How much did you "push" your kids

sacchi
Sun, 20 Dec 2009 12:50:13 +0000

There is a bunch of very good advice in this thread so far.

I agree that looking into CTY or TIP or whatever talent search exists in your geographic area makes a lot of sense. My S (who was just accepted ED to WashU) went to 2 of their summer programs and really enjoyed them.

I also agree that encouraging your kid to read books on whatever topics hold his interest is much more useful than studying vocabulary words. At this age no need to worry about what the topic is, as long as the reading level is for his age or above. My S started raiding his Dad and my bookshelves at about that age, especially SciFi, and managed to acquire quite a good vocabulary in the process.

There are some fun vocabulary-ish board games that the whole family can enjoy, such as “Apples to Apples” and “Balderdash”. “Set” is a fun pattern-finding game.

I would also encourage you to expose your son to a variety of extra-curricular activities, so that he can find what he enjoys to do, whether it is sports, drama, art, scouts, music, or whatever. Having a variety of fun activities to do can help avoid getting too stressed by academics.

I sent my son to a drama class in 5th grade, because he had a habit of reciting word-for-word entire long scenes from his favorite movies. He’s not going to make acting a career, but has participated in school drama productions throughout middle school and high school, and had great fun doing so, and its been a huge part of his social life.