I'm slightly biased, but I always knew Isaac is smart...what I didn't know til yesterday is HOW smart.
Yesterday we had a conference with Isaac's teacher "Mrs. F" after school, to learn about his progress and to have any questions answered or concerns addressed. I was shocked, stunned, thrilled beyond belief when I found out that he's at the top of his class based on performance levels, grades, skills, etc. He's reading and doing math at levels they expect at the end of 1st grade. His handwriting is sloppy, but the thought going into his writing is excellent. It's especially thrilling when you bear in mind that he's the youngest in his class and nearly a year younger than many of his classmates.
Mrs F. advised us to keep his mind busy with toys that are complicated, like erector sets. She said to give him activities that require real thought, manipulation, skills. Anything that he has to plan, devise, construct or otherwise bend to his will.
I told her that Isaac had been asking to learn how to cook and she gave me a warm laugh.
No, seriously.
He wants to cook. He wants to bake bread very badly. Very very badly. I just need to learn how to teach him.
So far 98% of what he's learned has been through immersion. Whatever we're doing, he gets involved and picks up skills as we go along. Stuff like gardening and very basic carpentry. I'm not sure how to transition from immersion to intentional teaching/learning.
Does that make sense to anyone but me?
Isaac knows how the gist of baking bread. You mix up some stuff, you knead it, you let it get puffy then you bake it and eat it with honey while it's still warm.
It's the details he doesn't know. Like following recipes, measuring and what the ingredients DO.
We have a long weekend coming up next weekend and I think I'm going to set aside a day to start teaching him the basics. Using measuring cups and understanding fractions will be a good starting point. Not only will the scooping and measuring be fun, it will reinforce what he's learned so far about fractions. And hopefully we'll end up with an edible food product when the day is over.
Passing down skills is so important! What skills are you passing down and how are you doing it???
17 comments:
He's probably too young to really understand the fractions in a mathematical sense, but he can certainly learn them in the recognition sense - like learning ABCs. On the other hand, if you do the water thing...(See the 2 of the fraction? it means you need 2 of them to measure one cup ... pour into glass measuring cup so he can _see_ it equals one cup).
It's funny...making a long story very short, I have a young lady living with us. When she was in high school, she had a problem with the math. I said something about a fraction being just an expression of a division problem(I think it was actually because we were discussing percentages, maybe). For some reason, that was an entirely new concept to her. She sort of couldn't believe that it was that simple. _I_ couldn't believe she didn't already know it!
I'd guess that if I were you, I'd delve into all the home-schooling info I could find. And I wouldn't be afraid to say - "You know...I don't know anything about XXX...let's see what we can learn about it! Together!"
If he's as smart as you think, then it's more important to teach him how to _learn_ than it is to teach him _stuff_. Learning "stuff" is good - especially in the early elementary years - but learning how to learn...that's _really_ important!
You know..."give a man a fish..." etc.
It's sort of scary...but he IS that smart. He's beginning to learn fractions...like if you show him a pie chart with color slices, he can tell you what portion is red or what portion is blue. He isn't to the '2 halves make a whole, 4 quarters make a whole' yet. Teaching him to use measuring cups may drive that point home, though.
Our daughter, our youngest child, is the same way. As she was growing and learning at home she was hands on in everything. She is now a A+ student. Our youngest son is a A student and I do believe its what they learned at home before school that helped them prepare on how to learn. I know its weird thinking you have to learn how to learn but I believe it is true.
At the age of 5 and 6 I have pictures of them preparing meals, yes they were reading the recipe and constructing it as the directions emplied. They are really excited about the things they made. As they were reading if the recipe stated you needed 2 cups of flour, i would give them a 1/2 cup measuring cup and they would figure out how many of them it would take to get 2 equal cups, same as teaspoons. This was my way of teaching how to multiply.
In the begginning of the year our daughter started learning how to multiply in school. Much to her teachers surprise she was flying through them. I was excited. She is at a 4th grade level in 3rd grade. Some things she is at a 5th grade level. Our son is smart but he won't show it.
They learn alot and our kids learn hands on. Our kids love experiments. I let them do them and they figure out if it was good or not.Have fun! It will be just as exciting for you as it is for him.
I need to clearify about my son. (he is smart just dont show it) he is an A student but he is timid. If they are working on something and he knows a little more about it then the others he sits and keeps it to himself. He doesn't want to be seen as a teachers pet. Our daughter on the other hand LOVES to be the teachers pet.
Thanks Jan. Great ideas! Teaching them to learn, I guess that's what I'm trying to figure out. It's going to be interesting when Mara starts school...she's very smart, but she's smart in very different terms. Where Isaac is so good with numbers and working with diagrams and stuff like that, Mara sees things very differently. Relationally, if that makes sense. She seems to notice patterns and relationships... and she's creative with language and art. Isaac is my little engineer. Mara is my artist.
I think I understand you...I think I was the same way...smart, but didn't really want to apply myself or get involved. I was the 'reluctant A' student.
Jan, did you get your package from me a week or so ago? Just wanted to make sure it was delivered okay.
I think that giving your skills to your kids is one of the best gifts you can ever give. I have three daughters and have showed each of them how to grow a garden,shoot, fish and hunt. And have even showed them a few woodworking skills but I still fear they are 100% California girls and didn't keep all of the info I showed them, I pray each day for them to grow with the skills and learn new ones and teach me new stuff.
Keep up the great work....
Pete, it sounds like immersion and experimentation is really the way to go when teaching kids skills. That's something I need to work on...letting the kids experiment and get dirty and make a mess and not worry so much about cleaning up afterwards.
But I can't help but think that these skills are only helpful if they see the parent engaging in them regularly. Who wants to learn to bake bread or hunt if you never actually bake the bread or go hunting on a regular basis?
Yes I did get it, thank you. Trying to figure it all out now. I will email you with a bunch of questions if thats ok?
Yes, please email me anytime you want. It's a little difficult initially, but once you get the hang of it, it's a snap.
I agree with suek, teaching a child how to learn is fundamental to keep a child from losing interest. My 12 yr.old daughter is in the process of writing a book (short story of several chapters) and asked me to give her ideas of where to go next in her novel. I explained writers block and how authors can struggle with this at times and showed her how to research solutions to it. I also told her it would not truly be her book if I told her what to write. She was proud to think of herself as a real author of something that she is doing on her own, thinking through the whole process. It is important for our children to be critical thinkers.
An interesting thing I learned too from my hubby's 88 yr. old granny when we started homeschooling. When a child is good at reading, they are generally weaker in math, and when stronger at math, they are generally weaker in reading. Now how to remedy this, I still need to discover, but my kids are above grade level so I don't worry too much.
It sounds like you have bright children that are academically gifted in different areas. Focus on those strengths. I think Mrs. F is right on. Isaac sounds like he's gifted in Math/Science and toys and activities hat stimulate that talent would serve him well.
Hi Shelly!
I totally believe the math/reading thing, although at this point, Isaac is excelling at both. I can see those tendencies in both kids...Isaac leans towards math, science, logical stuff where Mara is more interested in language, arts, drama, relational stuff. She can absolutely determine order and see the relationship between two objects.
And I was the same way. In high school I carried a 95-100% pretty much all 4 years in English, foreign languages, literature, art, stuff like that. But I squeaked by in algebra and chemistry with like a 64.2. Just couldn't get it, no matter how long I studied or how well I paid attention. Left brain/right brain indeed.
Questions...!
Encourage questions, and then how and where to find the answers.
It's so much easier with the internet, but first you have to have the questions. My kids used to drive me nuts with the "why" thing...that was their intention, of course, although there was probably some good reason at the heart of it. It was usually in the car...so they just continued until I ran out of answers. Maybe that was their goal? testing the limits of Mom's knowledge? I don't know. I used to call them "Whybirds"...
I wish CSI and maybe NCIS were more child suitable (I don't think they are, generally) simply because they have a problem to solve, and sometimes they get very creative in the questions they ask and how they get the info they need to solve the problem. Recognizing how basically unrealistic they are, nevertheless, they encourage development of question asking - which is where you have to start.
Also, as a by the way...in the lighting business, we have to search for stuff for customers. The key to finding it online is the right name - but often, we don't _know_ the right name, because it is often specifically industry or application devised. I usually start out with an obvious description, then comb through the hits for anything that gives me a possible name, then search on that. Sometimes it works. So, teaching kids how to search for something they know nothing about is a valuable skill. Having the internet is a bit like having a massive dictionary of facts instead of words...expect them to become diverted. Then you'll have to help them organize their diversions for later research while continuing the original search.
Fabulous suggestions, Sue. I had to laugh at the CSI idea! 2 of my kids favorite shows are Mythbusters and How It's Made....How and Why shows!
There's a great book called Cooking & Science that I used with my daughter that might be a good fit for your son. Here is a link:
http://www.hometrainingtools.com/cooking-science/p/BK-COOKSCI/
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