Recovery

It is important that students bring a certain ragamuffin, barefoot irreverence to their studies; they are not here to worship what is known, but to question it.  ~Jacob Bronowski

 

     I like this quotation -- it suits my sons all the way down. Their learning styles, so different from each other, nonetheless retain a certain 'irreverence' to the norm. Everything is up for grabs, everything needs to be discussed, considered, dissected... and that process is constant. Even when (and maybe more so) it is bed time, they never let up, thinking, questioning debating.

 

     The subject of learning styles is something that fascinates me. I had never really considered the power of that issue, just accepted that I was wierd in the way that I learned (I see things as patterns: patterns of numbers, letters, words, sounds. colors...) but when faced with the challenging task of helping little boys learn, I was brought face to face with the importance of learning styles... and the potential of conflict between my style and that of those around me.

 

     Now in one sense, my standard approach/understanding of material makes it easier for me to explain things: As I said, I see things in patterns. Music, Art, Mathematics... all of these are patterns. When I was a little girl, I saw color and number as the same -- 3+5= brown just as red plus green equaled eight. When I was asked for the answer to a math problem, I gave it but when asked how I knew the answer... well, my answers never made sense to those who relied on memorized equations. Numbers have a pattern. The pattern is there, inherent in the system. I could never explain that to my teachers. They always thought that I must be cheating, though they could never figure out how! (LOL)  The same thing was true of Music -- music is color and number. Fantasia (Special 60th Anniversary Edition) was always a favorite film of mine because it was the work of people who saw the world in a manner similar to mine own. The same was true of Donald in Mathmagic Land. Truly, it was a relief to know that I wasn't alone, that I wasn't a complete abberation.

 

     As I grew older, the world of patterns became more complex and I had to work harder and harder to try to clarify the patterns I saw. I got to be pretty good, it turns out. I wrote a paper on headhunting in Celtic culture and presented it at a conference at UCLA. After my presentation, professors came up to me to talk. Their comments were always the same: 'You know, I never really thought about that before but now that you have said it, I can see it...' Friends of mine, archeologists and historians in training all shook their heads at me: Don't make it too clear or you won't get the credit -- practice obscurity and people will think that you are brilliant. The scary thing is, I watched my friends do precisely that, practice obscurity, and it had exactly the effect that they anticipated. 

 

Creators of bemusement

be·muse  (b-myz)

tr.v. be·mused, be·mus·ing, be·mus·es

1. To cause to be bewildered; confuse. See Synonyms at daze.

2. To cause to be engrossed in thought.

http://www.thefreedictionary.com/bemusement

I love words, don't you? And this one, it is a pleasure just to listen to it... but it also is an accurate

description of how my children seem to affect me.

    

     I will give you an example: On a road trip, parents are exhausted and want to take a nap. Little boys are playing quietly -- one bent over his Didj (LeapFrog® Didj Custom Learning Gaming System) while the other drew and colored and talked to himself. Periodically the older boy would throw out a math equation with which he needed help and his father would answer. Then came 'THE' question: "Dad, how much is 64-7?' Before Dad could answer, younger brother chirped '57' -- Dad concurred '57'. Younger brother, pleased as punch says 'See? I told you, 57!' Now to explain my bemusement -- the younger boy is 4.75 years old and has never actually engaged in formal math study... He learns, quite literally, by osmosis. Still, sometimes I have to shake my head. I have worried that he wasn't experiencing formalized preschool, that somehow that would 'set him back' -- now I wonder if maybe it is preschool that does that?

    

     Moments like this convince me that Charlotte Mason (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Mason) was right: Children are born people. The only real difference between children and adults is experience. Certainly my sons demonstrate daily that they are quite capable of thinking and understanding in quite sophisticated ways. When he was only two, my eldest son, playing in our backyard with a family friend (who is himself of Mensa level intelligence) suddenly looked up and said 'And now we must do something truly difficult: we must walk the stone path of destiny!' Our friend stared at him, open-mouthed. My two year old grinned and said 'Let's go kill Droids!' This is the same child who, comforting his little brother who'd expressed a fear of death, said 'Death is not the end. It is just a change.' Okay!

    

     The littlest brother is no stranger to wit himself. Watching Shakespeare's 'Midsummer Night's Dream', he picked up on a pun that I, with all my YEARS of experience, had missed. Looking at me, cheeky grin fully apparent, this four year old chants 'My BOTTOM's my ASS' -- oh, heavens, child! How could I have missed that? Did you ever catch that one? Sigh. Perhaps Shakespeare, whom everyone seems to place on a pedestal and whose writings are reserved for higher level learning, is better suited to children -- at least as far as his comedies go? His work is certainly packed with puns...

    

     Shakespeare also offers a rich mine for discussion of character. To date, my sons insist that of the male characters they have encountered, they prefer Benedict (Much Ado About Nothing ) to Petruchio

The Taming of the Shrew) or Oberon(A Midsummer Night's Dream) and Titannia to Kate (As my youngest says 'She is strong and I like strong women!') This last led to a wonderful question: I had remarked to my sons that it seemed to me that Shakespeare always provided a contrast in his women -- strong Kate versus manipulative Bianca, clever Beatrice versus insipid Hero. My youngest thought about this momentarily and then asked 'Does he do that with the men too?'  The simple answer, 'Yes' but again, I had never really considered it. Children see clearly what Adults often miss.

Introduction

I am learning all the time.  The tombstone will be my diploma.  ~Eartha Kitt

     One of my earliest memories comes from when I was about seven years old. We had just moved to Hawaii and though I was constantly surrounded by books, I had never been in a large public library. I walked through the doors of that shining building -- and it did shine, white and glowing in the warm Hawaiian sun -- and stopped. Books everywhere. On shelves that reached to the sky, on carts, on tables, books and more books. Right that moment I knew what my goal was: I was going to read EVERY SINGLE BOOK IN THE LIBRARY. Satisfied that I had a goal, I marched into the library and began looking. The librarian, a lovely, quiet lady, came over to offer her assistance -- I think she must've seen my face when first I walked in. She asked what she might do to help and I explained what I had decided to do and that I was in the process of selecting my first books. Guess I floored her (bigger grin) because she stared at me with the look of absurd disbelief that the sane give the insane. 'But' she said, after she regained her voice, 'but honey, I don't think that that is possible. You see, we get new books in every day.' That stopped me. I looked at her. Indignantly I demanded 'well, how can I possibly read ALL the books if you keep getting new ones!' She smiled slightly and shook her head, whether in bemusement or disbelief I don't know. 'I would suggest that you select one area and focus on that and when you finish with that subject, go on to the next.' I considered her thoughtfully and nodded, 'Okay.' 

    

    That early decision has shaped my life to this point -- I am STILL trying (LOL) to read my way through the library though, as I have grown older, I have learned to select amongst the myriad of choices. I generally DO NOT read true crime -- why scare myself silly? There are a few that I have read, mostly in order to understand the detective mentality -- the Jack the Ripper casefiles comes to mind. Fascinating to see what a retired detective made of that information. I have not read many automotive manuals, I admit, though I have looked through a few and I have an abiding weakness for what my sons' laughingly call 'Junk Fiction'.  Hey, we all need our guilty pleasures! But in all else, I follow the librarian's advice. I select a topic and read voraciously on it. At the moment, as a relatively new Homeschool parent/teacher, that subject is education and BOY is there a ton of material to wade through!

 

      So, is this an introduction? Perhaps not your standard one, I admit. A standard intro would read something like: Clueless Homeschool mom of two boys, ages 8 and 4, explores the world of learning and hopes not to fall to hard in the process. Living in the vast green expanse of Western Washington with boys, cats and a husband, she fantasizes about the day the boys take over cleaning the bathrooms... And that is true too but I thought I would offer a bit more. In that little bit above is the summation of my educational objective for my sons -- I want them to (1)learn to set goals (2)follow where their hearts lead and (3)seek to learn something new every day of their lives. I want them to love learning for the sake of learning as well as for the sake of utility. I want them to know the wonders of this world so that when the dark shadows loom they will have a shining light to guide them home. Boy, am I poetical this morning or what? Apologies.

 

      So yes, I am a newbie Homeschool mom. I do have two boys, both of whom keep me challenged -- though I suppose that many people would suppose that it should work the other way I am a curriculum junkie, always looking, seeking, exploring. Our house is stacked floor to ceiling with books and papers, maps and computers. What little wall space is left is occupied by the drawings, painting and cartoons created by my ever inventive sons. Periodically I long for the quiet blankness of a Japanese aesthetic but that is not to be, at least not any time soon. Acceptance is my mantra. Maybe some day I will achieve it!

 

      And I am writing this blog -- why? For a number of reasons: as a way to maintain my sanity, a source to which to return when I doubt myself, a record of our achievements as well as our failures, and as a help -- for anyone out there who, like me, sometimes wonders if they are completely alone in the wilderness, lost without a compass or map. Not to worry, there are others wandering about in that same place... some even make it out alive, or so I have been told!

 

     One source I have found useful to date is the Homeschoolbar