Gifted Issues Discussion homepage Forums Parenting and Advocacy Defiant, resistant, and anxious

And don't forget to watch Treasure Quest, I think it might be Discovery Channel!!! Great way to tie in science (decomposition of ships) and history.

www.intrepidmuseum.org - we used to be members, but haven't been back since they refurbished it.

well, check this out: http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/Education/Teachers/Lesson-Plans--amp;-Activities.aspx and http://www.intrepidmuseum.org/Education/Teachers/Our-Programs.aspx

Hey guys,
these are all great suggestions... we are actually members of the South Street Seaport museum and the Intrepid (actually, if you join the NY Hall of Science you get in the Intrepid plus a LOT of other museums for free, so we do that) and have been to these museums an insane number of times. I'll have to check out that other link, questions-- and the links from eastnwest look great too-- looks like there are lots of local museums I've never even heard of that we can explore on the days when we can use the car.

And yeah, the passion for ships is an avenue for studying lots of other things-- the problem remains that he is only interested in exploring the aspects he is interested in exploring, but this is a much more cooperative approach.

Though I can't help but feeling, that, well...that it's a lot of work.

I do think he will respond well to feeling respected, and much of his defiance is just frustration at not feeling listened to.

Yet another problem is that he is addicted to video games of all kinds. I could always see he was the video game type, but we did not have a computer or TV until he was 5 (we did watch movies sometimes)...now he has two teenage stepsiblings with iphones and computers everywhere and all he wants to do is go on the computer and play games and he gets extra defiant and whiny when thwarted. I just want to take him to the woods and cleanse him!

Hmmm... the Intrepid stuff looks interesting-- but these programs are for school groups, right?

Do the educational departments of these museums ever work directly with homeschoolers?

We actually met some teachers from the Intrepid educational department last year at the NY Hall of Science (when the Intrepid was closed) and I remember they were very impressed with and curious about my son, who was by far the most avid member of their audience.

The NY Hall of Science is also great, but they've been repeating the same demonstrations and experiments for the 5 years we've been going there!

Oh, and I meant to ask... what's a lapbook?

What is lapbooking link. lapbooking

bronxmom, I had a couple of ideas about books and things, if you do go in the ship direction:

There is a neat website we have played with a certain amount, called "Charting Neptune's Realm: From Classical Mythology to Satellite Imagery", all about nautical charts. There are excellent lesson plans all laid out, with some fun activities, too. It's at www.usm.maine.edu/maps/exhibit8/

Some books my lads have liked, all nautical in nature:

Carry on, Mr. Bowditch (Jean Latham)
Treasure Island (RLS)
Voyage of the Dawn Treader (CS Lewis)
Exploring the Frozen North (Pierre Berton)
All Sail Set: A Romance of the Flying Cloud (Armstrong Sperry)
not yet read, but on deck (so to speak): Coral Island (RM Ballantyne)

And there are lots of kids' adaptations of the Odyssey, surely the greatest sea story of all! Our favourite is Neil Philip's. Oh, and there are kids' versions of Moby Dick, too--we've got Geraldine McCaughrean's.

Maybe you could get a nice book about knots (Lee Valley Tools has some, I think--think they've got other nice nauticalia, too), a hunk of rope, and practise, practise, practise? Maybe something to keep his hands busy will pull him away from the video games more easily.

Anyway, just an idea or two--let us know if we can help!

peace
minnie

I think the most important part is to remove power struggle from your and DS relationship. If you can walk away from the arguments then he will have nobody to fight with. It may look like giving in but sometimes that's the smartest thing to do. I like to be in control but if it ends up with a battle of wills then neither one of us is in control, we both loose. This was the most important lesson I learned during the first few weeks/months of homeschooling. If you think something will end up with power struggle then don't even go there.

I love all the suggestions regarding your DS's interest in ship. It's amazing how much you can do with a subject of strong interest.

Homeschool Co-op has an excellent list of places to visit, the best I've seen so far.

http://www.homeschoolbuyersco-op.org/field-trips/

Interesting - I've seen them mentioned but had no clue what they were. Sort of a make your own pop-up book - a precursor to a powerpoint presentation. I don't think it would fly with my DS, but I can see how it could be fun. Thanks!