Learning In The Most Unusual Places, Random Babblings

Some Random Babbling.....

Who would have thought that letting my children watch Pro Wrestling, that my 8 year old with a Language disorder and memory issues would excel in memory recall. No, really. My 8 year old has trouble with her ABC's. There are just too many of them. But, ask her about a wrestler and she can tell you what he looks like, who he fights with most, what he wears, his theme music...etc... Some people wouldn't think of this as therapy. Quite honestly I don't really care what they think. It shows me, her and others that learning and therapy do not have to happen in what we think of as the "usual" or "normal" ways. Karate. Karate has done wonders for her also. I truly was a bad mom at first and did not think she would last. I have learned to never doubt anything. Have you SEEN the number of moves they have to remember?? A set, b set (the sets alone have at least 2 plus moves), c set......g set....i set......front choke, side choke....holy cow. And she has done it!!! She is going for her green belt this Friday. And they also have to memorise definitions...respect, self control and discipline. And for the most part she has. She gets the wording a little mixed up but the general ideas are their. It is so awesome. We are now seeing improvement in some of her recall such as number recognition among other things.

Now on to the computer. Email addresses. If you want a child who struggles with spelling to increase this knowledge, get them there own email address. If you worry about who they talk to you can keep an eye out on them. But how natural is this. My 10 year old has several friends she emails with and does AOL chat with them.....only with them. I am a Mom that, though I trust her, I also know the dangers so I do keep close tabs on her. I have seen great progress in her spelling since allowing her this freedom. If she doesn't know a word she asks. I also can keep tabs on the words we need to work on this way. If she asks me the same words several times...it is a difficult word for her. Learning can be and is so natural. We are born to learn.

On a random note.....Now don't even get me started on mastery tests in schools. Like school isn't hard enough that we go and tell kids that they have to take this long test and that then they will be compared to every other school kid in America. Lets forget the fact that all kids learn different, are different, learn at there own rate and live differently. We worry that kids aren't getting high enough scores...um....hhhmmm, maybe we push them too hard? They are just kids. Too much stress. We are who we are and kids don't need to worry about one more thing to compare them to others. OK, Enough about that.....

Now a quote that could cause quite the controversy

'It is nothing short of a miracle that the modern methods of instruction have not entirely strangled the holy curiosity of enquiry'
Albert Einstein