Solved a homeschooling problem with Caleb
If any of you are homeschooling, I'm sure you would agree that sometimes it can get overwhelming! Especially when it feels like your children just aren't trying.
For a while, I was having some really tough times with Caleb. Caleb is 7 and he entered the 4th grade with his math a couple of months ago. We are using Saxon. Caleb has the ability to zoom right thought this stuff, but for some reason, for a few weeks, he was becoming lazy.
I noticed that he would be sitting on the table, daydreaming, looking into space....or he would be standing up and dancing, or he would be talking to Bonnie, or playing with Noah, instead of doing his work.
I was getting very frustrated, because his one subject- math- was taking not 2, not 3 hours...but sometimes an entire day (about 8 hours) to finish. And not because he couldn't do it...because he *wouldn't * do it.
Now, Caleb is very much like me...in fact, he is so much like me that it scares me sometimes. Like me, he has a hard time concentrating on one thing for a long period of time, without thinking about something else.
I didn't know what to do about his problem, mainly, because I don't totally know what to do to solve my OWN problem in this area. Every day seemed to stretch out all day, and I'd constantly be nagging Caleb with, "Please, Caleb, PLEASE, would you just get the work done? Don't you realize that if you'd just get it done, you'd have the rest of the day to do other things?" And it wasn't working. It was just getting me frustrated, getting him frustrated, and making it harder for me to concentrate my attention to Bonnie and her homeschool work.
I kept talking to James about it, asking him for advice...I wondered what approach I should take, because it seemed like standing over him, helping him, wasn't working. Coming in every few minutes to check on him wasn't working, disciplining him wasn't working, putting him in the corner, telling him he has one hour to finish, taking away toys, etc wasn't working.
James told me to take away all video game priviliges, all comic book priviliges (Caleb's favorite thing to do is read Calvin and Hobbes), and all going outside priviliges, until we see him doing his work within at least 1 hour every day for a week.
Well, that worked for 1 day. Then he reverted back to 8 hours of twiddling his thumbs and purposely dropping his pencil, studying the ceiling fan, etc.
It finally occured to me that one thing that has helped me to keep my mind on one task at a time, is to use a timer- it's the only thing that seems to work for me...So I thought, maybe this would work with Caleb.
So instead of telling him he has one hour to do ALL the work, I told him instead, he had 2 minutes for each problem (and 4-6 minutes for the more difficult ones). And I would set the timer, which I found at OnlineStopwatch.com, for those amounts of time. The first day I tried this, I was shocked. He was able to finish his first problem in just 30 seconds! I timed him for the second problem. It took him 1 minute.
I continued to time him, and the entire lesson, 29 problems, took him less than an hour to finish!! And he got only 3 incorrect out of all of the problems.
I was soooooo relieved!!!! I had found the answer to my problem!
For the last 2 weeks, he has been doing his work this way, and it's unbelievable...it's a complete change in his behavior. I think that what he needed was the right motivation, and something to keep his mind attentive to his work. I am going to continue to work with him this way, as it obviously helps him greatly!
I found a website that deals with types of learners and Caleb sounds like the "Kinesthetic Learner" (Not all of the things on the list apply to him, but many of them do).
If any of you are interested, here is the website I gleaned this information from.
3 Types of Learning Styles
This may help some of you who are homeschooling and are dealing with the differences in your children's learning styles. Hope it helps someone!
For a while, I was having some really tough times with Caleb. Caleb is 7 and he entered the 4th grade with his math a couple of months ago. We are using Saxon. Caleb has the ability to zoom right thought this stuff, but for some reason, for a few weeks, he was becoming lazy.
I noticed that he would be sitting on the table, daydreaming, looking into space....or he would be standing up and dancing, or he would be talking to Bonnie, or playing with Noah, instead of doing his work.
I was getting very frustrated, because his one subject- math- was taking not 2, not 3 hours...but sometimes an entire day (about 8 hours) to finish. And not because he couldn't do it...because he *wouldn't * do it.
Now, Caleb is very much like me...in fact, he is so much like me that it scares me sometimes. Like me, he has a hard time concentrating on one thing for a long period of time, without thinking about something else.
I didn't know what to do about his problem, mainly, because I don't totally know what to do to solve my OWN problem in this area. Every day seemed to stretch out all day, and I'd constantly be nagging Caleb with, "Please, Caleb, PLEASE, would you just get the work done? Don't you realize that if you'd just get it done, you'd have the rest of the day to do other things?" And it wasn't working. It was just getting me frustrated, getting him frustrated, and making it harder for me to concentrate my attention to Bonnie and her homeschool work.
I kept talking to James about it, asking him for advice...I wondered what approach I should take, because it seemed like standing over him, helping him, wasn't working. Coming in every few minutes to check on him wasn't working, disciplining him wasn't working, putting him in the corner, telling him he has one hour to finish, taking away toys, etc wasn't working.
James told me to take away all video game priviliges, all comic book priviliges (Caleb's favorite thing to do is read Calvin and Hobbes), and all going outside priviliges, until we see him doing his work within at least 1 hour every day for a week.
Well, that worked for 1 day. Then he reverted back to 8 hours of twiddling his thumbs and purposely dropping his pencil, studying the ceiling fan, etc.
It finally occured to me that one thing that has helped me to keep my mind on one task at a time, is to use a timer- it's the only thing that seems to work for me...So I thought, maybe this would work with Caleb.
So instead of telling him he has one hour to do ALL the work, I told him instead, he had 2 minutes for each problem (and 4-6 minutes for the more difficult ones). And I would set the timer, which I found at OnlineStopwatch.com, for those amounts of time. The first day I tried this, I was shocked. He was able to finish his first problem in just 30 seconds! I timed him for the second problem. It took him 1 minute.
I continued to time him, and the entire lesson, 29 problems, took him less than an hour to finish!! And he got only 3 incorrect out of all of the problems.
I was soooooo relieved!!!! I had found the answer to my problem!
For the last 2 weeks, he has been doing his work this way, and it's unbelievable...it's a complete change in his behavior. I think that what he needed was the right motivation, and something to keep his mind attentive to his work. I am going to continue to work with him this way, as it obviously helps him greatly!
I found a website that deals with types of learners and Caleb sounds like the "Kinesthetic Learner" (Not all of the things on the list apply to him, but many of them do).
THE KINESTHETIC LEARNER
Ways to Spot One - A child who Wants to:
- move all the time
- touch and feel everything, rubs hands on walls, hallways, door frames as he moves
- thumps buddies
- can take an item apart and put it back together
- enjoys doing things with his hands
- is well co-ordinated, good at sports (except eye-hand co-ordination if visual modality strength is lacking)
- frequently uses fists
- may make paper airplanes
- needs to use concrete objects as learning aids
- cannot rote count or sequence material without aids
- has difficulty establishing one-to-one relationships in number values
- after age 6.5 is generally classed as an underachiever
- often described as a child who can't keep his hands to himself
- needs to explore his environment more than average for this age
- is often considered hyperactive
- provide quiet down period after physical activities
- alternate quiet periods and rest periods
- task reward may work well
- avoid putting him too close to other children
- provide cues for end of study time - timer or clock
- encourage visits for drinks/bathroom before class
- make it harder to move than to sit still - e.g. desk against wall
- is often unaware of own movement and distracted by that of others
- may be on medication for hyperactivity - find out
- use picture to help establish associations - words/numbers/meanings
- attach verbal labels
- use visual, auditory, and kinesthetic methods for teaching writing
- allow for planned times for movement, such as monitor jobs
If any of you are interested, here is the website I gleaned this information from.
3 Types of Learning Styles
This may help some of you who are homeschooling and are dealing with the differences in your children's learning styles. Hope it helps someone!
Posted by Bethany at 8/2/2007 10:24 AM 
Categories: My kids and the cute things they say and do, Life's Lessons, Homeschooling
Categories: My kids and the cute things they say and do, Life's Lessons, Homeschooling
Another thing that might work Bethany is having Caleb work with his hands and be able to touch what he is doing. For example, if caleb was curious about how to put a computer together, it would probably be best for him to just take the computer apart and explore, then put it back together. Does that makes sense. I know caleb is only seven and probably doesn't want to take a computer apart, hehe just an example. hehe
There are also quizzes you can take that tell you what kind of learner you may be. Perhaps you should try and find one and test Bonnie if you're curious. Then you can taylor you lessons you teach her to that type of learning style. It might even be good to test caleb just to make sure. Here is a link to quiz yourself or your children. http://www.educationplanner.com/education_planner/discovering_article.asp?sponsor=2859&articleName=Learning_Styles_Quiz
I think I might do one of these quizzes with my students just so i know what kind of learners I have. Good luck!
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Jm, thank you for that link! I will use that on the kiddos and see what happens. By the way, I took the test for myself, and apparently I am a visual learner, which I think is very accurate. I never can understand written directions unless they come with a picture or video tutorial. I learn best through that type of thing.
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Bethany, I took the quiz as well. I was also a visual learner. I am also a little like Caleb. If I am learning something new, it is easier for me to remember it if I can DO IT while I am being shown or told how it is done. For example, here at school they have been telling and teaching us a lot of things including how to use the grade book. I was overwealmed and had a hard time understanding how to use this tool. I know once I can actually play around with the grade book on the computer I will be able to have a better understanding of it.
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Sounds so much like me! lol
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Hi Bethany,
Thank you so much for sharing this. My son is 9 and is a kinesthetic learner. I didn't know this until I read your posting. I had tried to find some information about his learning style but hadn't found it yet. Anyway, he matches almost everything in the list. I'm so glad to find this. I was glad we had actually done some of the suggestions before. Made me feel better. Anyway, thank you so much! I really enjoy stopping by and reading your blog.
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Margaret, thank you so much..and I'm so glad that this was able to make you feel better, and maybe helped you some! Sometimes teaching children who are like this is very difficult, and gets stressful, and you feel like you are the only one having to go through it! Finding a solution is always so nice! Wish I had known about this sooner...would have saved me a lot of heartache!
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I am sorry that you had such trouble with your son, but I am so glad to find someone else who has had the SAME problems that I have had! And, I found a similar solution! My son is 8, he is on 3rd grade Saxon math, and it would take him all day to do his work. Trying to tell him if he got done he could play didn't work, taking his video games away didn't work, same as you. I felt the same too! Even if I worked with him, it would take 3 hours, which really frustrated me, because then I couldn't get anything done! I set the timer for 45 minutes and said he had to get done in 45 minutes, or he would have to finish with his dad when he got home from work, and he(his dad) wouldn't like that. Worked like a charm. I actually broke it down to 15 minutes for the meeting, 15 minutes for the actual lesson, and 15 minutes for the timed sheet and main worksheet. Like you said, it wasn't that he couldn't do it, it was just that he wouldn't do it! Thank you for sharing! I am so glad that I am not alone!
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Monique, thank you so much for sharing your story too! It's so good to know I'm not alone as well! I am still not having any problems with him, as long as I keep him on the timer. I think it really does help him stay focused.
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