The Right Side of Love

As I taught day after day during our first year of homeschooling to teach my girls, I couldn't help but pick up on the things that motivated my kids to learn, kept their interest from one subject to the next, and what helped them to retain information. I learned in just a short time that God has wired us all differently. While one person may learn and retain information more readily by reading and writing information down, another person may absorb material through listening or watching an instructional video.

Almost a year ago, my oldest asked if she could take up the violin. Read here and here about how she got started with it. I wasn't sure when she initially asked if she would actually stick with it, so to see her in her second recital the other day play so proudly and with confidence made me so proud.

 

She is growing into a beautiful young lady that is quite confident in who she is. She's an audible kid that learns best by hearing, speaking, and manipulating information with her hands. She loves cooking, art, music, and drama. She loves to use her imagination and create things. This is how God has wired her and I'm striving to teach by targeting these areas as we continue forward in our home education. I guess this is one of the reasons why the violin has resonated with her so much and seems like second nature.

 

Someone sent me a link that describes how a person thinks and learns when they are dominated by the right side of their brain. I couldn't help but smile at how it described my sweet Love! Its a beautiful thing when you discover why you learn the way you do and then be able to exercise those natural skills as you learn. I've seen my sweet Love blossom in our first year as her typical school days don't look like most typical classrooms. You may find her singing her States & Capitols, acting out her book report all dressed up in character, or reading about the commutative property for Math through one of Fred's story in Life of Fred. Yes, there are times when her school day looks "normal" like many of us left-brained folks with spelling tests and math timetables, but I afford her the opportunity to be comfortable in who God created her to be with a lot of visual and creative exercises throughout the school year.

 

Oh, the joy of learning within the context of who you were created to be!