After her first dollar is spent, we will talk about how she might want to save up for a bigger purchase (that's where the financial planning for preschoolers comes in).
Tuesday, September 21, 2010
Learning Math through Violin...
...but not in the way you might think...
Bear needed just a little bit more motivation to behave appropriately during violin practice and lessons. With math in mind, as well as financial planning for preschoolers, I decided to give her 1 penny for every exercise well performed. So far, it is working well. She wants a dollar so badly so she can shop in the Target dollar spot for stickers. (I will pay the tax this time.) Every time she gets 5 pennies, she trades it in for a nickel. Once she has five pennies and one nickel, she trades it in for a dime. Soon she'll be trading for a quarter. She ends up earning about 6 to 10 cents per practice. She doesn't always remind me to give her the penny, so sometimes I don't since ultimately I want her to have intrinsic motivation for practicing.
After her first dollar is spent, we will talk about how she might want to save up for a bigger purchase (that's where the financial planning for preschoolers comes in).
After her first dollar is spent, we will talk about how she might want to save up for a bigger purchase (that's where the financial planning for preschoolers comes in).
When I used to teach, I used to use rewards to motivate them to just get started and then gradually weaned them off. But with homeschooling, it's so flexible that we did not have any reasons to use outside rewards. But then again, we're not following any required curriculum and there aren't any "musts" as of now. I wonder if we can continue this when the kids get older?
ReplyDeleteI have not required our daughter to do our piano lessons every day. I'm hoping once we get a piano in the house she will go to it when she wants to. My husband took piano lessons and hated it. I don't want our daughter to hate learning.
I know what you are saying. I obviously don't want Bear to hate the violin. The violin is a little trickier to learn than piano/. There are many more preliminary things to learn than in learning the piano (which I learned as a child and still play) and if she doesn't strengthen her wrist and hold the bow properly she can't really play the violin very well. She was goofing off during practice and not putting care in it. She loves to test the boundaries and is VERY strong headed. I think later in life, once trained, these will be very good qualities. However, I thought the pennies were pretty clever, as they allow us to do MATH and learn about savings and spending. Her practices take all of ten minutes. The pennies allow her to remain focused.
ReplyDeleteI think it's wonderful that you are able to teach violin to your own daughter! The piano teacher focuses a lot on technique too but I'm sure violin is MUCH harder. I read that they wait until the child is older to play instruments like a guitar because of the physical development that is required.
ReplyDeleteIf it means anything, JC is the same way...strong headed and likes to test boundaries. We're always butting heads as we both like to be in control. I do not know if it will get worse or better when she gets older. Crossing my fingers we both will mellow out a little bit with age.
I am right there with strong headed learner. Rewards for performance is a tricky business - all the books I read warned against this, and I experienced it first-hand. We are potty trained for more than a year, and Anna still insists on two M&Ms for going #2.
ReplyDeletehello, i have problems with my son during our homeschool. he is 24 months at the moment. he seem to doesn't or figure out most of the activities i'm giving him, and he always wanted to do things his way. he also gets easily attracted, say, during the bingo game with all milk caps with numbers are in the container, he's more interested on the container rather than on the game. does that mean he's bored or not interested on the activity? what should i do to get him not miss out the point of our activities? your little girl seem to be very cooperative. but my little boy is such hyperactive!
ReplyDeleteAlvin,
ReplyDeletewe have days on which Bear is absolutely NOT cooperative. When she turned 3 and her baby brother became more mobile, she became more determined to be in control of things and is less likely to want to participate. It's really about following your child. In the past, Bear NEVER wanted to color sort or do sorting of any kind. I just tried to get her to do it enough so I could see if she could do it, then I let her be. Perhaps he isn't ready for a certain activity. Put it away and try again a bit later. Perhaps he really is curious about that container. I would let him focus on that and talk about it. Perhaps you could teach him the numbers as he drops them in the container. Bingo requires a lot of concentration - which boys tend to have less of. The milk cap dropped in the container will have a satisfying sound. You can give him the cap, tell him the number or have him tell you, and then he can drop it in. You can even add a fine motor element to the game and cut a slit in a lid for him to slide the milk cap through.
Maybe you have a tip for me. My dd loves violin. She has had 3 lessons and at her last lesson has started learning finder placement on the e string. She gets the indent on her finger and says it is making her finger sore. Any tips for me?
ReplyDeleteI would also LOVE to get your blog to my e-mail. I have a tutorial on how to do it if you would consider it.
Love your blog!
Jody
Very random but that indent thing might be because she's double-jointed?
ReplyDelete