This week we are highlighting the unique strengths of all children. Our book of the week GIVEAWAY is Ping Pong Pig by Caroline Jane Church. Ping Pong Pig learns two important lessons: The importance of helping his friends and that pigs really can fly! GIVEAWAY details at the end of this post. Now let’s meet Leo the Late Bloomer . . .
In the classroom, I began every year with a read-aloud from Leo the Late Bloomer. Then we’d start a big discussion. . .
Me: “Tell me some of the fun and interesting things you’ve already ‘bloomed’ into? What are some of the things you are really good at?”
Children: “I can tie my shoes. I can count to 100. I can read. I can run really fast! I know how to tell time. My Mom taught me how to bake a cake. . . .”
Me: “Just like Leo, we all bloom at different times. Some of us can run really fast and some of us already know how to read. We are all different.”
Me: “What are some of the things you’d like to ‘bloom-into’ or learn how to do this year?”
Children: “I want to read a great big thick book. I want to learn how to multiply. I want to learn how to make a goal in soccer. . . .”
From here the lesson would continue with how to make an appropriate book selection for independent reading time. Year to year, I never considered that God may give me a Leo the Late Bloomer.
When MacGyver was born, we received a very special gift. A friend and her teenage son went to the bookstore. The teenage son selected three of his favorite childhood books for MacGyver: Brown Bear, Brown Bear, Good Night Moon and Mike Mulligan and the Steam Shovel. Upon opening the package, I cuddled on the bed with 6 week old MacGyver and began reading Brown Bear, Brown Bear. His face lit-up and I could see his little baby brain thinking, thinking, thinking. We read it 6 times! He was in love. Since that day our children have been read to EVERY day of their lives. I read to them each day and their Daddy reads to them EVERY night. And since he’s a sucker, they usually get 5 or 6 good books out of him!
At age two, MacGyver showed-up one night with Are You My Mother? He proceeded to “read” the book cover to cover, page by page, word for word. He “read” with fluency, with excitement and with voices for each of the characters. He had memorized the entire book. This reading teacher and mother beamed! Our rich early literacy environment was producing an early reader!
Homeschool kindergarten rolled around and MacGyver wasn’t reading. He didn’t even know his letters or numbers consistently. So we got busy learning our letters and letter sounds. MacGyver didn’t bloom.
We read and read and read and read! I made dozens of early little readers to create easy, familiar reading material for MacGyver. MacGyver didn’t bloom.
We learned a core of easy familiar, high frequency words. MacGyver didn’t bloom.
We wrote and wrote and wrote. We wrote in journals. We did interactive writing together. We used sound boxes to help us hear our letter sounds. We did cut-apart sentences. MacGyver still didn’t bloom. But MacGyver has a summer birthday so I really wasn’t too concerned with his progress.
Besides, during his kindergarten year, MacGyver bloomed into airplane construction. This was cut free hand from an index card and assembled with tape. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into dinosaur construction. MacGyver began free hand drawing the different parts of a dinosaur, cutting them out and then assembling them into 3D creations.
He’s probably done a hundred of these. All different kinds of dinosaurs and all different sizes. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into pterodactyl construction . . .
and the design of a pulley system so it could fly between two trees out in our backyard. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into precise drawings of things like the parts of an insect. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into a LOVE for nonfiction books and then creating art based projects on the knowledge he’d gained. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into studying, measuring and creating a life sized dinosaur. (age 5)
MacGyver bloomed into an artistic view of the world, seeing an opportunity to create everywhere. This is a paper plate, Play-Doh, sticks from the backyard and some sprigs off of one of my plants. (age 5)
I often joke about our family being big criers. Well actually it’s no joke. We are very emotional. I sit here now in tears looking at the artistic mind of my little late bloomer. We’re just beginning second grade and MacGyver still has not bloomed on the traditional, public school time line. But anyone who spends time with him, is amazed at his artistic gift of construction.
Long before MacGyver was born, The Agony and the Ecstasy became one of my favorite books. It is a biographical novel about Michelangelo. When I saw Michelangelo’s David in person, I was mesmerized by the genius mind of this man. Now, I’m not saying my little late bloomer will bloom into Michelangelo, but what if I don’t give him the freedom to become what God planted inside of him?
So for now we will plunge full speed ahead with our reading, writing and arithmetic. But MacGyver will also be given time each day to explore the world and nurture the special seed that was planted inside of him! His ideas come from him. I have nothing to do with 99.9% of his projects and creations!
I’ll be back tomorrow with a VERY important book recommendation and GIVEAWAY! Please join me again! Parents and teachers, you’ll all want to read this one: How to Discover and Develop Your Child’s Strengths by Jenifer Fox.
In celebration of children and their strengths, we’re giving away one copy of Ping Pong Pig by Caroline Jayne Church.
To enter this contest, just answer the following question in the comments section of this post.
What do you do to nurture the unique gifts in our children? This is a question for both teachers and parents. (Or just say “Hey.” We’re flexible around here.)
The Rules:
One entry per person, please.
No entries after 8:00 pm Central Time, Thursday, August 26, 2010
The winner must be a resident of The United States.
The winner will be selected at random and announced Friday, August 27, 2010. Check back it might be you!
Life with Jeannine
{ 6 trackbacks }
{ 16 comments… read them below or add one }
Hey!
we try to let the kids really focus on one thing that they love and we encourage them in that. My son is a reader, my daughter would rather draw. She reads, but doesn’t love it. art, she loves.
What amazing creations! We try to encourage our son to try lots of things, but not necessarily persevere if it isn’t enjoyable/rewarding for him. We’ll “try” again later.
I try to meet my kids where they are, without expectation. Following what they are interested in is really the best way that they seem to learn anyway!! Having that freedom is one of the best things about home schooling.
I always think that learning should be fun. The best part of teaching is when kids are learning, but they don’t know it because they are having too much fun. Maybe that is why I love teaching little ones. They are much more open to learning than high schoolers.
I encourage my children in whatever interests them. My daughter is an extreme reader, designer, creator, writer, and dancer. If it’s a creative thing to do she loves it. Right now she’s transforming her room into the arctic because that’s what she’s into. And I’m always amazed at what kind of stories she writes. My son has wonderful gross motor skills and is therefore pretty athletic to only be 3. We don’t push him into sports, but he did discover that he likes soccer a lot (from playing at home) and climbing. He’s also very analytical and loves all things building. He could spend all day building things with the various types of blocks we have at home. I’m amazed at what he can do. My youngest son has such a gift at making others around him feel as if they are the most important thing to him. Everyone loves being around him because he is so cheerful and giving and downright sweet. When I wake him up in the morning and ask him if he slept well, he always says yes and then immediately asks if his brother and sister slept well. When I kiss him goodnight he tells me to kiss his brother and sister too even if I already have. SO thoughtful. Can you tell I love my children and am so very proud of them? I love finding the differences and celebrating them. And yet, even though it doesn’t sound like it, they are very much alike in a lot of ways. Really, I shouldn’t be allowed to answer open-ended questions like these about my children. LOL! Sorry so long.
I nurture the children in my class by making sure there are plenty of different materials and opportunities for them to be creative and learn in different ways. I am sure to praise them for small steps they take as well as the big ones. I encourage them to take the next step in their processes, but most of all I am patient with them letting them develop and learn at the pace they choose.
Good question. As a parent I nurture my childrens’ gifts by listening and being supportive. I have three children who all have different interests and talents. When any of them come and share one of their bright ideas I listen. If they ask me my opinion, I always say try it see what happens. If it didn’t work out the way they tried it then I offer a suggestion. My children grow this way and learn there is more than one way to do something and solve problems and they may all be right. My kids bloom and are able to learn new things and soar higher when I just listen and allow them to do it on their own. It works because a lot times I can hear them modeling to each other “Just try it”.
I love to watch my children interact with each other. My older children will help the younger ones. My oldest has always had trouble hearing sounds so when it came time to read and spell he would get frustrated. We took the relaxed approach and let him play. He can read now of course and remembers having fun. His younger brother has trouble writing. My girl has not wanted to learn to read, but I decided to wait and let her take it slow. You know my children have helped each other more than I have helped them. They look to each other for the help they need. They use each others strengths to overcome their weaknesses which is what we have been teaching them all along.
I focus on each of their individual interests. They get the chance to do what interests them and we find creative ways to make it fun not just the same old same old so they get bored.
As our child grows, I will look for any chance to have a teachable moment.
My oldest likes to make movies using his Lego creations. We have many of his movies saved on the computer. He spends hours making the people and items for the movie and then we watch them over and over. Either a budding engineer, architect, or a Stephen Spielberg!
I love how you are letting that boy fly… he’ll find the words someday. My boys didn’t read until I thought they never would, but they have taken off now, and I can’t pull them away from their books at night. They are 12 & 11 now. It’ll come.
amy in peru
http://fisheracademy.blogspot.com
PS. I do have a US mailing address if that qualifies me for the giveaway, but if not, that’s okay too. I really didn’t comment for that reason alone
I don’t have kids of my own. I do have 20 kids in the after school program that I love and care for dearly. To encourage them I just want them to be themselves and do what makes them happy. Even if all I can do is listen to their problems I’ll do it. They are all unique people and I want nothing more for them to embrace that. So what if they color outside the lines? Or color the sky purple instead of blue? Whatever makes them happy I’m all for it.
Great post. I needed that reminder to let my own kiddos do more of what they excel at. Thanks!
To nurture the unique gifts in our children, I try to make sure they know they are loved unconditionally and take an interest in the things that interest them. I try to provide them with the resources they need to pursue their interests and dreams.
I try to encourage the kids in my class (who are “my kids” for a big part of the day) to embrace the gifts God has given them. We all have strengths and weaknesses but those are things that make life interesting. I try to understand how each one of my ‘Geckos’ tick and lead them to new things that the world has to offer and teach them through play and curiosity.