Need Some Tips for Creative Thinking

Having problems figuring out where to start? Let other homeschoolers offer you some advice!

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omni0
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Need Some Tips for Creative Thinking

Postby omni0 » Wed Mar 11, 2009 10:10 am


lessons from home
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Postby lessons from home » Tue Apr 14, 2009 3:30 pm

Cory,
I noticed your question has been sitting here unanswered for quite a while so I'll try to give you some direction. I have a child who is very black and white in her thinking. Even as a teenager she still doesn't "get" abstract concepts. While this is disconcerting for an adult like me who is a very out of the box thinker, it's not a huge problem. It is a reflection of her personality style. The flip side of this is your daughter is probably very, very good at logical, step by step, detail thinking. If not yet, she's headed in that direction. That strength is vital in many careers - lawyers, accountants and school teachers just to name three. My daughter is now an EMT and the ability to stay focused and follow the treatment protocol exactly to the letter is vital to patient care. She needs this strength to do her job.
So, while I wouldn't worry about it, you can do things to strengthen this area. Expose her to art projects, let her experiment with various mediums like paints and clay and crafting with paper. Encourage her imagination as she plays, listen if she wants to tell you about what her dolls are doing. Don't be surprised if she never is really creative. She's young, so her personality is not set in stone yet, but you can't change the basic programming too much.
Continuing to prompt her with questions is not a bad thing, especially as she is so young. This is her weak area, she's needs extra time here. She may never be a creative thinker and that's okay. Help her but don't force it. Focus on her strengths.
Blessings
Sue Scott
CLSR/MA
"whatever things are true, noble, just, pure, lovely, virtuous, or worthy of praise, meditate on these things" Phil.4:8

thinks
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Postby thinks » Fri Apr 17, 2009 10:47 pm

Cheers
Jean Edwards in New Zealand
http://www.thinkshop.org
blog: http://www.onthinking.co.nz

Jazzy
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Postby Jazzy » Wed Apr 22, 2009 4:55 am

I would approach it from a different angle and focus on just making sure your daughter is learning to construct good sentences. I would give her a choice of either writing from the prompt (I actually think it's fine for you to help her think through the process at this point) or writing on her own.

I am much more concerned with making sure my oldest (8-years-old) enjoys writing and knows how to write well, than I am with making sure he writes the specific sentences that are assigned by his program (in our case, Abeka).

So, sometimes he'll get a creative writing prompt and really run with it, and write more than the 3 or 4 sentences they wanted. Other times, he won't be into the assignment at all, and he can write a letter to grandma or something like that.

We use our curriculum to educate our children for real life, and as an adult, no one is going to come up to your daughter and ask her to write two rhyming sentences about a chimpanzee. I guess what I'm saying is - the first type of assignment makes more sense than the second kind, and that may be why your daughter is struggling with it.

I would encourage creative thinking by giving her space to write about whatever she wants to in whatever way she wants to write about it. Use the curriculum to help her learn the mechanics of writing.

A good book you may want to take a look at is, Any Child Can Write by Harvey Wiener.

Carletta
Last edited by Jazzy on Thu Apr 23, 2009 9:59 am, edited 2 times in total.

ncmom
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Postby ncmom » Wed Apr 22, 2009 10:29 pm

Something that I have done with my older kids in the past is to create a prompt by setting something interesting up in a room.

For example one December I put a big teddy bear in the middle of the room with glitter spilled around him on the floor and a little Christmas tree on its side in front of him. I then asked the kids to write a story telling me what happened.

I have also "messed" up a room, told them a story about what happened, and then asked them to write an ending.

I think that writing is either something you enjoy or you don't. Just keep working on it she is only in the 1st grade so there is plenty of time to work on her writing skills.


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