Educating the Right-Brain Child

I have been thinking a lot lately about my kid's education. I have not only been thinking about the "book" part of learning, but also about the heart part. The part which seems bigger to me than all the book part, which is this: What did God create my children to do? How has he gifted them and how am I furthering their learning so that they are equipped to step into His calling when the time comes?

These are pretty weighty thoughts. If my only goal was to make sure they all passed calculus and could write well, that they had a certain number of community service hours and knew how to manage money, then I think it would be pretty easy. After all, there are workbooks for most of that!

But we are talking about hearts here. Hearts and souls and lives that need to be shaped and molded for a higher purpose. This is VERY heavy!

It seems to me that with my boys, it has been a little easier to see their giftings and the ways their brains work. Maybe because they live life out loud - all the time!

Jalapeno at seven is an inventor all the way. He is always coming up with new ways to do things. New ways to make things work better or faster or just be more fun! He has a true heart of compassion for people. How they are feeling, what is going on with them, if they need anything. He is joy personified and feels everything so deeply, both joy and sorrow.

Pineapple has a math brain that scares me. He is six and without much tutoring on my part, he has a natural grasp of times tables, does double digit addition and subtraction in his head with out missing a beat and mastered the digital clock more than a year ago. He is a passionate leader, and thinks that everyone should follow him, because after all, he has worked out all the details and knows exactly how things should be done, and in what order!

Then there is my Sweet Girl, nine. I don't know why she is so tough for me to figure out, but I really struggle with knowing how I should educate her in all areas. Every task she has to do for school is followed by the words..."I hate_____". Not with a lot of emotion (most of the time), but I hate to hear those words when I have worked so hard to find the right fit for her in her curriculum.

Today, I asked her to write two lists for me. One list was all the things she "loves", the other, things she "likes". Here is her list, in her own words:

What I Love to do

1) I love to read.
2) I love to craft.
3) I love to use my tool box.
4) I love to listen to music
5) I love to write stories
6) I love to draw
7) I love to ride my bike
8) I love to ride my scooter
9) I love to run
10) I love to watch movies, Narnia

What I like to do

1) I like to swim
2) I like to swing
3) I like to build with blocks
4) I like to play with my Littlest Pet Shop
5) I like to draw with chalk
6) I like to go on nature walks
7) I like to play games and card games
8) I like to do
9) I like to play volleyball with my brothers
10) I like to play frisbee with the boys

Basic kid stuff here, no real surprises! If she could play and do crafts all day, her life would be "perfect"!

So for now, I continue to pray for her and about her. Asking the One who created her to give me guidance in how to raise her up in the way she should go...I would appreciate your prayers as well!

Moving on!

So, we finished North America last week, despite all the puking, colds and general mayhem that occurred. I am happy to be moving on to South America, as we have spent all of this year and all of last year in North America....glad to be moving on to warmer climes, yummy food and interesting studies!



I got all the maps switched out and the new ones hung up...I particularly love these two. One is a satellite image of South America which shows the topography in brilliant color. The second is part of a great set I found that shows the biomes of the world - which is exactly what we are studying this year! It shows a sat map at the bottom with all the tropical rain forests (for example) in the world highlighted, animals that live in that area and some of the vegetation you would expect to see. They are so perfect for what we are doing this year...especially since we live so far from so many of these biomes! I got both sets at Mardel where it costs not much to laminate them before you even bring them home!

This next map is one that I got for under $20 on Amazon, and we are poking all kinds of holes in it, planning on it being trashed when we finish the year. For $20, it is worthwhile! We have marked all the zones on this map, temperate, atctic, etc. as well as the prime meridian and used this map to do some work locating spots on the map with latitude and longitude. It was really fun!




We are also marking places on the map where people live that we know, as we go through each continent. If you know anyone who lives in South America, Africa, Europe, Asia, Australia, or Antarctica (I can hope, right?)...send us a pic (email is fine) and a town name, and we will post them on our map!

We are also moving on in the English department...some of you know that Sweet Girl has had some real struggles with her attitude about the level of work increase this year, specifically in the area of her new English book. I really prayed about what to do, as sometimes the lessons took her 2-4 hours to complete, but as we have really worked on the heart attitude, lessons are now being completed in 30-45 minutes - MUCH better!! We should finish 'The Courage of Sarah Noble' this week, and then on to 'The Sign of the Beaver'. I am so happy with how this program (Total Language Plus) works. I have seen such an improvement in her spelling, writing and comprehension...I count this as one of my BEST homeschool discoveries - ever!

OK, off to the library to pick up all the South America books and movies for our book basket - enjoy this beautiful day!

Success?

Success...how do you measure success in schooling? 100's on papers, complete mastery of a subject, a college scholarship or maybe the praise of someone whose opinion you value?

For me, success in our homeschool journey looks a little different. When I see the things we are studying coming out of my kids in all different kinds of ways, then I count that as success. When E comes in with eyes shining and all excited about a couple of old bike wheels, because he sees that he is one step closer to creating a "real" glider, or when AJ uses his God given gift with numbers to help his brother or sister answer a math question, or when L arranges an elaborate adventure for the other kids outside, with elements of the great books she reads, then I count our homeschooling journey thus far as a success.

When I hear the kids talk to their Daddy about what we are reading about, and he asks them questions and they answer them...even when it might not be exactly what we talked about, but they were able to pull from the knowledge that we are pouring into them...then that is success.

I even count it as success when they are eating lunch and they are taking bites out of their nachos to make them into the shapes of the states we have been studying, and they get the name AND the shape right - that is success - and quite a lot of fun besides!

I am so thankful that I am able to educate our children at home. There is really nothing that I would rather be doing right now...even when we go through tough times like the last few weeks, when it seems that every step forward also involves 10 steps back. I think it is being able to savor each step, good or bad, knowing that we are doing our best to equip our children to live the lives that God created them to live. They had a rough start, my three sweet babies....but by God's grace, they will finish this race and hear: "Well done, my good and faithful servant" when they get to the end of their road...that my friends is true success!

Really?!?

So, I read this great article about homeschooling in the Post, and just had to reply...

Here's the article: http://www.denverpost.com/search/ci_15762640

And here is my reply:

Mr. Brigham,

I would like to say thank you for writing such a positive article about homeschooling. I have homeschooled my three children for the last three years, and it is nice to see favorable articles written about a topic that I am so passionate about.

You wrote at the end of your article:

"Ultimately, for us it comes down to not wanting to take on the additional responsibility or sacrifice the income, free time, and sense of accomplishment we get from succeeding at vocations we know and enjoy."

I am sad for you. Sad that you won't take a journey with your child that is more satisfying than any job you could hold. Sad that you won't be the one to teach her to read, and see the joy light up her face when she finally "gets it". Sad that you won't feel that sense of accomplishment that comes from working hard on something with your child, and finishing it well.

Income...schmincome! Homeschooling does not have to be expensive, in fact there any many homeschool families who are able to do it at a very low cost. We chose to "sacrifice" my income, and I would not trade one great, well paid day at my old job for my worst day as a homeschool mom.

What an exciting journey you and your family could take, if only you would look at homeschooling your child as a blessing and a fight worth winning. Nothing worth having comes easy, you know. Besides, think of all the new material it would give you for your writing!

As for me, I choose to give up the extra income, the satisfaction of having been really good at my former profession, and my free time. I accept all the work homeschooling takes. For there is truly no greater joy than leading my children in the journey of learning.

Sincerely,

Trina Reynolds
Homeschool mom of three in Littleton

A very interesting book!

I have been reading an interesting book, lately, "100 Top Picks for Homeschool Curriculum : Choosing the Right Curriculum and Approach For Your Child'" by Cathy Duffy. Of course I had heard of this book, but never picked it up to read it because I had already figured out what curriculum I was going to use. What a shame!! The first five chapters of this book are a gold mine for any homeschooling mom...and even for those moms who only have a passing interest in homeschooling - wow! What a lot of good information!!

She goes through, step by step and helps you understand why it is important to have a "philosophy of education" (she defines philosophy as 'common sense dressed up in fancy clothes'), how you think learning should happen in your home, and how you want to teach or 'run your school'. She also spends a good amount of time helping you understand which educational approach is right for your children, and how to mix approaches.

For example if you come from a background where formal education is very important to you, and all the "feel good fly-by-the-seat-of-your-pants stuff that you see gives you the heebie-jeebies, then you might choose the Classical approach. If you have lots of wiggly boys who learn best when their hands and their brains are involved, then you might like the Unit Study approach. In all, she covers nine different approaches.

Mrs. Duffy then goes into helping you figure out what is going to work for your family, by talking about your confidence level, the time you have to give to schooling, how much money you have to spend and how you want your religious beliefs to impact your schooling. One of the things I loved was that she gives examples of all of these things in Chapter 3, so that you can see exactly how to use the technique she is presenting.

But, I have to say that chapter 4 is my favorite chapter! I can't tell you how many times I have had people say to me "I can't homeschool because...my kid needs structure....my kid needs the social interaction...my kid argues about everything...my kid won't be still". Guess what? We all have kids like that! I have three of those in my house...the wiggly one, the arguing one and the structured one. Mrs. Duffy wrote that she thinks God gives us kids that are different from us to stretch and grow us. Can I hear an AMEN!!

So, Chapter 4 is all about learning styles and teaching styles and how to take your strengths and weaknesses and your kid's strengths and weaknesses and put it all together into something that will work for your family. It was like a light bulb going off for me. Personally, it helped me to understand my littlest one better, for example why he gets so upset when I ask him to do something that he 'already knows'. It's part of his personality, the way God made him...and it is my job to help him understand that sometimes we do have to do things over and over, and sometimes it is okay to move on.

Then, in Chapter 5, Mrs. Duffy goes on to help the reader understand "who should learn what and when?" - a great chapter to teach you how to determine what needs to happen when and how to tailor it for each specific child in your home - because really, one of the things that is so amazing about homeschooling is that you can tailor your child's education to your child.

And then the rest of the book gives Mrs. Duffy's Top 100 Picks for curriculum, which becomes very easy to sort through once you have done the work in the first four chapters.

Anyway, whether you are a seasoned homeschooler, or a mom who is wanting to know what all this 'homeschool talk' is about, I highly recommend this book - especially the first five chapters. And if you are a mom who just wants to understand her kids better, and would like to have a glimpse into working with your child's personality instead of against it - then just read Chapter 4. If you read it, let me know what you think!

Happy January!