Help for my soon to be 5th grader

[Peaceful Isle]

Okay, my son is an awesome boy, but has struggles with being pokey and dawdling . Doesn't every little boy. Anyways :) It is starting to affect our relationship, and it makes me sad. He is such a sweet kid, and I hate that we battle every day. He always gets the work done, he's just so blah about it.

 

I am looking for curriculum ideas that peak his interest. What online courses have your kids liked?

What do you think of time 4 learning or Acellus for a 5 th grader?

Any other online curriculum that is cheaper and fun ?

What about curriculum that your child has loved?

 

 

 

Just to add, I do put punishments out for his behavior, and they work, so I'm not looking for advice that way, just for ideas to get him motivated again without having to do that. ðŸ˜

Edited June 9, 2016 by Peacefulisle

[Targhee]

Something that is very helpful at our house is having personal study time.  My kids meet with me, individually, every few months to talk about how things are going and where their interests are, what they think they might need to work on, specific books or activities they want to do, etc.  We discuss things, and make rough plans for what to cover during the next few months.  I get into research mode (which I actually enjoy), and try to find resources and opportunities for them to pursue those personal studies.  We meet weekly to plan the week, and we go include what they want to do (from the things I have found, or they have found) during the week.  This opportunity to engage in their personal interests really motivates (especially my DD9 and DS 11) them to get their non-negotiable work done.

 

So a day looks something like this:

• Morning Basket (I include in this a variety of snippets to try to expose them to new ideas they may want to pursue in personal study time)
• Math
• Language Arts Block (writing, grammar, Latin, memorization/recitation, spelling)
• Lunch
• Science or history
• *complete any unfinished work*
• Personal Study Time

What actually happens during personal study time has varied from sewing and doll-house making to researching fish and how to become a vet.  As they get older I include their chosen outside activities in their personal study time, so there's been studying and building for science olympiad, conditioning for gymnastics, etc.  But it is all within the context of "this is what you are interested in? Great! how can we learn about/do/create/discover/achieve that? Now let's put that plan into practice."

 

Notice that if they have lots of unfinished stuff from the morning that they lose out on personal study time.

 

The other things that help are exercise (walking, yoga, trampoline, etc. this morning we tried Tai chi), and working in short blocks with short breaks (eg. 20 min work 3-5 min break).

[BlsdMama]

What are you currently using? Is it online as well?

[Peaceful Isle]

We aren't doing online right now for his 4 th grade year.

Here is what we are doing: Oak Meadow math4, FLL4, EIW 3, steck Vaughn spelling , SOTW and Real Science 4 kids.

 

I guess I'm just looking for something that is exciting and motivates him. He loves to do stuff online, so that's why I thought it might work for him.

 

Maybe I'm just done with school for the year. Lol. Both he and I might look at things a little brighter come next September. ;)

[Incognito]

My kids have been really enjoying the Vertias Press online history class we enrolled in (self-paced).