at encouraging new areas of learning as well as helping us dig deeper into areas of interest.

 

4. Point out how our subjects integrate with one another. It is good for the kids to see how math integrates with science, Latin integrates with English and Vocabulary studies, and Logic integrates with everything, e.g.

 

5. Read, read, read. Pick some good literature to read aloud as a family and discuss just for "fun." Read a great biography together.

 

6. Talk as a family about what you are learning, and give everyone (Mom and Dad, too) a chance to share new discoveries.

 

7. Turn off the TV and limit computer time. It's amazing how much reading gets done when there's less entertainment available. :)

[LBC]

I'm definitely not the person to give advice about how to make learning exciting, but I thought I'd share this video clip of Ken Robinson. It really is food for thought...

 

It's about 20 minutes long, so you might want to watch it when you have the time. He's very entertaining, so be prepared to laugh.

 

Lori