freepsgal

Last night, my dd8 told me that she missed doing homeschool work.
Now, I should first mention that I am a recovering curriculum
junkie. I truly have *no* desire to go back down that path, however
I want to give my children what they need. I just don't want to
lose my head with it. :)

Allison has always been the type of child who loves schoolwork. She
was "doing school" at a very early age. She loved workbooks and
reading. She beamed at the sight of her Calvert materials during
her K through 2nd grade years. But by the end of 2nd grade, she was
beginning to lose interest. Schoolwork isn't as much fun once you
approach 3rd grade because the work is getting more busy. It wasn't
challenging for her brain, but for her hands, if that made sense.

How can I help her do school with materials that will be fun and not
boring schoolwork busy? Understand? We tease around about doing
preK and K again because it was just so much fun, but it's not
reasonable because the work is too easy. I've tried asking her
exactly what she misses from school but the question is just too
vague I think. She can't give me a good answer. How can I rephrase
the question to find out exactly what she needs right now?

Thanks!
Beth M.

Michelle/Melbrigða

On 6/19/06, freepsgal <freepsgal@...> wrote:
>

> How can I help her do school with materials that will be fun and not
> boring schoolwork busy? Understand? We tease around about doing
> preK and K again because it was just so much fun, but it's not
> reasonable because the work is too easy.

It's unreasonable to have fun? :-) Doing something just because it
is fun is a perfectly good reason to do it. It doesn't matter if it
is easy. I find knitting to be easy, but I still do it because it is
something that I enjoy. It's ok to have workbooks around if that is
what she wants to do. Get a few and stick them on a shelf. Let her
know that they are there if she wishes to do them and that she is not
*required* to do them. Then fill her life with all kinds of
interesting things to do and eventually they might lose their
importance in her life as something that she may feel she "needs" to
do in order to homeschool.

We have various workbooks in our home. Keon recently did one on Time
and MOney that is put out by Disney. I think he enjoyed it because it
was like a puzzle and had stickers and pictures of characters he
likes. He did it because it was something fun not something that was
required. And interestingly he got almost a whole page of money
problems incorrect. Wanting to find out what was whirling inside his
brain I asked him how he came up with the answers. For instance the
problem would say, "Andy has $2. He buys a book for $1.51. How much
change will he get back." Keon said it was fifty cents. I asked him
how he came up with that figure and he said, "Well, it's really 49¢
but you always find a penny on the ground or under the seat cushion so
you might as well say 50¢." :-)


--
Michelle
aka Melbrigða
http://eventualknitting.blogspot.com
[email protected] - Homeschooling for the Medieval Recreationist

Ren Allen

"We tease around about doing
preK and K again because it was just so much fun, but it's not
reasonable because the work is too easy. "

But if you're not attached to the workbooks in any way, shape or form,
then pre-k and K should be just fine in order to meet her need to
dabble with that stuff. The easier and more fun, the better!!

I agree with letting her pick some stuff out, put it on the shelf and
give it no more importance than anything else in your lives. Help her
if she asks for it, but fill your lives with fun and interesting
activities too. You might find them gathering dust after a while.

Sierra (9) has always been drawn to workbooks and such. She's been
unschooled her entire life, so it's just something different and
fascinating to her. She buys them occasionally, but most of them sit
there ignored. It's funny. If she does pull them out, she has her own
ideas about how to use them. Following the directions is not high on
her priority list at this time. Good!:)

Ren
learninginfreedom.com

jlh44music

<freepsgal@...> wrote:

> I want to give my children what they need. I just don't want to
lose my head with it. :).... Allison has always been the type of
child who loves schoolwork.>>

Why not just pick up some workbooks that look interesting, or the
type she might like (based on her history of loving to do this type
of thing!) and add them to the books etc you already have. Or maybe
have her help you pick out a few she'd like.

I wonder if you're worried that because she's expressing an
interest, that she'll want to go back to the way things were before
(or even want to go to SCHOOL!), or maybe because you're a self-
professed curriculum junkie you're afraid it will be harder for YOU
to not get caught up in it again <bwg>! I think workbooks can be
part of unschooling, IF it's something the child chooses. And she
may do a few pages here and there, then not touch it again for a
long time. A little bit may be just enough to satisfy her
curiosity or to fill the need. I don't think it has to be viewed
as a "bad thing".
Jann

freepsgal

> It's unreasonable to have fun? :-) Doing something just because
> it is fun is a perfectly good reason to do it. It doesn't matter
> if it is easy.

*laugh* No, I meant that she doesn't want to work in workbooks that
are too easy. She's looked at the workbooks at the store. She
remembers how much fun she had doing them but she says they are
boring now because they are too easy. But the workbooks starting at
the 3rd grade level are boring too because they are too much
writing, like writing sentences or pages of math problems.

> I think he enjoyed it because it was like a puzzle and had
> stickers and pictures of characters he likes.

This is the kind of stuff she wants, but she wants it on a 3rd/4th
grade level so it's not stuff she already knows so well.

> "Well, it's really 49¢ but you always find a penny on the ground
> or under the seat cushion so you might as well say 50¢." :-)
> Michelle

Oh, that's awesome! *laugh* What a smart guy!

We haven't been to the local homeschool warehouse lately. Maybe she
and I will go look at the workbooks and just see if anything appeals
to her. We have several different math workbooks but they aren't
fun anymore, just math problems that require lots of writing of
numbers.

She's also loved arts and crafts but she's getting bored by the
things that are always here. We have nearly everything you can find
for artsy fun. The only thing we don't have is the fun foam shapes
because we have a cat who eats that stuff. He's had 3 surgeries to
date so we've had to agree that we can't bring that stuff in the
house anymore. She wants something new but easy. We've looked at
Michael's and Hobby Lobby but she can't find anything that looks
appealing. I can't figure out what she wants. She just walks
around saying 'No, no, no, no, too hard, too easy, etc.'

Ooh, I have an idea! Maybe she'd like to do a puzzle with me. She
hasn't liked puzzles larger than 100 pieces because they're too
complex, but maybe she's going through a growth spurt where all her
normal activities are too easy and boring and she's ready to bump it
up a notch. We can go buy some puzzles that are 200 or 300 pieces.
She wanted to go to Target today anyway to look at the generic brand
of American Girl dolls. That might be cool. :)

Beth M.

Kristy

--- In [email protected], "freepsgal"
<freepsgal@...> wrote:
>
"like a puzzle and had
> > stickers and pictures of characters he likes."
>
> This is the kind of stuff she wants, but she wants it on a 3rd/4th
> grade level so it's not stuff she already knows so well.
>
> My daughter, Delaney (9), also likes fun workbooks - our solution
has been the K-2 workbooks IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! Spanish and
French puzzles and fun games! It fills her "workbook fix" and she
learns a little foreign language as a bonus! She came and found me
at 11:30pm one night a couple of weeks ago and wanted me to look at
the workbook pages she was working on! Midnight snack and a Spanish
math page!!
>
> "Ooh, I have an idea! Maybe she'd like to do a puzzle with me. "

Has she tried Sudoku. I love those and my daughter is starting to
take off with my book when I am not looking!
>
Kris
In Montana with Bennett & Delaney

>

freepsgal

> My daughter, Delaney (9), also likes fun workbooks - our solution
> has been the K-2 workbooks IN DIFFERENT LANGUAGES! Spanish and
> French puzzles and fun games!

That's a wonderful idea! That might be just what she needs right now.

> Has she tried Sudoku.
> Kris

Yes, she loves Sudoku. She and her dad work on it together. They
love to do the hard one in the Sunday paper. :)

Beth M.

Queana

Is she specifically asking for workbooks, or just to do some "homeschooling
work" of some kind? Workbooks suck. Ok, I know some people like them but
there are lots of alternatives :)

Some things my kids enjoy that may feel "schoolish" enough for her :)
- Pick a topic of interest and make an e-notebook to share with the family
(we use powerpoint mostly, because they love playing with the animations and
transitions and stuff, but others use Word or Publisher or Printmaster).
They could also design web pages on the topic.
- Pick a topic and make a movie, using imovie or Windows movie maker. Use
pictures or video clips from the internet, and record your own narration.
Share the movie online and with family.
- Pick a topic and make a scrapbook with paper and scrapbooking supplies,
pictures from magazines and the internet, etc. Share it with family and
friends.
- Help her start a blog. Make sure you keep a close eye on the information
that is shared of course.
- Buy her a fun cool-looking journal that she can write in when she feels
the urge.
- Show her some cool math/science websites and games that are intended for
learning. She will likely be able to tell the difference between these and
games that are for entertainment purposes and they may make her feel that
she is "doing schoolwork". A great math one is www.coolmath4kids.com and a
great science one that my kids like is www.iknowthat.com (it has lots of
stuff besides science, but they particularly like the Optics Workbench)
- Play some math games, like from Family Math, or get a subscription to
Aleks.com if she's interested in that.
- Do some "science experiments"; there are millions of them online, or in
books from the library.
- Speaking of the library, go there and help her find books on topics that
interest her; look at the videos and cds too.
- See if she's interested in memorization games. Memorize songs, lists,
skip counting, whatever.
- She could pick a book she wants to read and set up a book club online with
other kids who want to do something like that, where they read it together
and talk about it together (you could facilitate it for her). Lots of
people love that sort of thing.

I know some of this may be stuff you already do, but if she's asking for
homeschool work, there is some kind of learning she is yearning for and she
may not know exactly what it is, so you could just keep trying various ideas
until one sounds good to her.

~Q~
aka Sarah
http://www.unbridledlearning.com

> -----Original Message-----
> From: [email protected]
> [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of freepsgal
> Sent: Monday, June 19, 2006 8:05 AM
> To: [email protected]
> Subject: [unschoolingbasics] Re: What about a child missing homeschool
> work?
>
> > It's unreasonable to have fun? :-) Doing something just because
> > it is fun is a perfectly good reason to do it. It doesn't matter
> > if it is easy.
>
> *laugh* No, I meant that she doesn't want to work in workbooks that
> are too easy. She's looked at the workbooks at the store. She
> remembers how much fun she had doing them but she says they are
> boring now because they are too easy. But the workbooks starting at
> the 3rd grade level are boring too because they are too much
> writing, like writing sentences or pages of math problems.
>
> > I think he enjoyed it because it was like a puzzle and had
> > stickers and pictures of characters he likes.
>
> This is the kind of stuff she wants, but she wants it on a 3rd/4th
> grade level so it's not stuff she already knows so well.
>
> > "Well, it's really 49¢ but you always find a penny on the ground
> > or under the seat cushion so you might as well say 50¢." :-)
> > Michelle
>
> Oh, that's awesome! *laugh* What a smart guy!
>
> We haven't been to the local homeschool warehouse lately. Maybe she
> and I will go look at the workbooks and just see if anything appeals
> to her. We have several different math workbooks but they aren't
> fun anymore, just math problems that require lots of writing of
> numbers.
>
> She's also loved arts and crafts but she's getting bored by the
> things that are always here. We have nearly everything you can find
> for artsy fun. The only thing we don't have is the fun foam shapes
> because we have a cat who eats that stuff. He's had 3 surgeries to
> date so we've had to agree that we can't bring that stuff in the
> house anymore. She wants something new but easy. We've looked at
> Michael's and Hobby Lobby but she can't find anything that looks
> appealing. I can't figure out what she wants. She just walks
> around saying 'No, no, no, no, too hard, too easy, etc.'
>
> Ooh, I have an idea! Maybe she'd like to do a puzzle with me. She
> hasn't liked puzzles larger than 100 pieces because they're too
> complex, but maybe she's going through a growth spurt where all her
> normal activities are too easy and boring and she's ready to bump it
> up a notch. We can go buy some puzzles that are 200 or 300 pieces.
> She wanted to go to Target today anyway to look at the generic brand
> of American Girl dolls. That might be cool. :)
>
> Beth M.
>
>
>
>
>
>
> --
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>


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Pamela Sorooshian

>> This is the kind of stuff she wants, but she wants it on a 3rd/4th
>> grade level so it's not stuff she already knows so well.

Instead of looking in the workbooks/educational section of the
bookstore, try looking in the puzzles and games section. Last night I
stood in the bookstore with three teenagers and we spent almost two
hours doing logic puzzles, looking at optical illusions, and fooling
around with various other kinds of puzzles. We bought a couple of
puzzle books and a game, to play together, later.


Also - maybe try "Creative Thinking Press" - they have far more "fun"
workbook-like stuff -- we've really enjoyed a lot of them, such as
the "Red Herring" series...
<http://www.criticalthinking.com/index.jsp>



-pam

Unschooling shirts, cups, bumper stickers, bags...
Live Love Learn
UNSCHOOL!
<http://www.cafepress.com/livelovelearn>





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