Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Age or Ability Specific Forums Pre-school Exhausted by subject switching!

In a nutshell here are my son's extreme interests (obsessions):
12 months: books, clocks
18-24 months: puzzles, alphabet, anatomy
2.5 years learning to read, space
3.0 workbooks (math,reading) drawing/art,
3.5 Ok so here we are, four in February and I have finally realized a pattern: roughly two months of an obsession, 2 weeks of relaxed interests, followed by 2 monts of a new obsession, .....
It was writing books for two months, then our 1-2 week break, then building and drawing diagrams of ideas, then our 1-2 week break and now we are back on math. I'm exhausted. I feel like I am thrown in to a two month intense bootcamp of whatever he is into. Right now it's math and specifically yesterday and today, the hundred chart. So I go to the store to buy some materials and I don't know how many days I have after all this work and cost that he will enjoy it. I can't buy most of these materials premade because he needs materials that are for a 3 year old's gross/fine motor abilities but cognitively for a 5-6 year old.

It's been two years of exhausting subject switching and it's just not slowing down. I guess I am mostly venting. I'll go where he wants us to, I just wish I could plan something out. I wish we could get a tutor just so someone could help me with the materials and spending time with him when he is in the mode of a new subject.

I think this is pretty common with our kids - hence the exhaustion we all face!

What works for us is a very stocked craft cupboard and copious amounts of plain printer paper. I also bought 100 packs of things like mini pegs and discs etc to use as math manipulatives. We have membership to education.com which although I wouldn't describe it as the best site in the world, it does have an array of activities and work sheets from K-12 in just about every subject.

I now make DD4 tell me what subjects she wants to learn about in advance and she gets a week minimum of each. (she can do what she wants really but I don't provide different things until the next week, she's stuck with her toys otherwise)I told her it was unreasonable for to expect me to have a complete thought out lesson plan with no notice. This way I also get to plan some fun "kid" things like craft and silly food to remind me she is only 4! Such topics this year were birds, space, spiders, princesses, pirates mice etc.

I plan once a quarter and pre reserve the library books, pinterest my crafts, activities and worksheets etc and plan any field trips. I can still chop and change if nec but it does make it all seem less overwhelming and teaches her some limits & respect while also allowing her to follow her interests. The other thing is, the stuff I buy doesn't need to be used for a single subject so it can sit unused until we feel a need for it. I did start out buying specific things, but now that we have several extra curric the expense is too much.

I wouldn't expect this method to work for everyone, but maybe now he's 3.5 he can prob tell you what his level of interest is and what he wants from you - you could prob form your own "curriculum"

oh we also have memberships to reading eggs and starfall....

This is helping me brainstorm, Mahagogo. Thank you. I think I'll talk with him about it. I like the idea of telling them there is a limit. I mean, that is how the world works, as well.
It seems like if I don't provide the specific thing he needs that day, he loses his mind, and of course in turn I lose my mind and I have a 20 month old who needs me!
For example, he has been into the hundred chart and I knew that the next day he would want to have a blank one so he could write the numbers, so I printed a blank and a hundred chart. Well of course, he wanted to cut up the chart so he could make puzzles and games, it's basically the case of If You Give a Mouse a Cookie="If you give a gifted toddler a worksheet...."

Yes the library and the internet are our best friends, I also push playground physical play. The physical play burns those calories, so that sometimes we can get a little sleep at night. The wife and I also take turns looking after her as she has more energy than either of us have. Also, we give dd lots of household chores. We pay her and she is doing pretty good for herself. Oh we have to always learn new ways to try to keep some level of sanity in the house. We give her a lot of responsibilities with her chores. I thing that keeps her mind quite occupied. She loves marine life, so we make the rounds to a local aquarium, so often that the employees know her well.

I find imaginary play is the way I'm able to breathe new life into DS' interests over time, and it also serves as a gateway to new subjects because you can evolve your play "script" over time. DS3 has been enthusiastic about pets and veterinary care, as well as search and rescue and, today, he, DH, and my parents went on an elaborate search and rescue mission to save his marooned stuffed toys. The expedition included actual aerial rescue maps, a compass, orienteering, building survival shelter, hunting, administering first aid, wearing survival gear, tracking animals, and navigating a jungle climate. So two splinter interests spawned 9 new topics in just one play session. I find the combination of books plus nifty gear--either real or made as a project--generates the most interest. Add museum and site visits as accelerant and you're guaranteed he'll at least want to linger and explore the subject.

I'm going to go off on a related tangent; you're going to have to trust me that this is germane to your OP. The resource below discusses a useful technique employed in innovation design called "emergent signal mapping", which is typically used in business design to detect latent market needs and potential disruptive innovations but, in my case, which is used to identify potential topics of interest for DS. You might enjoy the whole document (only 16 pages), but page 10 is the one to consult. In it, you see an emergent signal map, which is essentially a series of concentric circles of different--and increasingly esoteric--thematically linked topics. Your starting point is the centre, and you radiate outward across 5-6 valence shells of topics as you expand your "signal" set.

http://www.alexandermanu.com/alexandermanu.com/Downloads_files/ICchapter11.pdf

For your son, I did a little brainstorming while in the shower, and a trajectory he might like is:
- Level 0 (starting point): clocks
- Level 1 (next ring): Building a sundial --> discussing the relationship between the sun, moon, and the Earth --> stargazing
- Level 2: solar system and life cycle of stars; tides and the moon; weather systems; hemispheres of the Earth; magnetism
- Level 3: introducing infinity and the number line; building electromagnets; power generation; local geography; local history
- Level 4: theology/mythology

Hope this is at least an interesting thought experiment.

I know how exhausting it can be. I've been there.

At the same time, it's such a wonderful problem to have. I'm sure you will look back at this stage with a great sense of fondness one day. I do hear kids grow up, become teenagers, and stop talking to their parents about a lot of things.

That aside, when your DS finds his true love, just about everything else might disappear into the background. He'll probably be still curious about other things and learn about a lot of tops but his intensity will be directed towards his passion and as he gets older, he'll get more independent about learning.

I actually miss the way how DD was. Yes it really was very time-consuming but I loved being her learning guide. As I am not a STEM person, it was quite educational for me as well.