Over a year ago I wrote this post on iceberg counting. Any parent with a child who has gone down a rabbit hole with a particular topic of interest will not be surprised at all to hear that in our house, the Titanic still reigns supreme among William’s interests.
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William has always been a child that is eager to learn . . . but only about topics he is genuinely interested in. And since he’s not yet at the age of reason, it is hard to convince him that counting or reading will serve him any greater purpose.
But thanks to Maria Montessori’s principle of following the child wherever they may lead, I am much more prepared to handle these rabbit holes of my child’s.
Be Prepared to Switch Gears and Jettison What Isn’t Working
This one is hard for me sometimes, because I have ideas and plans for our homeschool curriculum, and it can hurt to let go of them.
I had wanted to use all of our beautiful C-V-C cards with the moveable alphabet and dive into the teen boards and the bead chains with William this year. He has resisted all of my brilliant plans strenuously to the point where neither of us were enjoying the learning process at all.
So I switched gears and remembered my biggest goals for homeschooling: that my children would a.) learn and b.) love learning.
Lean into the Subject of Interest
Leaning into subjects of interest has done a couple of really great things for my kiddos and our homeschool times.
Most importantly, it has made me stop and remember the wonder and joy of learning. And that makes me a better teacher.
It’s impossible to look at this little face all lit up over a new Titanic book and be upset because we didn’t get to the lessons I had planned. Sometimes that’s just the reminder I need to slow down, forget my to do list and be fully present as my kids learn and explore a topic.
But he still does need to learn certain things, so we learn about the Titanic, and I work hard to create things that teach him what he needs to know on that topic.
Hence, the new and exciting TITANIC PRINTABLE PACK, chock full of all sorts of Titanic-themed activities that teach him what he needs to know:
He loves it and he’s learning- which is 100% a victory for me.
And just in case you’ve got a Titanic-crazy child on your hands, you can get the packet for your own use one of two ways: First, you can purchase it over at Teachers Pay Teachers, or you can sign up for the Elevator to Heaven newsletter for access to the Resource Library and find it there.
Other Titanic Resources We are Using
(Because I know you want to know)
I love that he’s into the Titanic!
Me too, he’s an odd little guy but it’s been his great abiding passion. 🙂
My oldest has always been the same way! It’s always fun to see where their interests lead them—I love that you were able to find a way to tie your objectives into his interests 🙂
Thank you! It takes a lot of work, but it’s always so worth it to work with their interests.
In all the homeschool materials I’ve looked at over the past decade, I have never seen a Titanic pack like this. So clever!
Thank you! Necessity is the mother of all invention 🙂
Kudos to you! Homeschooling is such a big job and requires the type of patience I never had.
Thank you so much!