Peeking at the answers first
Denise
I'm torn on what to do with this one:
My 4yo son receives the Highlights Playground hidden pictures
magazine. This month he discovered the answers in the back of the book :)
So part of me sees this as being pretty resourceful and I'm proud of
him for figuring it out on his own, but the other part feels like
"hey, that's cheating" and "that takes all the fun out of it"
Now, some of the activities in this magazine can be quite challenging,
so I'm thinking maybe he's getting frustrated and this is a way for
him to solve the puzzles more easily. But I also want him to
challenge himself too. I know, I know, he's only 4! Am I
overanaylzing this? Do I just let it be or do we remove the answers
first in the next edition? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Denise
Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas (4)
My 4yo son receives the Highlights Playground hidden pictures
magazine. This month he discovered the answers in the back of the book :)
So part of me sees this as being pretty resourceful and I'm proud of
him for figuring it out on his own, but the other part feels like
"hey, that's cheating" and "that takes all the fun out of it"
Now, some of the activities in this magazine can be quite challenging,
so I'm thinking maybe he's getting frustrated and this is a way for
him to solve the puzzles more easily. But I also want him to
challenge himself too. I know, I know, he's only 4! Am I
overanaylzing this? Do I just let it be or do we remove the answers
first in the next edition? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
Denise
Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas (4)
Nicole Willoughby
Have you ever taken advantage of a hint from a teacher? Looked a word up in the dictionary? Read the end of a book before you read the entire book? Researched a product ..like maybe a telescope before you bought it ...and hopefully you were happy with the product because of it ...or maybe you didnt look ahead and now the product never gets used.
In my opinion........you could prevent him from looking ahead by tearing out the answers and risk loosing some of his trust and him loosing all intrest in this magazine. Or you can trust that he is giving himself what he needs at this time. He may be interested in just how this artist is putting things together just so to where they become hidden.
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
In my opinion........you could prevent him from looking ahead by tearing out the answers and risk loosing some of his trust and him loosing all intrest in this magazine. Or you can trust that he is giving himself what he needs at this time. He may be interested in just how this artist is putting things together just so to where they become hidden.
---------------------------------
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[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Michelle Leifur Reid
On 10/2/06, Denise <mdradak@...> wrote:
College Algebra 5 times (including once in high school) and dropped
out everytime on the last day you could withdraw from a class without
failing. It just never made sense to me. I couldn't understand how
to get to the end. The 6th time that I took the class, the teacher
gave me the answers. Wow! Once I had the answers I was able to work
through the problem to understand how one did get from point A to
point B. It was like working the problem in reverse.
Sometimes I do the same sort of thing in a knitting pattern. I'll be
struggling with some intricate lace pattern and I just can't figure
out what to do with the row I am on, so I will read the next row to
see how it relates so that I can work back to where I am having a
problem. It's kind of like I'm thinking, "OK, this is where I need
to get to. I'm at this point. What do I need to do to get to that
point?"
I even "cheat" when I do sudoku puzzles sometimes just because I'm at
a point where the numbers aren't making sense. I don't see that as a
bad thing. It's a tool to help you work through things.
You are right. He's ONLY four and some of those highlights puzzles
are hard even for adults. (Espcially those dang hidden pictures!)
Perhaps he will look at the answers for a few issues and suddenly it
will all fall into place how to go about finding the answer. Maybe he
will be a "read the last chapter first" kind of person and like to
know "who dunit" so he can follow it through in his mind as he is
reading the book to see if he can figure out the answer like the hero
in the story.
Michelle
> I'm torn on what to do with this one:I'll share with you how I made it through College Algebra. :) I took
> My 4yo son receives the Highlights Playground hidden pictures
> magazine. This month he discovered the answers in the back of the book :)
> So part of me sees this as being pretty resourceful and I'm proud of
> him for figuring it out on his own, but the other part feels like
> "hey, that's cheating" and "that takes all the fun out of it"
College Algebra 5 times (including once in high school) and dropped
out everytime on the last day you could withdraw from a class without
failing. It just never made sense to me. I couldn't understand how
to get to the end. The 6th time that I took the class, the teacher
gave me the answers. Wow! Once I had the answers I was able to work
through the problem to understand how one did get from point A to
point B. It was like working the problem in reverse.
Sometimes I do the same sort of thing in a knitting pattern. I'll be
struggling with some intricate lace pattern and I just can't figure
out what to do with the row I am on, so I will read the next row to
see how it relates so that I can work back to where I am having a
problem. It's kind of like I'm thinking, "OK, this is where I need
to get to. I'm at this point. What do I need to do to get to that
point?"
I even "cheat" when I do sudoku puzzles sometimes just because I'm at
a point where the numbers aren't making sense. I don't see that as a
bad thing. It's a tool to help you work through things.
You are right. He's ONLY four and some of those highlights puzzles
are hard even for adults. (Espcially those dang hidden pictures!)
Perhaps he will look at the answers for a few issues and suddenly it
will all fall into place how to go about finding the answer. Maybe he
will be a "read the last chapter first" kind of person and like to
know "who dunit" so he can follow it through in his mind as he is
reading the book to see if he can figure out the answer like the hero
in the story.
Michelle
marji
At 14:23 10/2/2006, you wrote:
that he found the answers. If you have to sort of trick yourself
into being okay with this, consider what he's doing to be
research! In the meanwhile, I agree with you that he's being
resourceful, and I would rejoice in that. He'll have a whole
lifetime of being challenged when he's older (maybe much
older). Just let him have fun now!
I get the impression that you're thinking of this in a schooly way
(you know, "cheating" and all that). If you live your lives as
though school doesn't even exist at all, you all will have more fun
and absorb more and have more good feelings than if you look at him
checking out the answers and think "Hmmm...he's cheating." Cheating
whom, anyway??!! The magazine really doesn't care if he looks up the
answers or not. If anything, he's learning stuff he wouldn't have
learned otherwise.
Just let him be. And, let him show you that he found the
answers! He must feel pretty good about that!!
Them's my two cents. :-)
Marji
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
Marji
<http://www.gaiawolf.org/>GaiaWolf
<http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/GaiaWolf/>Join the GaiaWolf Mailing List
<http://myspace.com/gaiawolf>Visit us on MySpace
"The animals of this world exist for their own reasons. They were
not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or
women created for men."
~Alice Walker
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>Am I overanaylzing this?Yes!
>Do I just let it be...Yes!
>or do we remove the answersYikes!!! No!! Why do you want to frustrate him?!? It's so cool
>first in the next edition?
that he found the answers. If you have to sort of trick yourself
into being okay with this, consider what he's doing to be
research! In the meanwhile, I agree with you that he's being
resourceful, and I would rejoice in that. He'll have a whole
lifetime of being challenged when he's older (maybe much
older). Just let him have fun now!
I get the impression that you're thinking of this in a schooly way
(you know, "cheating" and all that). If you live your lives as
though school doesn't even exist at all, you all will have more fun
and absorb more and have more good feelings than if you look at him
checking out the answers and think "Hmmm...he's cheating." Cheating
whom, anyway??!! The magazine really doesn't care if he looks up the
answers or not. If anything, he's learning stuff he wouldn't have
learned otherwise.
Just let him be. And, let him show you that he found the
answers! He must feel pretty good about that!!
Them's my two cents. :-)
Marji
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
Marji
<http://www.gaiawolf.org/>GaiaWolf
<http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/GaiaWolf/>Join the GaiaWolf Mailing List
<http://myspace.com/gaiawolf>Visit us on MySpace
"The animals of this world exist for their own reasons. They were
not made for humans any more than blacks were made for whites or
women created for men."
~Alice Walker
_.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._.:~`^'~:._
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Melissa
Let it be!!! Doesn't matter if he's two, four, or twelve...he's not
wanting to look for the pictures, and forcing him to do it by
removing the answers will just ruin the fun for him. He's putting in
building blocks for recognizing patterns, sometimes we need it to be
easy, sometimes we want the challenge. Maybe he needs practice before
his brain is ready to see those hidden pictures, he's not making
sense of it quite yet. I fully trust that he'll get to a point where
he wants to look for them without the answers.
My question is why are you so entangled in him doing this 'properly'?
Cheating is when you're competing against someone else and taking an
unfair advantage to beat them. How can you cheat yourself? How can
one of us decide what's fun (as in 'taking all the fun out of it')
for our kids? He obviously is enjoying it this way, and thus it's fun
for him ;-) I'd say let it alone...and maybe you could do one for
yourself :-) I love hidden pictures.
Melissa
Mom to Josh (11), Breanna (9), Emily (7), Rachel (6), Sam (5), Dan
(3), and Avari Rose
share our lives at
http://360.yahoo.com/multimomma
wanting to look for the pictures, and forcing him to do it by
removing the answers will just ruin the fun for him. He's putting in
building blocks for recognizing patterns, sometimes we need it to be
easy, sometimes we want the challenge. Maybe he needs practice before
his brain is ready to see those hidden pictures, he's not making
sense of it quite yet. I fully trust that he'll get to a point where
he wants to look for them without the answers.
My question is why are you so entangled in him doing this 'properly'?
Cheating is when you're competing against someone else and taking an
unfair advantage to beat them. How can you cheat yourself? How can
one of us decide what's fun (as in 'taking all the fun out of it')
for our kids? He obviously is enjoying it this way, and thus it's fun
for him ;-) I'd say let it alone...and maybe you could do one for
yourself :-) I love hidden pictures.
Melissa
Mom to Josh (11), Breanna (9), Emily (7), Rachel (6), Sam (5), Dan
(3), and Avari Rose
share our lives at
http://360.yahoo.com/multimomma
On Oct 2, 2006, at 1:23 PM, Denise wrote:
> I'm torn on what to do with this one:
> My 4yo son receives the Highlights Playground hidden pictures
> magazine. This month he discovered the answers in the back of the
> book :)
> So part of me sees this as being pretty resourceful and I'm proud of
> him for figuring it out on his own, but the other part feels like
> "hey, that's cheating" and "that takes all the fun out of it"
> Now, some of the activities in this magazine can be quite challenging,
> so I'm thinking maybe he's getting frustrated and this is a way for
> him to solve the puzzles more easily. But I also want him to
> challenge himself too. I know, I know, he's only 4! Am I
> overanaylzing this? Do I just let it be or do we remove the answers
> first in the next edition? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!
>
> Denise
> Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas (4)
>
>
>
[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
Joanne
Hi Denise,
I understand what you're saying but maybe think of it another way
....if he asked you a question (like what time it was) wouldn't you
give him the answer? Or would you want him to "challenge himself" to
try and figutre it out? Plus, like you said, he's only 4. There's
lots of stuff in Highlights that may be to hard for him to figure
out on his own yet.
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
--- In [email protected], "Denise" <mdradak@...>
wrote:
I understand what you're saying but maybe think of it another way
....if he asked you a question (like what time it was) wouldn't you
give him the answer? Or would you want him to "challenge himself" to
try and figutre it out? Plus, like you said, he's only 4. There's
lots of stuff in Highlights that may be to hard for him to figure
out on his own yet.
~ Joanne ~
Mom to Jacqueline (8), Shawna (11) & Cimion (13)
Adopted into our hearts October 2003
************************************
Unschooling Voices ~ Add Your Voice
www.foreverparents.com/UnschoolingVoices.html
--- In [email protected], "Denise" <mdradak@...>
wrote:
>book :)
> I'm torn on what to do with this one:
> My 4yo son receives the Highlights Playground hidden pictures
> magazine. This month he discovered the answers in the back of the
> So part of me sees this as being pretty resourceful and I'm proudof
> him for figuring it out on his own, but the other part feels likechallenging,
> "hey, that's cheating" and "that takes all the fun out of it"
> Now, some of the activities in this magazine can be quite
> so I'm thinking maybe he's getting frustrated and this is a way foranswers
> him to solve the puzzles more easily. But I also want him to
> challenge himself too. I know, I know, he's only 4! Am I
> overanaylzing this? Do I just let it be or do we remove the
> first in the next edition? Your thoughts are greatly appreciated!(4)
>
> Denise
> Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas
>
Denise
Thanks for all the great replys. What an eye opener for me...I didn't
even realize I was thinking about this in "school" terms. You're
right, he's having fun and that's where the value is. Boy, I've got a
ways to go on deschooling myself! It sneaks up on you when you least
expect it ;-) Thanks for helping me reframe this issue (which, I
realize now, is no issue at all) Sure glad this group is here.
Denise
Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas (4)
even realize I was thinking about this in "school" terms. You're
right, he's having fun and that's where the value is. Boy, I've got a
ways to go on deschooling myself! It sneaks up on you when you least
expect it ;-) Thanks for helping me reframe this issue (which, I
realize now, is no issue at all) Sure glad this group is here.
Denise
Living, loving, learning in Michigan with Sienna (6) and Nicholas (4)