When a new subject is introduced in a grade in regular school they just about scratch the surface of the subject and then leave it at that. The subject is then again picked up in the next grade and more details added to it. It may be the established method of dealing with a new subject being introduced to children in regular school, but that may not work well for a homeschool classroom. Your homeschool students may want to know more about a subject that interests them. How do you deal with that?
Learn At the Child’s Pace
You do not want to overwhelm a homeschool student with too much information about a subject. That is a sure fire way of ensuring that they lose whatever interest they may have developed in it. Instead you give them some details and leave them to pull the strings that appeal to them. Provide the next step when the child has mastered the first. If the child shows an interest in what comes next, you can push ahead with it. When the child does not seem to keen to proceed, you can drop the subject and move on to something else. revisit the subject after a period of time has lapsed in the current academic session or let it rest till the new session begins.
Exhausting a Subject is Not Necessary
As with all self learning when an adult finds out about a subject that interests him, he will find out a few cursory details at first. If what he learns still manages to hold his interest he will think of picking up a book on the matter or browsing more websites related to the subject. At some stage he will decide he has enough information on the subject. It may not be necessary that he has all the information possible on the subject, but he has enough for his personal needs. This signals an end to the learning and this is exactly how a subject should be approached in the homeschool classroom. Learn the basics, then poke around till it interests you, then let it go to pick it up another time.
