How to Help Your Child with Making Inferences

Making inferences is known to be the steps in reasoning, taking facts, and coming to conclusions, or best described as reading between the lines.  Whichever way you decide to define inference, it is a necessary skill to have through education and life.  Our goal with this post is to show you why it’s imperative to begin early and how to apply it to your child’s homeschool lessons. 

Making inferences might seem like a natural progression in maturity from an adult perspective, and in a way, it is, but young minds have a difficult time grasping the reasonings in the way of the world.  This is especially true of social situations.  If you begin to implement simple lessons now, they will be more able to comprehend the nuances of everyday life. 

Age Four to Six

These are the years where children take in the mood of a room, feel the atmosphere naturally, and use visual clues to try to understand their surroundings.  Their minds work fervently with their natural need to feel objects to comprehend things, which helps bring information full circle.  At this stage, it’s important to use pictures with simple discussions about social interactions and everyday activities. 

• Use picture books to discuss the whys of a situation.  Remember to include comments about facial features and the way characters use their body to show emotion and actions.
• Use a theatric voice when telling a story.  This helps to show a child that the way someone is speaking is just as important as the actions they’re taking.
• Pick up a pack of conversation cards to allow them to discover how different characters behave in situations and why they are using that behavior. 
• Try to ask how they would feel as a certain character in the picture.  What would they do differently?  Are there moral values you can discuss? 

Conversation Cards

We use these cards regularly to discuss social interactions and how each character is behaving and the reason why they are behaving in that manner. This helps them to see these interactions and use clues in real life, giving way to inferences.

Age Seven to Nine

Children this age are trying to work their brains from being a young kid to a big kid.  The idea of getting older may scare them!  Being a little kid is fun, has little to no responsibility, and keeps them in a world of imaginative fun and play.  Growing and learning to do complex reading and math can provide emotional difficulties.  This is why it’s important to continue the same activities as above while slowly introducing more complex discussions revolving around social interactions, literature, and history. 

• Believe it or not, big kids love being read to just as much as little kids.  Just because they’re maturing does not mean they still don’t love the same book they did a few years ago!  Continue using picture books and conversation cards to discuss emotions and body language.  Talking about the why with a less mature book helps reinforce what they have already learned. 
• Grab a big book of idioms.  Yes, idioms!  There are thousands to learn, and we, as adults, use them every day without realizing it.  It’s important to be able to reference when an adult says, “still waters run deep” or “don’t look a gift horse in the mouth.”  Idioms are so often spoken in everyday life that we forget that there was a time we didn’t understand them either. 
• Grab a big book of riddles from the library or find a free game in the Appstore that includes riddles.  They help children see that there are many ways to use words. 
• Literature and history are amazing resources to discover inferences.  Having verbal discussions (not written questions) helps pave the way for your child’s critical thinking skills. 
• Movies provide ample moments to discuss inferences.  Help your child see what isn’t being directly told to them through dialogue. 
  

Dictionary of Idioms

This particular book has been a treasure trove for us. We enjoy randomly picking an idiom to read the history, as well as the meaning.

Age Ten to Thirteen

Your child is no longer a child yet still a child (you know what I mean).  It’s scary for you, but it is much scarier time for them.  They need a lot of love, reassurance, and direction.  They want their own space and time for friends and are learning to become more independent. 

• This is still a great time to use comprehension questions during literature and history as a time to discuss the how and why of a character.
• Do not be afraid to continue, or even begin, implementing conversation cards.
• Listen to stories together so they can openly ask you why someone is doing something.
• Continue (or begin) using idioms and riddles to discover new ways to use vocabulary and phrases.
• This age group enjoys content of a higher maturity than before.  Their imagination is still there but they see more of the real world for what it is.  Never stop using novels and movies as a way to build inference skills through discussions.
• Implement workbooks that give critical thinking skills a good workout. 
  

Inference Jones from Critical Thinking Co.

It is okay to use a workbook that you may feel is a lower level than the child is capable of doing. This helps to reinforce learning and gives confidence, yet also can show areas where they may still need help. You can always move to the next level when they’re finished.

How is your child with reading between the lines?  Do you find it difficult to implement inference during your homeschool lessons?

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