I'm Learning By Osmosis

I remember growing up having this cute Garfield poster on my wall.  Every time I read it, I would think… “If only it were that simple.”  Well, in a way it is.  We all enjoy learning things we’re passionate about.  So when it comes to teaching/tutoring your kids... find their passion, their niche/talent.  The idea here is to allow their learning to seep in by using their passions.  For me as a child, it was dogs.  Reading was such a chore.  I hated doing anything that resembled homework… unless it was about dogs.  Then I could study the encyclopedia (remember those) all day long.

But if your kids are like mine, they have more than one that you can use… 

Whether it’s their love for art, music, cooking, animals or building things you can find something to help them learn any subject. 

As I mentioned in my last post, my daughter is moderately dyslexic.  She too struggled with learning to read but once I found her niche of books, Magic Tree House, she flew through them.   Now she really loves reading… for pleasure.  That’s something I can say I NEVER wanted to do growing up.   

Finding their niche and using their talents for it, builds up their confidence.  This is very important, because so much of their day is spent feeling stupid from having to read everything, that they don’t ever feel smart.  Using alternate methods of learning will help your child realize just how smart they really are. 

To give you an example…I also used her love of cooking/baking to help with math.  We even took a cake decorating class together.  This was the cake she made for me all by herself on my birthday last year.  

For an on-line math outlet, we use Khan Academy which has been absolutely wonderful.  Once your child masters a level, only then, are they allowed to move on to the next level.  They can play a math video, as often as they need to, until they understand how to work the problem.  As she goes through each level, Khan Academy will email her progress reports to me.

For my son, who has severe dyslexia, it has been a much greater struggle to learn.  Besides reading numerous Marvel series, level 1 & 2 reading books, I try to mix in a few worksheets (education.com), informative TV shows (Kratt Brothers), computer games (time4learning) and of course hands on anything around the house. 

When I say hands on anything around the house, I mean it.  Our son has a great imagination.  Thankfully my husband is great at helping him with all his imagineer projects.  Forts, t.p.’s, tree house, zip lines for toy men and numerous cardboard box “things”.  

Simplicity is best… because when you apply everything they NEED to learn with things they WANT to learn, you no longer have quite the battle.  Learning with hands on teaching allows a dyslexic child to think outside of the box to problem solve, which in most cases, they excel at. 

To be honest…I used to rush to help my kids figure something out, my husband on the other hand, has been great at getting our kids to problem solve on their own.  It even creates new adventures of fun… all in the name of “trying to figure it out.”   

And when they do figure something out on their own… the look on their face, is priceless.  Building up their confidence and abilities while making your job easier teaching them is a definite… win-win. 

As long as you see JOY in their eyes… you’re doing great!