Tuesday, August 26, 2014

Moving Beyond the Page - More than Just a Curriculum



I certainly have one of those "square peg" children. She is such a thinker, and I don't mean that in the oooh-look-at-my-child-she's-so-smart kind of way, although she is bright. I mean that when Madison was on the playground and another five year old said, "you're not my friend anymore," Madison believed her.

I'm talking about when I took her to story time at our library and all of the children were told to get an instrument out of the box, she was last because she watched everyone else go first. And when it was time to play the instruments, she stood there holding hers in her hand because she was listening and enjoying all of the different sounds around her with a smile on her face.

I'm saying that she's 8, and plays classical piano on a Middle School level effortlessly - it takes her anywhere from 2 days to one week to learn a new song, and she has composed several songs and wants to record them to cd.

And lastly, I'm describing a child that when she was told to do a simple task, she actually took time to think about what you were telling her to do before she did it. She observed her surroundings. I don't know why except that she was a different sort of learner.

In fact, her kindergarten teacher asked me one day at a parent/teacher conference if I'd noticed that Madison takes time to think when given an instruction. My response was, "yes, she's a thinker and I think she's thinking about what you've asked her to do." Besides being mildly irritating for the impatient parent that I was, I didn't find anything wrong with this. Her teacher on the other hand was ready to label her, saying to me that "maybe there is something wrong with how she processes information." Although I was impressed with her seemingly unique ability to give an amateur medical diagnosis, right there in the kindergarten pod of a 30 year old school while sitting at a tiny table in a tiny multi-colored chair, of a child who she'd known for about 5 months and interacted with for a few hours a day in a classroom with 20 other children; I was not willing to accept that label for my 5 year old, or to fight with the system for the next 12 years while she attended school.

What am I getting at? What I'm saying is my child is very bright, but she did not fit into the traditional classroom environment. She was too much of an abstract learner. "Abstract perceivers take in information through analysis, observation, and thinking." (Gordon Lawrence, 2011)

Moving Beyond the Page is proving to be that curriculum for that type of child. Madison's kindergarten teacher also told me that she was a linguistic child, and that she couldn't be good in both Math and Reading. Well, she was only "good" at reading because I'd taken the time to teach her how at an early age, not because it was her innate strength. Well after homeschooling for 3 years, that child who learned how to read at 4 years old and scored above average in all linguistic categories, will tell you that her favorite subject is Math.

The deal here parents is that if you have taken educating your child into your own hands out of frustration, passion, or just plain old conviction it's probably the best decision you will ever make in terms of your child being able to actually grow and thrive in a way that suits him.

Moving Beyond the Page is a curriculum for that square peg child who just simply does not fit into that round peg classroom. I was fortunate enough to have one of these children and I had to do something about it. Rather than force her to fit, I took her out and began our homeschooling journey. And we are excited about the "square peg-ness" of the Moving Beyond the Page curriculum!

Stephanie
Abstract perceivers, however, take in information through analysis, observation, and thinking. - See more at: http://www.funderstanding.com/educators/learning-styles-3/#sthash.nBWwbjqR.dpuf
Abstract perceivers, however, take in information through analysis, observation, and thinking. - See more at: http://www.funderstanding.com/educators/learning-styles-3/#sthash.nBWwbjqR.dpuf
Abstract perceivers, however, take in information through analysis, observation, and thinking. - See more at: http://www.funderstanding.com/educators/learning-styles-3/#sthash.nBWwbjqR.dpuf

2 comments:

  1. It's awesome that you have learned how your child learns best! I am definitely still learning that for my kids, though I understand them more and more each year =) Thanks for sharing about the Moving Beyond the Page curriculum!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thank you Amy for stopping by and commenting...it means a lot!!!

    ReplyDelete

Share This

Share
Related Posts Plugin for WordPress, Blogger...