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Hello All,

My 5 yo ds and I are enjoying the Math, the action activities, the songs, the handwriting and the workbook pages. The one area that I was wondering about and am still unsure of is the history reading and the Burgess books. Although we had a great discussion in history yesterday (Praise the Lord!), today he just didn't seem to be engaged.
My son is a VERY VISUAL kid, and he would rather be actively doing something (even looking at the pictures while listening). I did order the Peter Rabbit coloring book from Amazon to give him something to do while we read the Burgess books, but I am still hesitant about pushing him into this kind of listening before he is ready. He does sit still and behave - that is not an issue. He doesn't complain about listening either. These are just my observations of him during these times.
I guess what I am wondering is, have any of you progressed through this and seen your inattentive 5 yo move from unengaged and glazed over to interested and learning? I know that he is ready for everything else, but I don't want to just go through the motions of reading all this to him if he is not getting anything out of it.
Any thoughts, experiences would be appreciated.

In His love,
RuthAnn

PS This is my first child to actually start CM style from the beginning, so I am still learning as I go.

I had a similar issue with two of my dc. What worked for us is for them to draw on a white board as I read. They had to draw about whatever we were reading.
So kind of like having your ds color Peter Rabbit pictures while you read is along the same lines.
As they got older it did become easier for them to just sit and listen but every now and then one of them will draw as I read.
HTH
Andrea

Drawing is a form of active narration So I think having him draw something about what you are reading, while you read is a great idea! After he draws and the reading is over, have him tell you about it from his drawing. That's what I did to help DD8 and it worked so very well! Then I shifted to have her drawing about it after we read (she would listen well, so she could have fun drawing)...I would make 3-4 boxes on her paper and she would draw in the order of the story and then tell me about it. We eventually dropped the drawing and she is going strong!

It does take some growing into. My ds6 didn't get a thing from even the shortest of readings-- coudn't answer a question about who was in the story about Adam and Eve. Then suddenly one day he could retell the entire thing! It was nearly overnight! Sometimes it just takes persistence on your part to keep on keepin' on...it'll click with him! My DD8 now so enjoys the readings in Bigger and that really took some growth.

Oh yeah!!! This is a skill which takes time to master, I wish I had known that before I had started. I expected my dd to just be able to sit, listen and answer questions right away. Poor baby. I know better now, there is a learning curve, and each child is different, give it some time. In the meantime, enjoy the books, attempt the activities and move on!

I remember having to work on the habit of listening carefully with both of our dc - in fact, having gone through LHFHG twice now, I've come to view that year in LHFHG as a time to really teach dc how to listen attentively. I'm not always so patient with this, so reminding myself has been helpful! Listening attentively without the direct aid of a bunch of pictures is a skill that definitely takes time to develop, but it is so worth working on each day.

One thing that helped my ds was for me to do a little recap of what was read the day before (just the big things summarized in a few sentences). Like, "Yesterday, Buster Bear got his head stuck in a bucket. No matter how hard he tried, he could not get it off. All the forest animals were laughing at him. I feel so sorry for him. I wonder if he'll get the bucket off his head today or if any of the animals will feel bad for him? Let's read to find out." Usually, this jogs their memory, and then if I end it with an exciting question, they really listen carefully to find the answer. This works for history too. One other thing that really helped was to read the "Key Idea" at the end of the session from the HOD guide. It just seems to recap what we read at the end so well. HTH!

In Christ,
Julie

Thanks for all of the great ideas and for the encouragement. Sometimes you just need to hear from someone else who has done this before you. I just wanted to make sure I wasn't pushing him into something he wasn't ready for, but it sounds more like this is something he is going to have to grow into.

Thanks for the reassurance to keep on keepin' on. You all are great!

Yep...ds is 6 and he has come SO FAR with his listening skills since we started Little Hearts. We tried Beyond first and he just wasn't ready to hear the stories. Now I feel confident starting Beyond next year with no issues. Keep plugging along. It will come.

It may not be related to the story, but my 6 yr old son builds with blocks or plays with his legos or trains while I read history and storytime much of the time AND he really is paying attention. Sometimes he will come over to look at a picture when something particularly gets his attention. I think drawing is also excellent. He used to to that ,too, and sometimes still does. Once in a whle he can get too engaged in a lego battle and i have to have him set it aside for a moment, but suually it isn'at a problem. He even stands most of the time. has to be up and moving. He is just a normal , active little boy.

Jenn D.