I haven't met any dedicated kids who voluntarily self study

[Anonymous]

Do they exist?

I'm almost 50 and I haven't met any kids in high school who are so dedicated, they voluntarily get books and self study to get a deeper dive into some subjects. Never! The only kids who sort of do it are being pushed by their parents.

My kid's peers just like my peers at this age are and were primarily interested in socialization and other fun things - video games, music, art, fashion, pop culture, makeup, etc.

Do those kids even exist? Is that not a figment of imagination?

[Anonymous]

Kids do extra reading, research or video watching, actually, but not necessarily academic subjects taught in school.

My son has from a young age read pretty academic books. He's a history and military nerd, and this has served him well, because he's now majoring in Security Policy. But he was also interested in immunology as a kid (we're doctors and scientists), and he read my old college textbook on it, because he said it was warfare waged by the body on its attackers.

My daughter and her friend read literature not taught in their public school system - which is easy to do, given how abysmal their English classes are. Her friend read the Illiad and the Odyssey and is a Greek and Roman mythology enthusiast, and DD is more into classics of English lit.

None of it surprises me. That's how I was as a kid. When I couldn't get hold of anything else, I even read the dictionary. Pre-internet days...

[Anonymous]

My 17 year old is like this. He’s always been into the next thing, and hates downtime. He asks for the most bizarre books as gifts, too. But he’s happy, so I’m happy.

[Anonymous]

My 11 yo loves to read and will often choose personal books that build on what she's learning at school.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Kids do extra reading, research or video watching, actually, but not necessarily academic subjects taught in school.

My son has from a young age read pretty academic books. He's a history and military nerd, and this has served him well, because he's now majoring in Security Policy. But he was also interested in immunology as a kid (we're doctors and scientists), and he read my old college textbook on it, because he said it was warfare waged by the body on its attackers.

My daughter and her friend read literature not taught in their public school system - which is easy to do, given how abysmal their English classes are. Her friend read the Illiad and the Odyssey and is a Greek and Roman mythology enthusiast, and DD is more into classics of English lit.

None of it surprises me. That's how I was as a kid. When I couldn't get hold of anything else, I even read the dictionary. Pre-internet days...

+1. I was a nerd kid who read nerd books as a kid, but it's odd to call it "self study" to me. I was just reading about stuff that interested me. I ended up majoring in the stuff that interested me(like your son that was history for me), so it helped a bit but that wasn't the goal.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Kids do extra reading, research or video watching, actually, but not necessarily academic subjects taught in school.

My son has from a young age read pretty academic books. He's a history and military nerd, and this has served him well, because he's now majoring in Security Policy. But he was also interested in immunology as a kid (we're doctors and scientists), and he read my old college textbook on it, because he said it was warfare waged by the body on its attackers.

My daughter and her friend read literature not taught in their public school system - which is easy to do, given how abysmal their English classes are. Her friend read the Illiad and the Odyssey and is a Greek and Roman mythology enthusiast, and DD is more into classics of English lit.

None of it surprises me. That's how I was as a kid. When I couldn't get hold of anything else, I even read the dictionary. Pre-internet days...

+1. I was a nerd kid who read nerd books as a kid, but it's odd to call it "self study" to me. I was just reading about stuff that interested me. I ended up majoring in the stuff that interested me(like your son that was history for me), so it helped a bit but that wasn't the goal.

+2 I read widely in non fiction and especially liked history. DD goes on deep dives into lots of random topics plus her personal passions of environmental conservation, botany, endangered animals (she's in college majoring in ES). A good HS environmental science class sent her into watching lots of videos about weather.

[Anonymous]

I think it’s different OP. Kids just look it up online now. Literally every question can be answered in seconds, from anywhere.

[Anonymous]

Mine read to learn and research. But probably not things people generally value. Things they study are cars and animals. Their level of knowledge is beyond amazing. My youngest isn’t like that but she’s a dancer and will spend endless hours practicing certain moves - videoing herself and critiquing the preciseness of her skills.

[Anonymous]

Yes kids like this exist. What a weird question. Many of my friends thought the governors school was the highlight of their summer.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they exist?

I'm almost 50 and I haven't met any kids in high school who are so dedicated, they voluntarily get books and self study to get a deeper dive into some subjects. Never! The only kids who sort of do it are being pushed by their parents.

My kid's peers just like my peers at this age are and were primarily interested in socialization and other fun things - video games, music, art, fashion, pop culture, makeup, etc.

Do those kids even exist? Is that not a figment of imagination?

They still exist!

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Do they exist?

I'm almost 50 and I haven't met any kids in high school who are so dedicated, they voluntarily get books and self study to get a deeper dive into some subjects. Never! The only kids who sort of do it are being pushed by their parents.

My kid's peers just like my peers at this age are and were primarily interested in socialization and other fun things - video games, music, art, fashion, pop culture, makeup, etc.

Do those kids even exist? Is that not a figment of imagination?

They don't get books. They watch YouTube.

[Anonymous]

DS does, but it's usually not related to what he's actually learning in school. He could tell you lots about different mythologies, he's been into it since he was in elementary school! Actually he knows a lot about certain times in world history because that's always interested him. Every so often school work in social studies or science aligns with his interests and he will really go in depth into reading and learning about the topics, but it's not often.

[Anonymous]

Mine do.

[Anonymous]

Yes. My child and one of my step children. They are very different but both are very self motivated academically. As was I, and my husband.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:Do they exist?

I'm almost 50 and I haven't met any kids in high school who are so dedicated, they voluntarily get books and self study to get a deeper dive into some subjects. Never! The only kids who sort of do it are being pushed by their parents.

My kid's peers just like my peers at this age are and were primarily interested in socialization and other fun things - video games, music, art, fashion, pop culture, makeup, etc.

Do those kids even exist? Is that not a figment of imagination?

They don't get books. They watch YouTube.

My kids read books, both fiction and nonfiction, and they watch a lot of YouTube videos about various subjects. They are curious and have interests but I've never called it self study, that's a strange word choice.