"Too Easy" Please help.

[Alana in Canada]

I looked over at my son today--my spacey, dreamy-eyed boy, who, three years ago couldn't read or add, had terrible self esteem and regularily called himself "stupid."

 

He is now in Singapore Math 4A. I'm trying to keep him to a pace of two weeks per week plus CWP and the MM. He's breezing through it, for the most part.

 

I am going to get himto start CW Homer in about 2 weeks: he's been underchallenged in writing for about 6 months.

 

His narrations are sub-par. He gets every single answer correct when I ask him the questions in the AG: it's just that when it comes time to write, he has lost interest.

 

Grammar isn't terribly challenging, either. We're in Book 4, lesson 50 of Rod & Staff English. (we did 1/2 of FLL, Up to lesson 50 in R&S 3. We really ought to finish this before we move on to the next level--and I'm doing my best to keep to 4 lessons/week so we can catch up to Grade level.)

 

Lively Latin is bang on for difficulty and challenge. That's working well.

 

Oh--and he aces spelling, so far too. (SWR. list M2. According to the diagnostic, he's slightly ahead of Grade level.)

 

Any suggestions what I can do to challenge this guy a bit? His frustration level is very low, but I think we should stretch it a bit.

 

PS: He's a very young 11 and on paper he in Grade 5. He loves playing with his Bionicles and so on.

 

Thanks

[dhudson]

I have my bright son taking Spanish and Latin which helps. Tons of books and book reports, Lego League and in the off season robotic and logic challenges. Logic is great thing (try MindBenders) and piano.

[KIN]

Oh--and he aces spelling, so far too. (SWR. list M2. According to the diagnostic, he's slightly ahead of Grade level.)

 

 

I would move faster in SWR, doing 2 lists per week. Dictate 20 words on Monday, 20 words on Tuesday. I started doing this in 2nd grade with my bright oldest and he is now on list T-2 and testing at a 7th grade level. That should keep him challenged. Also, if you don't have the SWR CD's, I'd get them and have him quiz using those every day to save you the time of quizzing daily.

[buddhabelly]

It might help you focus a bit. If you really put Latin (and possibly Greek later) as priorities in your homeschool, there is no need for extra grammar or spelling. The suggested schedule in the new edition is very streamlined and somehow.....peaceful. But my own son loves history so we do it three times per week instead of once. And I'm too fearful to drop grammar completely, so we do GWG 5. But he has learned more grammar from Latin than anything else.

 

Once you ramp up the writing like you suggested, I don't think you'll have any problems keeping him challenged. I believe Homer requires approximately an hour daily (which is the same amount of time LCC recommends in upper elementary for "composition"), and is quite challenging.

 

We don't really do narrations here. But what I will do is ask him to write four sentences about, say, foliated rocks (that's his science) or why the Mexicans were beginning to get annoyed with the Texans when it was still part of Mexico (that's history). The key here is FOUR sentences. No, probably not enough for a fourth grader. But he's writing. And if he has trouble thinking of four things (or four aspects, or four events), I will help him by asking questions.

 

I have yet to meet a NON-reluctant male writer of this age. Even my friend who is a published novelist and homeschools her son tells me that he will always ask, "Did I write enough? Am I done now?" :lol: You're not alone, my friend.

 

Julie

[PeterPan]

Alana, Kpzz, who isn't around much anymore because her dd is now in school, used to caution against rewarding achievements with MORE WORK. If I could suggest, how about adding nothing? Or at least don't add more work. I'd just let him ENJOY that he's doing better, and reward him with more time and opportunities to do things he wants. My dd, about the same age and level, has really been enjoying playing chess on the computer lately. She's worked through Fritz & Chesster 1 and is now on Fritz & Chesster 2. Or maybe he'd like some fun kits like Snap Circuits or some woodworking tools?

 

When they've worked hard on something and overcome these challenges, it's good to let them have some room to just enjoy it. Is he bored yet? Is he saying he's bored? If he's bored and responds by exploring some new hobby opportunities, reading new books, etc., then that's a good thing, kwim? You want to give him room to use and apply those new skills he's found. Then he'll start to notice the lack or holes and be ready for more formal stuff. I wouldn't rush into it now though. Nothing says you have to pack his learning to have him be learning. But what you can do is ponder now how you can up the ante for the next school year (which for us starts in July). Maybe you want to bring in more timelines or things that require synthesis and thought.

 

I don't know, that's just what I'm seeing with my dd. She went through the same thing a couple years ago, thinking she "couldn't spell," blah blah, and now she's magically maturing, IN SPITE OF me!! Hehe! And as I see that happening, I'm suddenly realizing that some space to just enjoy it would be a good thing. I find myself giving her more opportunities and not just using it as time to increase her formal workload.

[Alana in Canada]

You all have such wonderful wisdom!

 

Yes, I think we will leave things be for a bit--especially now that I will be introducing Homer soon. (And doing it with him alone while continuing Aesop with my daughter. That's going to be quite the increase in workload for me!)

 

I will keep him on this somewhat accerlerated "catch up" pace, though. It's just me making the mind switch from :"Boy needs help!" to "Boy is coasting." He is having an absolutely wonderful time judging from the noises in his room as he plays with his Bionicles and acts things out.

 

Interesting the comment about LCC. I have been wondering about it (I have the first edition!) and how to stream-line our days: but I want to put us on a schedule and keep to it, first, before I make any decisions.

 

(For example, do we really have "too much work" if we don't start until 11 and then complain that we aren't finished by 4:30--yet we went for a walk, played outside, practiced piano, played an educational computer game, read, and took quite a few breaks? All we did that was "academic" was grammar, math and History. My son did work on his writing project (and did extremely well, too. I was so pleased.) while my daughter composed something for her music class.)