I took a call today from a young mom doing her best to home school her kid. While some subjects seem to come easy, there are others that just seem too difficult to teach because she feels she is making "no connection" with her son.
Here's the most powerful way I have found to get that interest peaked and that attention span stretched beyond two minutes...
Let your child find a hobby.
Our daughter had the hardest time reading, in fact, reading was not a priority at all to her and of course, a lack of reading caused many problems in every subject. As she grew older, she bagen to show an interest in horses. The problem was solved. From field trips to 4H, from library books on horses, we finally had a means of incorporating her interest into what she needed to learn! It was exciting to watch her read books on horses, and of course, she eventually got her own horse. From there she learned math as she budgeted for tack, learned fractions as she figured out feed amounts, and even learned practical skills as we built a stable!
Now I realize that not everyone will go this extreme with a hobby, but it worked!
Take my son for example. He is a bright boy, but has little attention span for things that he deems "unneccesary". With a father that makes a living as a professional weather monitor and researcher, he wanted to grow up to be like dad. That was where we focused.
It is thrilling to watch as (at 7 years old) he can calculate the arrival of a storm based on wind speed and direction versus distance. calculating wind shear is not an easy task for a seasoned weather monitor, but Jon goes after it with a vengeance at only 7! Rainfall totals, average rainfalls, water temperatures all come from buoy readings he takes himself and I love watching him analyze weather systems.
Having trouble making that connection in certain subjects? Step away from the books for a moment and find what peaks their interest. Rockets. Dinosaurs. Dolls. Weather. Cars. It all holds a means to get them to read, learn math, explore science and more!
