Enrichment Programs for an Academically Disinclined Elementary School Student (Help!)

Parent Cafe
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<p>First of all, thank you very much for taking a look at this thread. I think the kind of support that people provide for each other on this forum is incredible, and I appreciate any advice, suggestions, or comments that you have to offer.</p>

<p>So here’s the deal: I’m a Harvard freshman. I’ve always been academically inclined - advanced programs from kindergarten on, outside enrichment from at Kaplan’s Score! learning centers, love of reading, scientific research, etc. etc. </p>

<p>My younger brother? Not so much.</p>

<p>He’s in the fourth grade, and doesn’t really seem to have much interest in anything other than Star Wars, Legos, and his new Nintendo DS. It’s not that he’s dumb - he’s pretty average when it comes to grades and test scores. But he doesn’t really seem to have a love of learning, and my family is trying to find new ways to enrich him academically outside of school. We currently use workbooks (the kind available at bookstores) to give him practice on trouble areas, but he really resists them. We know he has a lot of potential, but we haven’t yet found a way to help him realize that potential.</p>

<p>When I was younger, Score! learning centers were perfect for my family’s erratic schedule - you could just walk in, sit down, use the computer programs for an hour, get help if you needed it, and then leave. The program was fun and effective. Unfortunately, that program is no longer available - it’s all online stuff and individual tutoring at the centers, which is really a scheduling problem.</p>

<p>Does anyone have any suggestions for outside of school enrichment programs similar to the old Score! program that might interest a fourth-grade boy and can be managed with a highly erratic schedule? (in other words, weekly regular appointments are a no-go) </p>

<p>We are located in the New York - New Jersey area.</p>

<p>Thank you very much for reading this post, and I and my family would really appreciate anything you have to say on the matter.</p>

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<p>Just realized that I posted this in the Cafe instead of the general forum (sorry, I’ve never been in the parents section before). If a moderator is reading this, would you kindly move it to the general forum (I think it more appropriately belongs there)? Thank you!</p>

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<p>He’s doing average work in school so he’s not below average or struggling. He’s in 4th grade. Having raised two boys, my advice is to let him be a boy. Sign him up to play a sport (for fun). Take him to ball games. Take him to museums. Take him to a concert. Take him to the movies. Sit and build a model with him. Find some scrap wood, pull out the tools, and start a building project with him. Buy a science kit and do some experiments together. Buy a blank canvas and some paints and a couple of brushes and let him discover the fun of art. When he finishes his masterpiece, hang it up in the living room for all to see. Boys learn differently (generally speaking). Generally speaking, boys enjoy learning by doing rather than by listening. Let him find his passion.</p>

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<p>I forgot to mention in my above post that an incredible amount of “teaching” takes place while doing the above projects. Playing catch in the backyard with a boy not only helps to develop athletic skills, but it’s the “conversation” during the catch that teaches. The physical act of throwing and catching kind of relaxes the situation so information during the conversations are warmly accepted. Talk about science, math, or the history of baseball. It’s all learning. Build the model and talk about the history during that timeframe (i.e.:if it’s a 1960 Mustang–talk about the 60’s. If it’s a replica of a aircraft carrier, then discuss what it was like in the world during a particular war, etc.). When building a project with scrap wood, talk about angles, measurements, etc. Do you see what I’m trying to get at? Boys love to learn but it’s how you present it to them. Be an active part in their lives and the teaching opportunities are numerous—teaching can take place in the backyard, on a hike in the woods (plants, compass, directions, animals, etc.), shoveling snow from the driveway (teach about weight, leverage, temperature, weather, etc.), kicking a soccer ball around (angles for scoring a goal, momentum, speed, etc.), and the list goes on and on.</p>

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<p>I really wasn’t a big fan of those workbooks when I was a kid either. Theyre pretty boring. Just like your brother, I was a fan of playing video games. So all throughout elementary school, my parents got me educational video games. These worked really well and I really enjoyed playing them. I still remember a lot of the things they taught me till today (chuck yeager, first guy to pass the sound barrier, bell X-1 haha). I think these will work pretty well.</p>

<p>I suggest the Jump Start series which has a computer CD for each grade. I usually did the grade level ahead of the one I was in, just for fun. It teaches things such as multiplication, history, grammar, etc. but its all in a game form so its pretty fun. </p>

<p>I also used the magic school bus CD series which was just for fun and another set from Knowledge Adventure. </p>

<p>I’m sure they have a lot of new educational CDs out on the market today. I think this would be a great way to share your love of learning</p>

<p>Good luck!</p>

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<p>I have a bias against workbooks unless the student chooses to use them. Otherwise, they are the one kind of book I would not mind burning as I firmly believe they teach very little while sucking the joy right out of learning.</p>

<p>If your family wants to embark on this sort of thing, I highly recommend homeschooling resources, especially “unschooling.” This will help in figuring out how to “teach a lesson” while incorporating in an engaging activity. A child who is resistant to fractions may love to cook or a child who does not like writing may enjoy the chance to write about legos while designing the lego characters to go with the story.</p>

<p>Lastly, be sure to use all the materials available for the things he’s interested in. For example, there are a lot of books about Star Wars, make sure he’s got them handy for reading.</p>

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<p>My advice would be to look for programs in your area that match your brother’s existing interests. For example, an after school or summer program where kids learn to make video games, which involves developing all sorts of useful skills, and not a workbook in sight. An animation or special effects class for kids. An elementary school robotics team. (I believe that the leggo company is actually involved in sponsoring these, and that teams for pretty young kids exist nationally.) My S, now in college, participated in all of these things in elementary school and loved them. The programs were offered through his school, the local dept. of parks and recreation, private companies, and (the leggo robotics) run by an interested parent. </p>

<p>You might also check out children’s programs at local museums, which are often short term and outstanding in terms of stimulating kids’ interest in new things. Museums of science and technology might have all sorts of activities your brother would like.</p>

<p>The thing is, someone is going to have to be committed to getting your brother to these activities on a regular, predictable basis – if the family’s erratic schedule is such that your parents can’t do it, look into companies that transport kids to and from after school, week-end and summer activities. Also, once he’s found some programs he enjoys and gets to know some of the other kids, carpooling is always a possibility.</p>

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<p>What’s the goal here? To make him competitive for Harvard? To make him like academics more? To make him more like you? To get your parents to feel proud? Step back and first ask WHY this is necessary? </p>

<p>I can’t imagine a better way to turn off such a child from academics than giving him workbooks. If a kid loves school, great-- give him or her more to satisfy the thirst. If that is not his or her thing, let him or her find their passion. Not through drills and workbooks! This is a little kid for pete’s sake. Maybe he doesn’t dream of Harvard. Maybe he wants to be different than his sibling. </p>

<p>Moreover, just because you were a certain way at this age, doesn’t mean he’ll follow that same trajectory. I know plenty of very highly accomplished people who just played as a kid. There are many routes and trajectories to success. Kids blossom and develop in different ways. Each is unique. </p>

<p>If he’s doing fine in school, has friends, enjoys kid activities, seems happy, is healthy…let him be. The more you push him, the more the family worries, the more he’ll resist (and create the opposite of what you are trying to accomplish, I should add). </p>

<p>And if he continues to do average in school, so what? Most people have perfectly wonderful, happy successful lives, without going to an Ivy League school or becoming a doctor or engineer. This should be about HIS life and interests and talents, not him following some pre-determined path that works for someone else.</p>

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<p>I read this as having the goal of finding some intellectual enrichment and stimulation for a kid who is mostly into Nintendo, leggos, and Star Wars. The family has come up with workbooks, which the kid hates. Since there are so many more kid-friendly and compelling forms of enrichment (although the family will have to find a way to get the kid to the activities on a regular basis, assuming he wants to go), and since this doesn’t seem like a “please help me prepare my currently academically average brother to self-study for AP Chem in 4th grade so he can get into HYPS” kind of a post, I think that serious responses may be helpful to him.</p>

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<p>^What in my response seems non-serious? if they can get behind what is driving them, it may point to where they should be going. </p>

<p>This has nothing to do with “stimulation and enrichment”. Workbooks??</p>

<p>But even if we work with your assumption, that they are looking for stimulation and enrichment for a kid who likes nintendo, my question is WHY? Understanding that reason may point to solutions.</p>

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<p>kamera:</p>

<p>Your brother sounds like a very typical fourth grader. He probably is learning lots of stuff that does not seem relevant right then but will come in handy later. Your family can build on what he likes to stimulate further learning. For example, Lego has all sorts of educational programs, such as Lego Mindstorms. He can also go to science museums where there are all sorts of hands-on activities for kids of different ages and interests.
I would not recommend workbooks. But there are magazines that might interest him, puzzle books and puzzle games (such as tangrams). He might also like science and fantasy fiction books. The important thing is that he enjoy whatever he is doing. The learning will come effortlessly.</p>

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<p>I don’t see any reason for workbooks particularly for a kid who isn’t that academically included. Your brother sounds like a normal 4th grader, and it would be better if you appreciated him for the kid who he is instead of trying to encourage him to be similar to you. Not everyone is interested in academics or destined to go to Harvard (which is my alma mater, too). </p>

<p>I do think it’s important to help kids develop interests, skills and hobbies that eventually will help them with their avocations as adults as well as their career interests, majors, making friends, etc.</p>

<p>Consequently, getting your brother involved in some kind of activity that he’s interested in – a sport, theater, art, music – would be a good idea. </p>

<p>We had a house rule that our kids had to be involved in one activity outside of school. If they couldn’t make up their mind about what to try, I’d pick one that I thought would interest them – not one that I thought would bolster one of their weak points. They’d have to finish their commitment to it (a semester, a season, a school year year, depending on the activity), but afterward, if they didn’t like it, they could switch to something else.</p>

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<p>I’ve been thinking about this. I think there is a big difference between “getting good grades” and being “intellectually stimulated”. From reading the OP’s post, I sense its more about the former than the latter: using tutors and workbooks, he’s not dumb but not living up to potential, gets average grades. I think I see a lot of people, especially parents, who wrap “getting better grades” into some nicer looking package called “enrichment” or “stimulation” when really they just care about the numbers, being the best, getting 4.0 (or else ‘not living up to potential’).</p>

<p>While I applaud seeking intellectual stimulation and getting a fourth grader into intellectual pursuits, that is very different than pushing a 4th grader to do better in school. One is activity of the mind, the other is intrumental for some other purpose. I see way too many college kids on CC who are smart,but oh so instrumental, did well in school, hit all the right notes, did the right activities, crammed for the SAT, had tutors, did all the homework, but they are not intellectual, they don’t have intellectual curiosity or a love of learning.</p>

<p>If we are talking about stimulation, and not just crunching for grades,there are lots of things for a 4th grader. I suggest lots of books in the house. What is everybody reading? Is there a TV in the house? What is 4th grader interested in reading? What movies do you watch together? What do you debate at the dinner table? What games do you play together? Where have you travelled and what do you do on your travels? What conversations go on in the car rides? THAT is an intellectual stimulation for a 4th grader and it is the most likely to lead to a love of learning, intellectual curiosity, and learning just for its own sake (even when it means crap grades).</p>