Homeschool World Forum

I am a Tutor, and often work with the hands on learners.

Your child may be a hands on learner. They love to learn, but in a way that involves action, and physical involvement. They are often the ones that excel when it comes time to learn to ride a bike, play a game, or a sport do activity. Yet once they begin school, things change, and their confidence is often eroded.

•Of all the personalities in school, this one is the most misunderstood, and are often misdiagnosed as “problem childrenâ€

Most six year old children much prefer playing to 'learning' but they also need to learn how to learn, it might be that he needs to understand that learning time is very important and that he can't get out of it by complaining. You could give him a trade off "if you sit down, listen and cooperate for this 30 minute session then you will get some play time".

Also there are many play based learning strategies and learning games you could play with him too.

When I was initially homeschooled, I was very reluctant. I had complete meltdowns when I was forced to do math/English worksheets.

Anyways, my problem was that I found them horribly boring. Furthermore, I did not understand the purpose of doing what I thought to be busy work. I did not see any purpose to it. However, when I was told that I could "skip grades" and, therefore, get to college faster, I jumped at the chance. My motivation to do school work sky rocketed, and I began doing math worksheets on my own for hours each day. On top of everything, I developed a love for mathematics.

Also, anytime I would complain about doing chores, my parents would tell me "If you don't go to college, cleaning will be your full time job". At the time, I was a money driven person; my greatest dream was to live in a mansion. So, I quickly realized that, if I wanted to make money, then I needed to get a college education. If I wanted to go to college, then I needed to be intelligent and studious. The end result was that I actually enjoyed studying because I felt that it was beneficial to my future and that I was accomplishing something by completing math worksheets. In other words, I began to understand that learning "useless, boring" knowledge actually served a purpose.

This method worked pretty well for me. I'm not sure if it will for your child, though. It just depends on his priorities. I was also closer to 8 years old when this happened. I'm not sure how a 6 year old would react to this, or if he would even care.

Another idea:
You could try to incorporate learning into playing. For example, you could play games like scrabble, make a math challenge game where he gets a small amount of money for each right answer, or have him write out his playtime fantasies in order to improve his grammar. My writing dramatically improved when I took up creative writing as a hobby when I was young.

This is excellent advice, and very typical of hands on learners. You even make mention of using play to teach. Studies show children learn best while at play and while at every day life. Even animals know this.