Background – 2 boys, ages 12 and 13. Have done CM-type science their whole lives. Lots of nature study. Most of the younger Apologia books. Most of the Real Science 4 Kids books. Lots and lots and lots of living books, picture books, videos, outside time, etc. One boy has some learning challenges mainly as relates to language (processing words, reading comprehension if written vs. oral, etc)
They finished Module 3 last week and it’s been pure torture. As part of our yearly planning I sat them each down to talk about how things were going, what they wanted to learn, etc.
One said, “I wanted to do something with science as a job, but not anymore. You killed that for me by making me do this science program.” He went on to explain that it was dry, boring, not well written and that he knew the author was trying to get him to learn something but he (the author) was doing a terrible job explaining it. He also said it felt scattered and not coherent.
The other said, “It’s just hard. I don’t like it. I’m really bad at it.” Now normally I wouldn’t worry too much about these kinds of statements, but this particular boy has serious confidence issues because learning is hard for him. He really, really wants to do something science-related with his life so I want him to have the foundation, but he is really, really bad at learning from this textbook!
So, my options:
1. Push through it. Perhaps give shorter assignments. Discuss it with them daily instead of weekly. Something.
2. Take the topics taught in the book and find other resources instead. For example, there is a chapter on the digestive system. I’d find books, movies, experiments, etc. to teach the digestive system then we’d move on.
3. Switch to God’s Design for Science and work through the entire series in the next 2 years then have them pick up Biology in high school as recommended.
4. Have them work through the Apologia Young Explorer series (which they’ve done at younger ages, except the human body and new chemistry/physics) either by themselves or with the family.
5. Something else????
I was hoping that this year they’d become more independent in science, working on their own. They can manage their time and get the assigned work done. They just don’t seem to like or understand it!
Any thoughts, suggestions, ideas would be greatly appreciated.
Heather