teaching them to learn

[lgliser]

How do you accomplish this?

 

I was chatting with a mom who has a kid who went to public school and is now really struggling in college. She is homeschooling her younger child and mentioned she hopes she is teaching him to learn. Her college student can't write a paper, doesn't know how to study, etc.

 

Teaching my kids to learn has always been something I hope I'm doing too, but I'm not sure I am. The best example of how I think we might be succeeding is by using Christian Light Education for math. I like how the student reads the introduction to the new concept, looks at the example, and generally that's enough. I don't really do a lot of "teaching" with math. I obviously help where needed though.

 

Other than that though, I feel like part of teaching them to learn is helping them develop a love of learning. And my kids really don't have that. I always get jealous when I hear about kids who "are so fascinated by planets that they went to the library and got every book and learned everything they could." Or whatever subject they latch onto. There has been nothing like that for my kids. Maybe because I don't really make school all that fun?! 

 

And teaching kids to study... I feel like this is kind of hard too. The only subject we test in is math, just because the Light Units have tests. If they don't do well, we go back and see what they still need to work on. I guess Veritas Press self paced history does have tests, but they don't study for those. They just usually remember everything.

 

So when are they going to learn to take notes on things and study those notes so that they do well on a test?

[2_girls_mommy]

Using WTM methods are a good way to help. You study history and science by reading, researching, writing from multiple sources. There isn't a textbook with exactly correct answers and fill in the blank or multiple choice questions. I don't give multiple choice quizzes. Even the WTM endorsed curricula that include quizzes and tests like Apologia Sciences and Memoria Press Logic and Latin don't include multiple choice questions. The kids write out the answers. They have to know the material, not just have good test skills to choose the best answer that is already given to them.   My kids learn about a topic, take notes, organize their thoughts, write an outline on it, and write a paper. No testing required. (This is after years of learning copywork, narration, summarizing, and then outlining over elementary and middle school.)  

[wintermom]

 

So when are they going to learn to take notes on things and study those notes so that they do well on a test?

 

When you teach them how to do this. It's a process that they'll need to be taught. It doesn't necessarily come intuitively to a person, especially a child. 

 

Are you asking for specific resources on how to teach this?

[fairfarmhand]

With my dds it comes when they enroll in the virtual school at 9th grade. They always bomb the first test. Then I go back to the online textbook.

 

Each lesson has lesson objectives. I tell my girls to write down the objective. Leave a space to fill in the answer. Then fill in the answer as they read the lesson. Also, write down every bold print word and what it means.

 

That's how I teach notetaking.

[Guest]

Teach them to oberve and to reflect. Pause, ask 'what does that mean', and encourage asking and answering enough questions that understanding comes. In the process,.they must read deeply and research, all skills that need to be taught over the years.

[PeterPan]

The student needs to use the writing center at his college. Colleges nowadays have LOTS of supports, but kids have to be willing to go in and ASK for them and use them and accept the help. There's really no excuse for failing, even with a poor background, because the college almost ASSUREDLY has a writing center that would have brought him up to speed. Also he can keep office hours with the prof, get evals through the university counseling dept if they suspect learning disabilities, etc. 

 

This is the book you're wanting. :D

 

How to Become a Straight-A Student: The Unconventional Strategies Real College Students Use to Score High While Studying Less

 

And yes, the colleges often will have study-groups, free academic coaching services, etc. You just have to be willing to ASK. They'll teach the student how, if the student will just ask.

SaveSave

Edited January 17, 2017 by OhElizabeth

[Kiara.I]

There was also a great thread by lewelma a while back on teaching children advanced reading skills. Not how to decode words, but how to decode meaning, and retain it. She broke it down into a process starting in about 4th grade, or age 9. I'll come back and link it when I'm on a keyboard, if nobody beats me to it.

 

Sent from my Nexus 5 using Tapatalk

[MerryAtHope]

4th grade is young. Right now, just read great literature and a variety of other books with them, and show enthusiasm when you are interested in something. They may or may not be, but sometimes they'll see your interest and it will spark something in them. It can take time to develop interests, and not every kid does show that kind of "clean out the library on a topic" passion. Sometimes it's more subtle. The kid who likes Lego. The kid who always wants to hold a door open for someone. The kid who plays dress-up, etc... Non-academic passions are important too, and fuel the imagination. Don't discount the importance of play.

 

If your kids are hooked into electronic devices and games, then find ways to limit that. If they don't have time to imagine and play non-electronics, they won't develop outside passions.

 

As for note-taking and test-taking skills, I started working on those in earnest in junior high and high school. I taught my kids how to take T-Notes (like Cornell notes) from their history text, and I used our science texts (Apologia) to teach various study methods. A lot of it is encouraging your student in meta-cognition--learning to think about how they think. What methods help them? What kind of environment do they prefer? and so on. 

 

Step by step, they'll get there. Keep thinking about this and asking questions!

[MomatHWTK]

We watched this class together:

https://www.coursera.org/learn/learning-how-to-learn

Also, I walk the kids through problem-solving when they can't figure something out. After they succeed we recap the process.

Critical thinking skills contribute to learning skills. I talk to the kids about what is really happening when we discuss world events, business transactions, etc. I point out the historical background, emotional and financial factors, things like that.

 

ETA: Electronics have not been a problem here. My middle son is learning to program and builds robots. My daughter is an artist and uses her Wacom to create digital art, and my youngest is currently doing math (for fun) using Splash Math. The oldest researches online, beta tests his brother's games and reads the online version of the WSJ. 

Edited January 17, 2017 by MomatHWTK

[8filltheheart]

We read, discuss, explore options, argue points of view, etc.  My kids do not read textbooks with bolded words and definitions that they repeat to demonstrate that they know what the book told them to know.  They read books, have to decide what the key issues are and make sure they understand them and be ready to tell me what they are.  They write reports/essays/research papers on subjects that I want them to know more about.  If any of us don't know an answer, we start reading to find one.

 

For me, education spans far more than knowledge. Knowledge is different from understanding which is different from analyzing, etc.  Bloom's taxonomy is the simplest online explanation I can recommend.  http://www.nwlink.com/~donclark/hrd/bloom.html

[Rosie_0801]

Other than that though, I feel like part of teaching them to learn is helping them develop a love of learning. And my kids really don't have that. I always get jealous when I hear about kids who "are so fascinated by planets that they went to the library and got every book and learned everything they could." Or whatever subject they latch onto. There has been nothing like that for my kids. Maybe because I don't really make school all that fun?! 

 

I don't think it has anything to do with whether you make school fun. I think it is more about whether or not you are satisfying their intellectual curiosity drive. If you are, they won't have the brain or emotional space left to want to explore something else. 

 

I think CM was onto a very important point when she said it's important to teach them to care. 

My mother was asleep for large chunks of my childhood, but she did teach me to be curious.

[StartingOver]

I start young, as mine ask questions I guide them to where they can find the answers. Later I just refuse to answer and tell them to figure it out and come tell me about it. It works for me. They get to form an opinion that we will then discuss as I take the other side. It leads to wonderful conversations.

[regentrude]

We model an atmosphere of love of learning. That starts with being patient and answering their questions, from toddlerhood on. We have always taken their questions seriously and answered until the topic was exhausted for them.

(This led, for example, to one fascinating conversation with my 5y/o that spanned from women's suffrage to the history of marriage, the biological role of the father, twins, incest taboo, the female cycle - all in the span of 45 minutes)

 

Before high school, we do interest led science and history. I found that my kids responded well to being able to select materials to use, schedule their own day, pick their own projects and essay prompts, have input. Being invested and having ownership gives them a lot more motivation than working through a scripted curriculum. I always find that one can learn skills much better with motivation - so my kids learned to write by writing about things they wanted to write about. Once they can do that well, they will then also be able to write about topics they don't care about.

 

I homeschool because my kids were not challenged in ps. One cannot learn how to learn if everything is easy and effortless. My primary motivation behind homeschooling is to give them the gift of challenge, so they get to encounter material they did not understand immediately, and math problems they had to spend time on thinking hard. I did not learn how to until I got to college, because high school (even my selective high school in Germany) was too easy for me. I wanted to spare them that experience.

 

They learned to take notes from reading gradually over the years, by first working in the middle grades with the history encyclopedia or similar, and with college textbooks in high school. They learned to take notes from lectures when they took their first college classes beginning in 9th grade.

Learning goes beyond academics. We model intellectual sparring, have the kids witness, and later participate, in spirited discussions about history, politics, ethics, etc. If we don't know something, we look it up. We talk about how to evaluate information and sources. They see us adults learn as well, from books, the internet, journal articles - so we model learning as a lifelong process.

Edited January 18, 2017 by regentrude

[G5052]

Ironically neither of my teens have really enjoyed school. Both are much more into their own pursuits outside of school, but they're both excellent students because we helped them become avid readers, required quality work, focused on the 3 R's all along, and set high expectations. Both did a rigorous college-prep track with multiple AP's and dual enrollment.

 

My son is a sophomore in college with a 4.0, and my daughter is graduating in June.

 

I've been a community professor for 19 years now, and the majority of the homeschool kids I failed had the opposite of what mine did. I've taught homeschooled kids at the college level who were functionally illiterate and/or who balked at deadlines and requirements for assignments because they never had them. That can be VERY hard to overcome. Studying is part of it, but it's more than that. 

 

I have a niece and nephew who were homeschooled with very low expectations. Both are in their 20's and working at a fast food restaurant. It's starting to dawn on them that they need to make other plans, but they are discouraged because they need so much remedial work to qualify for regular college classes or trade school. I'm not sure what is going to happen to them long-term.

Edited January 18, 2017 by G5052

[lllll]

nm

Edited February 4, 2017 by .qp_

[Kiara.I]

Finally at a keyboard!

http://forums.welltrainedmind.com/topic/467812-developing-advanced-reading-skills/

 

Post #1 talks about the different levels of reading, and in post #7 she matches them to approximate grade levels.  If your children are older than she recommends starting, you could of course see which level they're already at and start there, and if they're "behind" you could maybe condense a bit for the "missing" levels.  Or at least it gives you a step-by-step progression to start from, if you're like me and want things laid out somewhat concretely.

 

There's also more material later in the thread about suggestions for the different levels, and some more great information on different types of study methods (Cornell notes, SQ3R...)  

[lgliser]

Thanks, everyone! Always such great responses here. I was glad to hear that we're doing some of the things that were suggested.

 

Kiara, thanks so much for the link to that post - it's a great one!

[MomatHWTK]

TED Talk:

https://www.ted.com/talks/adam_grant_the_surprising_habits_of_original_thinkers

 

"How do creative people come up with great ideas? Organizational psychologist Adam Grant studies "originals": thinkers who dream up new ideas and take action to put them into the world. In this talk, learn three unexpected habits of originals — including embracing failure. "The greatest originals are the ones who fail the most, because they're the ones who try the most," Grant says. "You need a lot of bad ideas in order to get a few good ones." "

[Ali in OR]

We homeschool through 8th grade and then put our kids in our public high school. One difference I see between my kids and many of their peers is that mine still love to learn. I think there are things that public schools do that can really kill the love of learning, and once that's gone, it's hard to get the kids to care or take responsibility for their learning. Some of those "killers" are excessive standardized tests, busy work, labeling students early, driving the whole class at the pace of the slowest, and having low expectations.

 

So at your kids' ages, keep it interesting. We did NOT take notes on history reading, ever. We just read a lot (read alouds and individual books) and talked about what was interesting, and history is still a great love. My junior learned Cornell notes as a ninth grader in public school and her AP US history class is mostly note-taking. She picked it up just fine at an older age. We did no tests in grades K-6 other than spelling tests. If you're working with them, you probably have an idea on whether a topic needs a bit more time. I do have them do math tests that I write myself in 7th and 8th grade. I use to teach high school math and I want them to be used to tests and to have tests that make them think. We do focus on essay writing in the middle school years so that they are ready for that in high school. Keep their brains curious, practice learning together, and develop solid higher level skills in the middle school years and they'll be well on their way to success in college.