Hello. My name is Kailan. I make cute babies, sing and play ukulele, am slowly becoming a book hoarder, sometimes laugh at inappropriate times, (of course, in my head, it's totally appropriate) will confidently eat cookie dough that has raw egg in it, and I homeschool my children.
I love having my kids at home. I love being able to be the one to teach them. It's not all cupcakes and cool science projects... of course... God knows I'd love to have cupcakes everyday but more importantly I, as an adult, still fail science. yikes. ~my failure at science really hurts my nerd rank too :(
Josh teaches it... moving on!
Disclaimer: Someone once asked me, in amazement looking at my situation with having all these babies AND homeschooling, "How do you get all of it done?" I honestly said, "I don't. I try my best, but I know not all of "it" gets done." But I've learned that our best is all that's truly asked of us by our King, no matter what society thinks of it.
I went to a conference a few months ago for homeschooling families. (www.homeschoolingiowa.org) I love it because it's Christian based and puts the focus right where it needs to be. Not only teaching academics but teaching character, raising them up to show God's love.
So, at this conference, there are workshops for us parents that basically instruct us how to better our skills to teach our children. They are so encouraging and practical, making me feel this big weight of society off of me and back into the true reality that I am built to teach my own children. There are so many misconceptions of what homeschooling looks like and the biggest misconception I've heard from various parents is, "I wouldn't be able to teach them." Obviously, there are circumstances that make a parent unable to homeschool their children. I do respect parents for their own decisions, so don't hear this as judgement. It's when people own the false discouragement that stops them from doing something they'd be really good at.
Something interesting that I learned at the conference, in particularly, is the 8 intelligences. Now some of you may know about these, but I didn't, sitting their listening to the speaker, I was amazed at the concept of this truth. There are 8.
1. Intrapersonal- self-aware, self-smart. These people can stand against the crowd and make great entrepreneurs. *energy fact- they energize by being alone*
2. Interpersonal- people smart. These people make great counselors and pastors. *energy fact- they energize by being around people*
3. Naturalist- outdoors smart. nature and animal smart. These people are very observant of their surroundings outside. *energy fact- they energize by being ... hm.. outdoors? ;) *
4. Musical- um... this one is pretty self explanatory. These people love music, are good at making music, they know music. *energy fact- they energize by music. period. *
5. Spatial- this one was a little trickier for me because the spectrum is so broad. Space. Color. Images. Finding lost things. Design. The "packers" (meaning they are the ones that can pack anything into a suitcase and make it fit). So.. these people are artists, architects, designers, and also good with legos..... anywho. *energy fact- they energize by getting their minds busy with such activities.*
6. Kinesthetic- motor skills. hands on. These people are your athletes, dancers, laborers, cake decorators, and yes, even your brain surgeons. Another broad spectrum, I suppose. *energy fact- they also are energized by partaking in such activities*
And the last 2, but not least, but also equally, not "better" (as society has put the weight of the importance of these 2 intelligences, on our heads as superior) are:
7. Linguistic- words. reading, writing. These are our poets. *energy fact- they energize by reading and/or writing*
8. Mathematics- logic. numbers. These people have all those boring, er I mean, exciting professions like accounting... and what .. not... *energy fact- these people literally energize by playing number games.. it's sad, but true.*
So... I'm looking at all 8 of these and the speaker is encouraging us of the truth that we have smart kids. All of us do! Each and every one of them has a few or more of these intelligences that we can already see in even these young ages.
Factoid: We actually own all 8 within our brains, but some are strengths and some are weaknesses, that always leave room for improvement in either spectrum. If you are good- you can get better.
If you are bad- you can get better.
As my mind was open to the fact that even though my kids do have certain struggles, I was seeing the truth in the fact that these other intelligences even existed. Society has put this huge weight on if you are literary or wicked with numbers, that you are a genius. But what about the person that makes beautiful music, or the aspiring botanist, or the person that is perfect with his sport, or the person that paints, or the dog whisperer, or the really annoying business man, and let's not forget the blessed cooks? What of those? They are geniuses too!
As this was supposed to be a workshop to encourage my outlook on our children, I was realizing it was making me look at myself different too. It was making me realize that I am intelligent, just in my own unique way. (ugh... can't tell you how many times I've had to spell check the very word intelligent in this post.. anywho.. moving on)
All my growing up, I've been told, not directly, (and certainly NOT by my parents) by the school system and society that I am not smart. I believed it all these years. It was like a veil was lifted over my face. Kailan, sweet child of God, you are smart and He made you smart because He wants you to make music and to sing, and paint, and stand against the crowd. It wasn't until these last few years of my life that I started writing and really reading a lot and understanding what these books are saying.
All this to say that homeschooling isn't just for my kids. I teach them what they need to know as best as I can, and in so doing, I learn so much more about myself.
What are your intelligences? :)
It's fun, isn't it? ok.. maybe your fun isn't my fun, but hey... who doesn't like to find out how ridiculously smart they are? ;)
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