I just joined the forum and was wondering how you keep up with your kids. My DS7 reads voraciously and loves to ask interesting questions at bedtime. Last night he had questions about the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. He has no friends who read at his level or who can discuss his interests so his dad and I are the only ones for these conversations. The problem is that I can't keep up (I work and our house is a mess). We often go to Wikipedia together but it would be nice to have some insight into at least one in every 30 questions. Sometimes he just wants to know what my favorite is and doesn't want to tell me his favorite first, such as, "Mom, which Titan do you like best, Kronos or Prometheus?" Does anyone have any advice for how to handle all the questions?

I usually turn it around on my kids if it's an opinion question: "I'm not sure. Which one is YOUR favorite...and why?"

Mostly we just live at the library. It's the only way to even begin to keep up!

Our house is a mess, too, BTW!

After awhile you get really good at saying "I don't know"! LOL
My DS6 has a notebook that we call "idea trap". Any time he needs an answer that I don't have, we write the question down until we have time to do the research. He's gotten quite good at doing his own research at this point but he loves it if I sit with him while he's looking.

Shari... great idea as usual. Making mental note for the coming years. And VolcanoMom this is just an assumption on my part and from what you wrote not really a fair one but get past the imagery that the parent should know more than the child. It is a sand trap of sorts and will keep you forever researching just trying to keep up. The best thing you can do is accept he will have interests that you don't and that's fine. You can always explore things together. What a great way to bond. Just remember to have fun with him. He will take you places you never thought you would explore. How exciting is that?

I love this! I definitely never thought I would have any interest in dinosaurs, let alone all their names, what period they are from, herbivore versus carnivore, etc., but it has been something DS6 and I have learned about together over the years and it really has been a great bonding opportunity!

Thank you for all your feedback. I love the idea notebook. We'll start that tonight. It's going to be fun to look back and see all his questions. We had started an idea notebook earlier but I wanted DS7 to write in it and he really doesn't like to write.

It's been a wonderful experience to learn with our sons but it can also be overwhelming for me. There is so much out there to read and do. We had almost 4 years of dinosaurs, which was really fun. Have you been to the Ology site to play the "Layers of Time"?

http://www.amnh.org/ology/index.php?channel=paleontology

Like the others, my favorite thing to say is, "What do you think?"

We keep up with reading by making frequent trips to a local library bookstore (books are 50c each, except the nice ones, which are a buck). We avoid the libraries because the librarians get unhappy when you don't return books (combination of messy house and absent-minded inhabitants).


Val

If you easily say "You know more about that topic than I do, what is your opinion" often enough eventually the kid figures out that you really don't know anything and life gets easier. There was a subtle little shift here when it was clear that wow, they were lying they really have no clue.

I can remember, when my daughter was younger, what a treasure it was to ride in the car alone. Now, I do like to have her with me (she is 11) and she is usually reading and I have to keep asking her questions. (Why did I encourage her to read?LOL)

However, I did develop a way to answer questions and converse with her and also drive or whatever I needed to do. I spent a lot of time with her, but sometimes, I had to pay attention to something else. I sometimes use this with my students at school because they want to tell me everthing and sometimes, I don't have time to listen.

Thanks for the dinosaur link - he'll love it!

In addition to the countless questions, I think our oldest is trying to figure out how he fits in. There appears to be a real need to know what our favorite items are (Titans, Glatorian (Bionicle), Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, Star Wars Wii mini figures, etc...) and I've overheard him asking his friends about their favorite items. He's just started to talk about how he's different from his friends, but that's a whole other topic.

I told him I really valued his opinion and because he's been reading so much about it I wanted to know more about what he likes best. I could see him thinking about it before turning it into a friendly "you first" game. Thank you for the suggestion!

He also spends most of our driving time reading...

VolcanoMom, the link is great, thanks!