Generate interest with a personal connection

When a student is disinterested in a particular assignment or topic of study, try making a personal connection. For example, perhaps your child expresses disinterest in history, and the American Revolution in particular. Make it personal by discussing the ideas of freedom and independence as they relate to her life in 2016. What do freedom and independence mean to her today? Then, what does she think it may have meant to colonials in 1776? How was it similar or different? By making a personal connection, you are opening pathways for critical thinking and learning.