Children Grow Children Explore Children Learn

Debbie

I always like to think that maybe a child is not motivated or struggling in a subject because they might not be ready for that concept. What we do in our home, is instead of dropping the subject, we might step back a bit and shorten the lessons, try creating games or work the concepts into life lessons. Many times the child is truly lacking self confidence in themselves that they can do the lessons required in a subject area. We never give up working on the subject just our approach to it. It's been our experience by using play and life lessons allowing our child to gain her confidence, then return back to the material, she is much more receptive. This is not going to happen over night as some children truly need more time to develop in the areas needed to do certain things. As an example, last year Selena was strong in her reading, but showed little interest in math. I created many math games using bottle caps, a number line, and using many toys. Before Selena knew it she was doing simple addition and subtraction off the top of her head, this built her confidence to move forward in this area. I truly believe that last year she just wasn't quite ready to learn these concepts in the traditional manner. This year we are seeing a less reluctance when the math book is pulled out. She now demonstrates that she is ready developmentally to perceive the math concepts. My rule of thumb is never think that because other children the same age as your child is doing certain things that your child should be as well. Every child develops differently and at their own pace. Give them a chance to develop the skills and maturity it needs to learn new concepts instead of worrying about what other children their age are doing.