ds does not seem very motivated to do anything except science

[Fillyjonk]

Ok first off I'm relatively new to this homeschooling business, ds left kindergarten a half term ago, aged 7. I also have two younger kids.

Ds, 7, is very into science. I mean, anything even vaguely sciencey, he is there. I have no idea about grade levels, but I think its pretty likely he's quite advanced in it, simply because he loves it so much (from what I've seen, this is really really common among homeschoolers, I'm not trying to show off at all. With the amount of time he spends on it, he should know a lot!). Astronomy, electronics and weather stuff are the big things atm, but he'll do anything even tangentially connected with science. I don't really think in topic,s but through science we've probably covered most other topics incl art (leonardo da vinci)

If it were up to him he'd spend the entire day reading simple science books, building stuff with his molecular modelling and electronics kits, watching dvds about science, talking about science, checking his weather station (etc etc) and maybe listening to an audio book in the background. Oh he really likes history too, less so but he'll read stuff and watch stuff for that.

The problem is that he really hates doing things that are hard for him. So at the moment we do require him to do some stuff that isn't science: half an hour of maths, some reading practice, and practice on the instruments that he chose to play. He really hates all this and only does it on condition that when its over we sit and read 400 science books ;-). He loves actually performing his violin and piano, and will practice wildly for a concert, but once its over he is not very motivated . II play viola, I know this is normal, but I still feel I need to do something to motivate him better when there is no concert up ahead. (I do what I can to organise more concerts but there is only so much I can do) . Maths, he's actually a few years "ahead" but really hates doing the work. He really likes the maths he can do, but hates learning new maths skills. But then once he has them he revels it them, iykwim. We did a lot of basic maths through daily life while he was still in kindergarten but think he's pretty much mastered most of what you can do in the supermarket or while baking. We obviously relate as much maths as possible to science, but I don't find I have time to basically rewrite the maths book. He hates practising reading but likes to read to his sister, so we just do that.

Reading this back I think I'm trying to say that he seems to like the payoff from instruments, maths and reading but not the work that goes into them, and knowing he'll get that payoff isn't motivating him to do the work. But afterwards he's really glad he did the work, h after a concert or whatever he'll say "I'm so glad I worked at that piece of music". It feels almost like he has an aversion to working, he thinks everything should be easy. But then that's not the case because he does push himself with science.

I'm thinking the easiest things to do would be to just stop making him study anything, he'd end up with an extremely good knowledge of science but then, I'm worried, his reading and his maths might be so far below par that he wouldn't be able to follow his interests to the extent he wanted to. TBH we are already seeing this, while both dp and I have studied maths/science at university level, I have 3 kids and can't spend all day reading to him, so he does get frustrated.

Failing that I just resign myself to fighting with him every day. I don't actually want to spend all day on homeschooling work that could take 2 hours, I don't think its fair on the other kids and I have things I want and need to do. 

I dunno, is this what 7 year olds are like? I kind of feel like he should be taking more responsibility for his own learning. I can't leave him to get on with stuff at all.  

And all this is not helped by my 5 year old who picks things up ridiculously fast and will spend half a day doing maths problems and the other half practising the piano if she gets a chance...she is so so keen to learn, unschooling her will I think be a no brainer.

thanks for reading, my thoughts aren't that clear but I think what I'm asking is has anyone else had similar and how did it turn out? If I just let him go his own way, will I end up with a child who knows everything about molecular chemistry but can't read? and what do I do if he is overtaken by his younger sister in reading and maths?

[Ravin]

This is what many 7yo's are like. I'd keep doing what you are--feeding his passion while continuing to require a minimum of the 3 R's. Let his reading be science related as much as possible--reading something that interests him is bound to help.

My DD got more agreeable about getting schoolwork she's not fond of done when I started consistently tying it to doing things she did want to do--in her case, going outside and playing with friends when they get home from school. She knows it simply won't happen if she drags schoolwork on too long.

[sapphire_chan]

At age 7, isn't any reading practice good reading practice. Could you find some science books at his level for him to read for practice?

For awhile, my brother and I were part of a neighborhood music group. All it was was a few kids getting together to play in a classroom of the local school (had a piano) every two weeks. So we'd prepare a piece for that.

I'm kind of surprised you're having trouble getting math into a science-oriented kid. Have him gather data and analyze it, have him calculate velocity, get him his own copy of the periodic table of elements and have him work out the molecular mass of <insert complex chemical formula here>, bother I'm not a science person, if you like I can ask my sciencey friends for more ideas.

As for time to read to him, check and see if your library has books that come with tapes and/or book on tape versions of books they've also got in printed form.

And if you happen to allow videos, there are some excellent math concept videos out there.

[Fillyjonk]

Thanks for replies. You are both right. I think I need help thinking outside the box here. 

I have in my head a possibly daft idea that if we don't work systematically through a maths program he will end up math-illiterate. But actually, maybe I need to rethink this and really present it in terms of his interests. 

Think the problem is that we do already do maths in terms of science and also (board) games-he is very interested in the engine behind games like monopoly, catan etc. So probability etc. It just kind of feels not well rounded if that's all we do. I think we're doing quite a lot of statistics, but I'm worried about the purer maths. He'll use maths in science if he sees a clear point to it but he's not going to appreciate me just say rewriting an algebra problem with molecular mass rather than cakes for no purpose other than to teach algebra. Will have to have a think.

Reading isn't really a problem, we actually already read science books. Also he listens to loads of audiobooks. The issue is more this general refusal to work to improve, even when he has said he wants to improve at something and is so glad when he's done it. I feel like I have to be some kind of a prison jailer and I really really resent that, for me homeschooling is all about learning to self-direct.

[sapphire_chan]

The biggest problem I saw in the basic college Chemistry class I took was people having trouble doing basic chemistry calculations because they couldn't remember their algebra. If he gets into doing math through working on chemical formulas, he's likely to end up already knowing algebra by the time you think to officially introduce it.

[Fillyjonk]

yes and reading back my posts there is another important point. He is SEVEN. I am being a bit daft really, I think.