EmilyGF Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Hi all, My ds13 is finishing up 2nd trimester exams this week and I'm just frustrated with a bunch of stuff, as is he. He's doing CLRC Intro to Lit (which takes him forever) and WTMA's WWS2 (not so much work, but he doesn't like the passages he reads for it). He also is in AOPS online Intro to Algebra 2, which he loves and works diligently on. The amount of time it takes seems variable week to week. He is learning German with me orally and a combo of Anki/Duolingo. Additionally, he takes piano and practices 1+ hour per day. Everything else is up in the air, as far as I'm concerned. My biggest concern is his slowness in reading - 10 pages of "Tale of Two Cities" takes an hour, which is why CLRC is taking FOREVER. Things he's liked this year include Rachel Carson's "The Sea Around Us - Young Readers' Edition," "Drawing Physics," and "Thinking Physics." He's really enjoying Niko Tinbergen's "Curious Naturalists." He dislikes his US history book (I'm not much of a fan, either), but he generally likes anything by Albert Marrin, though I think we like his older books more than his newer ones. We tried Botany only to strongly dislike the book and drop it. He's not a natural tinkerer and our science experiments took FOREVER. He doesn't like our current Geography book or curriculum ("Stowaway" and Mapping the World with Art). I'm not sure how to refocus in a way that he feels successful. I'm not even sure what my goals are. He writes a lot for his online classes (and me) so more writing is not a goal right now. He's a deep reader - the other day he started pondering how similar the crops of Portugal and Spain are based on what he knows of the influence of mountains and oceans on the climates of continental Europe. I'm not even sure where he read about this (is this in The Sea Around Us?). Thanks for the help, Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Have you asked him what he would like do? 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted March 6, 2018 Author Share Posted March 6, 2018 Have you asked him what he would like do? I have, but he tends to be noncommittal. I did some of the thought experiments from SWB's newest book with him. His ideal day would be spending the whole day outside doing things like hiking and biking. With school, he tends to tell me things are "boring" unless they are exceptionally hard (but then he gets frustrated when his whole day is exceptionally hard). He also tends not to be willing to tell you what he thinks (unlike his sisters). He'll try to figure out what my husband or I am want him to say and then parrot it. This is partly that I'm overbearing (I admit it) but much of it is him (it doesn't stop his sisters from being opinionated). One thing he's said is that he'd like to spend all day doing math, music, and CLRC homework (not that he likes CLRC so much that he wants to do it again, but that he wants to do well since he's already doing it). But even that was with a lot of prompting to get him to say anything. When I realized how long the homework was taking him, I offered for him to quit the class four weeks in, but he adamantly turned down that option. He's one of those kids who can be interested in anything you want him to be because he pours his heart into whatever he does (though he may afterwards say, "Please never make me do that again!"). Fads for him have included yoyo competitions, speed cubing, juggling, unicycling, and, currently, harmonica. He's been interested in pirates in the New World and in the War of 1812 over the last year. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Well, how about a pirate focus then? Pirate history is interesting. It would be quite easy to tie history, science, and geography together around pirates. You could read about sailing, ship design, oceanography, ocean currents, the discovery of calculating longitude, maritime history, history of famous pirates, etc. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SilverMoon Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 Pirates would be a blast. If he won't help I'd try exploiting his interests. Maybe try audio books for the literature class? Audible probably has all of them. 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deerforest Posted March 6, 2018 Share Posted March 6, 2018 (edited) If he likes hiking, what about combining the pirate idea with some outdoor and survival skills? My daughter (8th) attends two different outdoor programs, and they learn all sorts of survival skills, fire making, tracking, shelter building, compassing, etc. Edited March 6, 2018 by deerforest 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LAR Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 Maybe combine the pirates unit study with geocaching. Both seek treasures! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
historically accurate Posted March 7, 2018 Share Posted March 7, 2018 If he likes hiking, what about combining the pirate idea with some outdoor and survival skills? My daughter (8th) attends two different outdoor programs, and they learn all sorts of survival skills, fire making, tracking, shelter building, compassing, etc. If you need some direction on a survival skills course, Build Your Library 9 has a survival skill course. I don't know if you could just buy that section of BYL 9, but you could contact the author and check (or the whole level isn't overly pricey). I like the idea of a pirate study - you could weave in geography, literature, etc. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EmilyGF Posted March 8, 2018 Author Share Posted March 8, 2018 These are great ideas. I have a Barbary Pirates book (which sort of ties in with the era in Am Hist I'm trying to give a sense of right now), and we could read about John Paul Jones. I think he would like Sobel's Longitude since he's read another book by her he likes and we could look at Under the Sea Wind by Rachel Carson since he liked The Sea Around Us and is a mega-fan of birds. I found some easier books about birds and oceans that I already own that could offer an alternative that is less time consuming. Hmmm... When he finishes this week's online class assignments, I'll bring this up with him. Emily Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
8filltheheart Posted March 8, 2018 Share Posted March 8, 2018 A book my kids have enjoyed for this sort of stuy (ocean currents/survival/adventure) is Kon Tiki. There is a Young People's edition with lots of pictures and maps. https://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Special-McNally-Color-People/dp/B000GWJ4OU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520513563&sr=1-2-fkmr1&keywords=kon+Tiki+young+readers+edition+by+rand+mcnally 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vaquitita Posted March 9, 2018 Share Posted March 9, 2018 A book my kids have enjoyed for this sort of stuy (ocean currents/survival/adventure) is Kon Tiki. There is a Young People's edition with lots of pictures and maps. https://www.amazon.com/Kon-Tiki-Special-McNally-Color-People/dp/B000GWJ4OU/ref=sr_1_fkmr1_2?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1520513563&sr=1-2-fkmr1&keywords=kon+Tiki+young+readers+edition+by+rand+mcnally Ooh! I love kon tiki and this looks great Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daijobu Posted March 10, 2018 Share Posted March 10, 2018 It sounds like you are asking for fun electives? Do you have a dog? You might be interested in this dog behavior class. Or just browse around coursera or other mooc's and see what grabs him. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
zarabellesmom Posted March 14, 2018 Share Posted March 14, 2018 I have, but he tends to be noncommittal. I did some of the thought experiments from SWB's newest book with him. His ideal day would be spending the whole day outside doing things like hiking and biking. With school, he tends to tell me things are "boring" unless they are exceptionally hard (but then he gets frustrated when his whole day is exceptionally hard). He also tends not to be willing to tell you what he thinks (unlike his sisters). He'll try to figure out what my husband or I am want him to say and then parrot it. This is partly that I'm overbearing (I admit it) but much of it is him (it doesn't stop his sisters from being opinionated). One thing he's said is that he'd like to spend all day doing math, music, and CLRC homework (not that he likes CLRC so much that he wants to do it again, but that he wants to do well since he's already doing it). But even that was with a lot of prompting to get him to say anything. When I realized how long the homework was taking him, I offered for him to quit the class four weeks in, but he adamantly turned down that option. He's one of those kids who can be interested in anything you want him to be because he pours his heart into whatever he does (though he may afterwards say, "Please never make me do that again!"). Fads for him have included yoyo competitions, speed cubing, juggling, unicycling, and, currently, harmonica. He's been interested in pirates in the New World and in the War of 1812 over the last year. Emily No advice, but... yoyo competitions, speed cubing, juggling etc. He sounds like a really cool kid! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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