What do you do to help your dc learn more about things that interest them?

[rafiki]

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[8filltheheart]

Science is interest driven by my kids until middle school. They all love science and enjoy picking out the topics and books they want to read. They read for as long as they want on a topic. One ds was fascinated with insects (particularly bees and ants) another on electronics.

 

I don't worry about balance or testing. I do assign writing/projects from science about once every 2-3 weeks.....something that delves into what they are studying.

[Karen in CO]

I let my kids spend as much time as they want on topics that interest them. I will help them find books or videos in the library. I'll also help them find information on the Internet. I will help them research things they might want to spend their money on related to the topic.

 

For example, my ds loved Manga when he was in middle school. He bought books on how to draw manga. I helped him find more books on it. One year, I got resources and arranged his art class around it. When he was old enough, I let him take a class in Japanese at the local cc. Now, he on his way to Japan for college in January. It all started with an interest in manga.

 

My dd loves to make small dioramas. She spends most of her allowance on art supplies for it. She will spend hours creating and painting small, very detailed little things. She loves it. So far, it is just a passion for making miniature art. She only does it outside of school time. She has loved it for more than a year. In the mean time, she has gone through periods of intense interest in Rome, wolves, tigers, outer space, and marbles.

 

I do make sure they have plenty of time at home and in the library to spend on things that they are interested in. I make sure they have limited tv and video game time. I make sure they have time to get bored and look for things to do and be interested in. But, I don't spend a lot of my energy figuring out what they should be enjoying.

[JennW in SoCal]

One of the things that has stayed the same throughout our years of homeschooling is that I always make sure there are books and magazines in the house about whatever interests my kids. We make a point of watching tv specials -- NOVA or Discovery Channel or other shows about their interests. Same thing with field trips, outtings during vacations and outside classes.

 

I stay out of it, for the most part, except of course being the person who drives the car to get to the bookstore, library, class and etc.

 

I have used my children's interests to spice up school work. My 13yo who is a fantasy literature fan, is doing the Literary Lessons from Lord of the Rings this year, and I had my oldest son frame his American History studies around theater one year: he read plays, biographies, watched the PBS Broadway documentary series.

 

My kids have tended to have strong interests, so it has been hard to NOT incorporate it into our lives!

[Donna T.]

I limit school work to the mornings so that they have the afternoons free. We limit television during the week-days but allow them to watch videos that further their interests. We read a wide variety of books and it's generally (not solely though) been through books that they have discovered their own unique interests. My level of involvement varies. I buy books that feed their interests, buy science kits, etc. So, I help them to get good resources in their hands and I try to find things that are on their level or just slightly above so that they can use the materials independently. We're not big on projects but we do take field trips related to their interests. Yes, the children decide how long to stay on a topic. And, yes, we feed their interests all the time... year round. My oldest son is very self-driven in science, so I've backed off on requiring him to do a pre-scheduled Science Curriculum. Rather, that gives him a little more time to follow his own interests in that area. Right now, it's Chemistry - so, we are studying Chemistry. I gather materials but he works very independently with them.

 

I think the most important thing here is to make sure they have free time to discover things on their own and to show them that you think their interests are fascinating. I show interest in whatever they are excited about and I make sure they have good resources but I let them know that I may not be able to get consumed with it. I have dishes to wash, after all!

[Jenny in Florida]

When my daughter was little (starting around four), she got fascinated by ancient Egypt. So, we rented videos, watched History Channel shows, searched out museum exhibits, read library books, etc. That went on for five or six years, and eventually focused into a specific interest in biological/forensic anthropology. When she was eight, we joined the local anthropology society and started attending monthly meetings. Through that group, she met some folks from the state affiliate of the Archaeology Institute of America, and we attended some of their lectures.

 

Pretty much all of that was done outside of regular school time. But when she was nine, she did the Intro to Archaeology course on www.learner.org. That counted as part of her curriculum.

 

Eventually, the archaeology interest faded, and she got passionately interested in theatre and singing. So, we signed her up for acting classes and bought season tickets for various theatres and found her a good choir. When she felt ready to do more, we helped her audition for her first community theatre production, and her second and her third and so on. Again, most of that was "extra," but we did begin to incorporate her passion for theatre into her curriculum when it was possible.

 

My son expressed an interest in dancing when he was pretty young. He used to love to watch old musicals and would spend whole afternoons trying to copy Donald O'Connor's big number from Singing in the Rain. So, we found him dance classes and took him to the ballet and kept renting DVDs. He is now in his fourth year of dance classes and is in rehearsals for two productions.

 

Like his big sister, he is also in love with theatre and music, so he has his own season tickets for the Shakespeare festival and takes classes and does community (and a bit of professional) theatre and sings with a great boychoir. We attend as many live concerts as we can (especially the half-hour freebies at the big cathedral downtown). And he has a nice, eclectic collection of CDs ranging from Broadway soundtracks to Celtic music to organ performance to vocal/choral pieces.

 

He's also had two years of piano lessons and a year and a half of drums and has recently started organ lessons.

 

Interestingly, he says that what he really wants to do when he grows up is be an engineer, possibly working on robots or something to do with the space program. So, he has subscriptions to both Robot and Model Rocketry magazines and has met some folks who own a local robotics lab. At this moment, he's sitting at the craft table in the kitchen working on a model rocket with his dad. Tomorrow is the local club's monthly launch date.

 

Again, pretty much all of that is "extra."

 

I do look for ways to tie in his curriculum with his interests. For example, this year we're studying ancient history and literature, and I bought tickets to see a couple of the Metropolitan Opera's simulcasts of operas that are based on mythological themes. Because I suspect he will eventually go the engineering route, I make math a priority in his homeschool plan. And I'm contemplating designing a year-long American history curriculum using folk and popular music as primary source material for the next time we hit that period.

 

I guess we just basically let them go where they want with their interests. I just love watching them get really excited about learning and doing things, so I'm an easy mark.

[Mallory]

We save Friday afternoons for extras, often it is boyscout or 4-H project stuff. And often even when they come up with a topic there is something in their boyscout or all the 4-h books we have that will work.

 

When these ideas come up, they often already have a book or project in hand, and I add books to the library list and supplies (if they aren't too expensive) to the shopping list. For the most part, I am only really available to help on those friday afternoons, and on those afternoons they are required to spend some time doing something.... But how long they stay on a topic is up to them. I also think tying an interest to the scouts or 4-h is helpful for both of us to make this more of a pick up and go thing.

[Peela]

I just keep school hours short enough that they have plenty of free time to follow their own interests. I dont make them part of school...that would turn them off. They do not naturally gravitate to non fiction videos or books, but they have plenty of time for fiction and anything hands on....and computer based interests. And no, I generally dont get involved unless asked.

[Annie Laurie]

I just strew related things around and let them have at it, and when they need to know something they can't find the answer to, I'm here to help them find it.

 

My 7 yr old got into bugs so we got him all kinds of bug related things- an ant farm, a butterfly garden, a maginifying class, a creature keeper, and he just spent a lot of time in the backyard examining bugs. We also got him some kids books on bugs and a field guide for identifying them.

 

When I got a poster with all of the presidents on it for the schoolroom, he got very interested and was always studying that poster and talking about it, so we got him a kids encyclopedia on all the presidents. I'd help him look up questions he had about them on the internet- dh even printed off some pages about how they died, because ds wanted to know, and comb-bound it, and ds carried his little book around and read it all the time. We also took him to the Sixth Floor Museum since we live near Dallas and ds thought it was awesome.

 

Dd wants to be a vet so we look up info on animal questions she has all the time, and provided her with a lot of related books and some animal magazine subscriptions. Her 14 yr old brother helped her make a doctor coat so she can play vet with her stuffed animals.

 

We just go with it when it comes up and haven't really tried to tie it into a structured plan or curriculum. If dd still wants to be a vet when she's older, then we'll do more planned science and related schoolwork then.

[cathmom]

I do Internet searches to find out more information for them. One of my dds is really into Sweden. I did a search on our state and Swedish and found out about a big Scandanavian Christmas Fair that was near us. We attended last year and we all loved it!!!!

 

When my ds was interested in chess, I googled and found a place online to play and found out about the US Chess Federation, which he joined and then he started playing in tournaments.

 

I love helping them learn more about their interests!

[angela in ohio]

My children always have an outside interest they are working on. I think this is crucial to developing a self-motivated adult student. Several keys:

 

(1.) I create a balance between subjects I teach and subjects they self-teach. I teach them all academic areas that we require (math, science, history, reading, etc., etc.,) but they have more responsibility for their areas of "extra" learning. Some examples of interests have been horses, sea life, birds, rock collecting, any number of arts and crafts, and knights.

 

(2.) Dh and I budget time and money for their interests. We do family field trips to places that interest them. We also buy them books and supplies for the interest.

 

(3.) They decide how long to stay on a topic and what the topic is. This just sort of happens naturally.

 

(4.) It is not a required time or part of their school day. We want them to learn to choose learning during their free time.

 

(5.) Dh and I model this process. We each always have a topic we are learning about.