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Do you require electives?
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I was recently introduced to the Lifestyle of Learning ideas by Marilyn Howshall (basically delight-directed learning). In one of her website posts, Ms. Howshall asks probing questions such as “Are your children bored with the work you require of them? Do they cry, whine, etc. when certain books are pulled out? Do they drag out their lessons or get easily distracted from them because of disinterest?”
I think these are great questions for re-evaluating. And I understand that there are certain things that our children simply must learn, i.e. basic math, how to write, read, etc. and I have no problems with requiring my children to learn them albeit at their own abilities, maturity level, etc.
But what do you do if your children are not interested in learning what would be considered “electives”? The one I’m specifically talking about for our family is Foreign Language. Our children (11 and 7) have zero interest in learning another language. We live in a primarily Caucasian area and I suppose they just don’t see the point. And I’m starting to get tired of trying to get them to learn something they really aren’t interested in and drag their feet on every time I try to introduce it (whether workbooks, CD’s, online games, etc. it doesn’t matter). Maybe one day they’ll want to learn another language but since they’re still fairly young, should I just drop it?
I guess my question is “What would CM do?” 🙂
My boys were not interested in learning a language until our family took a trip last year to a Spanish speaking country. We didn’t learn a lot of Spanish, but we did learn our numbers to 20, colours, basic greetings and please and thank you. Then some of our youth went on a mission trip to Honduras and my older son said he would like to go when he is old enough. It has given him a reason to take more interest in Spanish.
Personally, I studied 8 years of French through the Ontario Public Schools and can barely speak a word of it. I understand only very slightly more. I have no illusions that my boys will ever be fluent in Spanish or Fench or anything else, unless they make that a personal goal for themselves at some point down the road.
I’ve been giving this a lot of thought this year as I try to figure out which direction to take our Spanish lessons. One possible way is to do a Geography Unit Study of sorts focusing on Spanish Speaking countries with the hopes that their interest in the language will increase with the exposure to those cultures. Of course, that may not fit in with your current history/geography plans.
I’d look for fun videos, online games, etc. as well as opportunities to speak Spanish — like when counting while playing a board game, or practicing colours while folding laundry.
I don’t know exactly how we’re going to do it yet, but I do know that I want to keep it light and fun for my 12 and 9 year olds. I don’t want it to be another boring lesson on the to do list.
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