Does Your Fish Climb a Tree?
Our children each learn so differently.
Some kids are book learners, some are more visual, some learn in hands-on ways, and others learn in a combination of ways.
I love homeschooling because I can teach our kids in the ways they each learn best.
As it is said, "There is more than one way to skin a cat.
" Similarly, there is more than one way to learn.
When I first started homeschooling our oldest children, Madison and Maguire, we noticed immediately that they were "textbook" kids.
They loved to read their books and do workbook pages.
They loved to draw and practice writing letters.
They were reading and writing before they were 5.
They are avid readers now, and for each of our lessons we read a book or novel along with learning from our textbooks.
For example, we were studying World War II, so I assigned "The Diary of Anne Frank" along with the lesson.
They learn best this way, which was easiest for me to teach since I learn best that way, too.
Then came our son, Maverick.
I'm pretty sure Maverick hasn't stopped moving for one full minute since the moment he came home from the hospital after his birth.
He runs through the house constantly as a racecar.
For several months, he became a train, complete with sounds.
If we're watching a hockey game, he drags his sticks, pucks, and net into the livingroom and re-enacts each play during the game.
When he was little, he would watch a Disney movie and recite it back to us (including acting out all the corresponding moves) after seeing the film only a couple times.
At a very early age, he learned every song on the Christian radio station I listen to in our car.
He never sat still long enough to color with crayons or markers and had no interest whatsoever in learning from a book.
When presented with crayons, they became hockey sticks.
Needless to say, teaching him has opened a whole new world for me in creative thinking.
For example, it wasn't part of his assignment but Maverick watched a World War II kids' video along with his brother and sister this week.
But as the older kids wrote reports, Maverick built a replica World War II plane out of Legos with excruciating detail.
He then "flew" that plane around the house at full speed for hours, complete with sound effects.
Recently he built a Titanic and even made sure the iceberg was on the correct side of the ship.
He likes to build the things he learns.
He likes to act them out.
He is very visual and hands-on.
He remembers things he sees and hears, with amazing detail.
He learned to read by playing a magnetic LeapFrog learning game on our refrigerator that involves moving magnetic letters around to spell words.
It works for him because it is hands-on.
He can now zip through books; I'm amazed by his progress in the past year.
"Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
" - Albert Einstein At first, it was difficult for me not to compare Maverick to Madison and Maguire.
They were reading by age 5, and at age 5 Maverick didn't even know all of his letters.
But Maverick is not Madison.
Maverick is not Maguire.
Maverick is Maverick.
If I judge his intelligence by his ability to do things the way some other kid does, he might fall far short (and vice versa!).
And how crazy would that comparison be? He is an extremely intelligent, smart kid.
I should never judge my "fish" by his ability to climb a tree.
My "fish" is the best darn swimmer in the pond.
Some kids are book learners, some are more visual, some learn in hands-on ways, and others learn in a combination of ways.
I love homeschooling because I can teach our kids in the ways they each learn best.
As it is said, "There is more than one way to skin a cat.
" Similarly, there is more than one way to learn.
When I first started homeschooling our oldest children, Madison and Maguire, we noticed immediately that they were "textbook" kids.
They loved to read their books and do workbook pages.
They loved to draw and practice writing letters.
They were reading and writing before they were 5.
They are avid readers now, and for each of our lessons we read a book or novel along with learning from our textbooks.
For example, we were studying World War II, so I assigned "The Diary of Anne Frank" along with the lesson.
They learn best this way, which was easiest for me to teach since I learn best that way, too.
Then came our son, Maverick.
I'm pretty sure Maverick hasn't stopped moving for one full minute since the moment he came home from the hospital after his birth.
He runs through the house constantly as a racecar.
For several months, he became a train, complete with sounds.
If we're watching a hockey game, he drags his sticks, pucks, and net into the livingroom and re-enacts each play during the game.
When he was little, he would watch a Disney movie and recite it back to us (including acting out all the corresponding moves) after seeing the film only a couple times.
At a very early age, he learned every song on the Christian radio station I listen to in our car.
He never sat still long enough to color with crayons or markers and had no interest whatsoever in learning from a book.
When presented with crayons, they became hockey sticks.
Needless to say, teaching him has opened a whole new world for me in creative thinking.
For example, it wasn't part of his assignment but Maverick watched a World War II kids' video along with his brother and sister this week.
But as the older kids wrote reports, Maverick built a replica World War II plane out of Legos with excruciating detail.
He then "flew" that plane around the house at full speed for hours, complete with sound effects.
Recently he built a Titanic and even made sure the iceberg was on the correct side of the ship.
He likes to build the things he learns.
He likes to act them out.
He is very visual and hands-on.
He remembers things he sees and hears, with amazing detail.
He learned to read by playing a magnetic LeapFrog learning game on our refrigerator that involves moving magnetic letters around to spell words.
It works for him because it is hands-on.
He can now zip through books; I'm amazed by his progress in the past year.
"Everybody is a genius.
But if you judge a fish by its ability to climb a tree, it will live its whole life believing that it is stupid.
" - Albert Einstein At first, it was difficult for me not to compare Maverick to Madison and Maguire.
They were reading by age 5, and at age 5 Maverick didn't even know all of his letters.
But Maverick is not Madison.
Maverick is not Maguire.
Maverick is Maverick.
If I judge his intelligence by his ability to do things the way some other kid does, he might fall far short (and vice versa!).
And how crazy would that comparison be? He is an extremely intelligent, smart kid.
I should never judge my "fish" by his ability to climb a tree.
My "fish" is the best darn swimmer in the pond.
