I am at my wits end with my tween son being willing to listen to my instruction for a new skill or understand why he may have missed problems on his worksheets. He will tell me I understand, you don’t have to explain it to me. I don’t feel like he is truly grasping all that I would like him to grasp, but I don’t know how to get him to understand that he needs to listen. He is normally an very independent worker, and I respect that, but want to make sure he is not missing valuable information. Any suggestions or advice to improve his willingness to listen?
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My tween is a lot the same way. When he insists he’s got it or isn’t listening when I am teaching, I ask him to prove he already knows this and give him a few to do. You can also put a couple of problems/questions down and ask him to explain it to YOU. I would be careful about “butting in”, though. If he really does have it, awesome! If not, then he’s proven to you both that he doesn’t really understand and he may be a little more receptive. If my son can do all the problems/questions I give him, then I just move on. Lots of people, boys in particular, can process information with a lot less words than others. He really may be getting what you want him to know (or most of it). If he can prove it, give him credit for being a quick learner and be thankful for the extra few minutes in your day you just found. In most subjects, topics are revisited periodically for deeper teaching so he can pick up anything he missed next time it comes up.
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Thank you so much wondermama for your advice. It was EXTREMELY helpful. I used it today and had him explain and show me what he said he already knew how to do. It worked great!
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