Beautifully made

We've had a hard week. Home schooling can test every iota of one's character. When you spend hours and hours everyday sitting next to your kids helping them with their school work, you learn that even a person who was born from your gene pool can learn and process information in a way that is so completely opposite from how you are made that it can be mind boggling.

You reach points where you aren't even speaking the same language. You are saying one thing. Your child can't understand. He is doing one thing. You can't understand. You want to pull out your hair. You want to cry. You want to throw in the towel. You want to give up.

I have to step back and remind myself that God gave my child a beautiful brain. It doesn't function like mine. It doesn't process information in the same way mine does. It can frustrate me because of my own inability to help. But I have to remind myself: That kid's brain is beautifully made.

I love the way that brain is always full of songs. The songs pour out right in the middle of grammar tests. There is uncontrollable humming during spelling review. God gave him a beautiful brain.

I love the way that brain is full of stories. The stories in his head are so much more interesting than his science text book. He can imagine historical characters embarking on adventures that are far more entertaining than the stories in his history book. God gave him a beautiful brain.

I love the way that brain loves to draw. The pictures flow out of his brain and onto a sheet of paper at every opportunity. There is no better place to draw a cartoon than on the scrap paper used for deciphering division problems. All of those numbers that dance around in the math book are confusing and take long stretches of time to solve. The drawings appear on the page without any thought. God gave him a beautiful brain.

My instinct is to wish I could rewire that brain. To make it function more like mine. But God knew better. He knew exactly how to create a beautiful brain.

WFMW: Spelling for right-brained learners

My son has a hard time with spelling words. So, in the past I did what any good mom would do. I would make him practice writing troublesome words over and over again.

And over.

And over.

But this year, we are trying something new. Instead of writing the words, I let him do what he loves best. I ask him to draw the words.

Before I explain, I have to say that this idea isn't mine. In fact, it's the farthest thing from my left-brained way of thinking.

I went to a seminar this summer by this woman who gave me lots of great ideas for teaching my right-brained learner.

I've always loved the subjects my son dreads: math facts, spelling words and grammar. Left-brained learners like me excel at memorizing data, lists and rules.

But my son sees the world in pictures. His favorite subjects are history, science and Bible. While I struggle with these subjects, he can visualize the stories we read and re-tell them in great detail.

Did you know that half of all children learn best with their right brain? I also learned that if your first born is a right-brained learner, your second born probably will learn best with his left brain. Kids who have a learning glitch often are right-brained learners, making it even more difficult to thrive in a traditional classroom if it emphasizes memorizing data.

I learned that the right brain is where we store long-term memories. So, I'm trying to help my son visualize his spelling words and math facts so he can plant them in his right brain -- the more creative side of the brain -- and store them long term.

The first step we use is to separate troublesome words into colors, so that the part of the word that he tends to misspell stands out from the rest of the word.

In this example, he kept forgetting the "p" in empty, the "e" in pretty (he substituted an "i"), and the "a" in heavy.


If he continues to misspell a word, I ask him to draw a picture of it. I don't set any limitations on his drawing. I want him to feel the freedom to use his creativity, so that hopefully, it will help him remember what he wrote.

This is his picture of "pretty":



We also purchased these cards that we use for familiar words. They each come with a story on the back that explains the drawing. On the cards pictured below, the top one is a story about a boy who threw the ball over "there". The bottom one is about a family with a dog. "Their" dog is very big.




We use the same concept for math facts that he misses repeatedly. Each of these cards has an elaborate story to explain the picture. On the one below, an 8-year-old boy was afraid of a 7-year-old bully. Even though the 8-year-old was older, the 7-year-old was much bigger in size. To protect himself, the 8-year-old got a big dog, named "56", who scared the 7-year-old away.



To help him memorize this way, I ask him to look at the card for a few minutes. I then put it down and ask him to tell me the whole story on the card. When he comes across that math fact later, I ask him to tell me about the picture that he memorized, which helps him recall the answer.

We still have a long way to go, but I have seen progress using this method. I'm hoping it will Work For Me!

For more great tips, check out Works For Me Wednesday at We are THAT Family.

Don't miss a post. Subscribe in a reader!

Right brain, left brain, Mickey Mouse and Mike

Our "family nights" around the everyday house the past few months have involved watching Christmas movies, playing games together or watching all of the episodes of Little House on the Prairie in chronological order.

But the past few evenings, we've been taking a break from all of that to have "Family Drawing Night".

I bought these cool books for my boys for Christmas. But once again, it looks like I might have actually purchased them for myself and only used the excuse they were for my boys. Anyway.

The books give step-by-step instructions on how to draw Disney characters and superheros. The instructions always start by asking the artist to draw simple shapes and a couple of lines to create a "grid" for the rest of the drawing.


From there, the artist fills in the details and finally colors her completed picture.

This type of drawing is perfect for me. I am a left-brainer. I love lists, details and following directions. I am creative, but I'm not the kind of person who can pull an image out of my mind and draw it on paper.

My oldest son is probably the most artistic person in our family. He is a right-brained learner. He can see the big picture. In fact, he thinks in pictures. He can visualize what he wants to draw and transfer it from his head to a piece of paper. This type of creativity amazes me.

On the other hand, lists and data trip him up. Spelling words. Math facts. Phonics rules. Those are hard for him. So, we are learning to translate some of the mundane lists that come with learning into pictures that appeal to his right brain. (More about that later. Back to Mickey Mouse.)

Our nightly drawing parties have been therapy for me to help relieve my January funk. It feels so good to unleash a little creativity. (I even secretly start plotting early in the day which character I want to try next.)

I love following the process, one step at a time and then looking at the whole picture to see I have actually drawn something!

The process has been a bit more frustrating for my son. He usually attempts one picture from the book each night, but then declares, "It's time for free draw now!"

But he's been impressed with his mom and her hidden talent.

"HOW did you learn to do that, mom?!?"

I'm just good at following directions.

How about you? Are you more of a right-brained learner, or a left brainer? What does your family do for fun together?

Don't miss a post. Subscribe in a reader!