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Child wants workbooks
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Hello again! I feel as if I am always asking for advice, but you are all so wise and encouraging and I definitely need help! Haha! My 7 year old told me yesterday that he cannot remember details about the books we read, like the books for history. He asked if there was a workbook that he could do for history instead. Gulp! Apparently he is not an auditory learner. So how would I continue to follow a Charlotte Mason style with a non-auditory child? Should I incorporate more notebooking? He is not a great speller and I don’t want to frustrate him in that way, but I don’t know what else to do. I don’t want to do busy work, but if that is the way he learns…Any help would be very much appreciated!
Coloring pages or maps? Maybe act out the story or play it out with toys? My 7 year old doesnt seem to remember anything either, I think at that age it goes over their heads a lot, but it is still getting in there for later connections. And even though he cannot narrate history right now I do hear conversations that indicate it is getting in, little things he has picked up. For science more hands on nature study or experiments might be better than reading about it. Sorry I dont have much, except that 7 is young and I wouldnt worry too much about it.
There are lots of things to consider when you are concerned about your child “not getting it” or not remembering details from history readings. One thing to remember for a non-auditory learner is that, if he is more of a visual learner, once he can read independently, he will not be only taking in information through hearing it. If he is more kinesthetic, you will need to find some hands-on activities to reinforce the reading, but for some of those learners, just having something to do with their hands while you read helps, i.e., building with Legos, drawing, even fiddling with a squishy ball.
Having said that, not all of the details will sink into a 7-year old’s mind, so be patient. Make sure your readings are short, and ask a prompting question for an oral narration sooner than you think you ought to. If you ask, “Tell me what happened to Mr. ______ in the part we just read?” after just one paragraph and you start to get details from your child, then after awhile you can ask for a narration after a couple of paragraphs and build from their. Often times I, myself, think back on a half-hour long portion I’ve read and wonder why I can’t recall everything right away. It takes practice, and you are practicing the habit of attention when you read and narrate.
You might also find some dvd’s that correlate to what you’re studying. For example, we read the book Castle by David Macaulay one year, and then we watched the PBS dvd of that book. It was helpful and engaging to see what we had read about, even though we laughed at Mr. Macaulay’s hairstyle and clothing…..very dated!
The Adventures in Mommydom blog has a lot of hands on activities for all subjects. Here is a link to the first post in a series.
http://adventuresinmommydom.org/a-z-of-hands-on-history-day-1/
Seven is young. I definitely wouldn’t jump to workbooks at this age. I would just give him maps, coloring pages, drawing assignments, etc. You don’t want him to think workbooks are the answer. It really is much easier to fill out a worksheet than to form the habit of attention to listen, process the information, and narrate it. This is a hard thing and it is natural for many children to struggle with it. You might try doing it yourself to see how much effort it takes. I have and it is difficult!
I would try reading an easier book and reading shorter sections before asking for narrations. You might just read a page or so, stop, ask for a narration, continue and so on. That may seem tedious but it is building a very valuable skill in higher level thinking in your son. As his narration abilities grow, you can read longer portions at a time.
Also, remember to write key names of people and places on a piece of paper or white board before you read. Tell your child that those names will be in that day’s reading and he should listen carefully for them.
Another important step in narration is to briefly review the last day’s reading from the book before you read today’s reading. This helps to refresh the memory and to link the readings together.
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