Our Mini United Nations

One comment I often hear from people in regards to home schooling is that children don't often get exposed to children "different" from themselves if they are home all the time. I always smile a bit when I hear this. Mostly because anyone that actually meets my children have meet people "different" from themselves. We don't belong to one of the major religions (or any religion for that matter, but we do follow a Torah based life), we are overall quirky, and not very "typical". However, I have yet to meet a "typical" family anyway. Everyone we know is quirky in their own way - even when they belong to various majority based groups.

I do a chemistry class for young home schoolers. The children are all between K and 3rd in terms of grade level. In this group of roughly eleven children (including younger siblings observing) - the differences are amazing. There is one set of twins, one child with English as a second language, at least 5 children  are mixed race, four children with parents born outside of the United States, three families with a language other than English spoken in the home - either as a primary or secondary language, at least two families that do not belong to any of the major religions. Some of the children have older siblings, some have younger siblings, and one child is being raised and home schooled by a grandparent. Two families travel from different cities to join us for class - so much for being confined to people that live in your neighborhood!

Our mini UN is filled with diversity; diversity that can be appreciated because it is genuine. It isn't found in a book or a movie; it's just their friends - each one unique in their own way. What makes this such a wonderful group of children is the fact that their differences go almost unnoticed. They know "J" and "K" speak Mandarin in the home, but it isn't a big deal. What makes it cool is that "J" and "K" and their mommy is teaching everyone a little Mandarin. The children that speak Spanish in the home blended easily with the native English speakers as they all counted to 10 and beyond in Spanish. They didn't do it as an assignment, or to point out differences; they just did it because the kids all wanted to do it and found it to be fun.

While the other children might find it weird that my kids don't celebrate Christmas, Halloween, or Easter - it isn't a big deal. I am sure they may find it kind of interesting when they come over during Sukkot and we are having class out in our temporary shelter (most likely an RV rented from a vendor). My kids rejoice and do a happy dance when one of their friends gets a visit from the Tooth Fairy, even though she doesn't visit our home. That is what diversity is really all about - being able to appreciate the culture of others without feeling the need to change the core of who you are. We don't proselytize our friends, and they return the favor. We embrace our differences as well as in the wealth of things we have in common. In fact, we are more common than we are different. I have found in my own journey through life that I am more like most people than I am different - irregardless of where in the world I am standing. This is the gift that homeschooling allows me to give to my children as well - they are experiencing the truth that we are all more alike than we are different. They are learning you don't have to look the same, believe the same, or live the same in order to be the best of friends.

Some of my children's friends are vegetarians - even though we eat meat, we don't offer it as a meal choice when their vegetarian friends join us for play. That's also a big part of embracing and understanding diversity. Understanding that you compromise where you can, when you can, and it's all okay.

I don't know if my kids would have these type of experiences in a traditional school setting. Maybe they would, but I know "I" wouldn't. While the kids enjoying playing with their friends, I am getting an opportunity to get to know some really awesome and amazing parents! I love that I can converse with others that don't home school exactly like we do, but still get just as amazing results. I love talking recipes with people who have a different diet than we do. I love hearing about the spiritual experiences of other families, even though we don't engage like they do. It's also nice to meet other families that do many things in a similar way - like knowing other families that choose not to spank (and yes, some of our friends spank as well).

Genuine interest and respect of others while still being true to yourself - that is the best thing I can teach my children. And that is what they are learning. Well, I take that back - they aren't learning it at all. Children naturally function this way without the interference of closed minded adults. What I and the other parents have provided is an atmosphere for the children to continue to function in the kind and inclusive manner they are born with. Many people say children are cruel, but that isn't true at all. Children unencumbered with bigotry, hate, and self righteousness from adults are actually quite kind and enjoyable individuals. What is so amazing about our mini UN is that all of the children are just naturally kind. No, they aren't perfect. They get a bit loud and rowdy and I did think they would come to blows as they tried to hoard Lego's! But not one person made fun of "P" even though he stutters. Not one person laughed at one of my little ones that had a meltdown and cried a bit. No one mentions that "C" is a little over weight while "M" is a bit skinny. None of that registers at all - they just don't ever talk about it, they don't dwell on those things. In fact, I shouldn't even call them a UN - they function so much better than the UN. They don't group themselves by language, race, socioeconomic status, or gender. It doesn't matter who their parents will be voting for, if they choose to vote at all. They are so comfortable in their own skin that I am a bit jealous. What they have can't actually be taught, it has to simply be nurtured. I and the other parents have vowed to do just that, provide an environment that is as close to uncorrupted as possible. We won't be perfect; we are adults and that puts us at a disadvantage. But for as long as we can, we commit to just letting them be and enjoy each other. We will continue to do a happy dance if the Tooth Fairy visits a friend, bop our heads as someone sings a Christmas song, and giggle as we have class outside during Sukkot. We will sit back while the kids count in Spanish, English, Mandarin, and any other language they choose, and smile at the rainbow of children playing freeze tag out in the yard.

I grew up in a world that was simply Black and White, rich or poor - that was it. My heart if filled with joy that my kids have a world so much bigger, so much more colorful, so much more authentic than I could have imagined at their age. For this experience alone, home schooling has been well worth the effort.

Running His Own Race

Since starting our home school journey two years ago, I am amazed at just how good of a decision this was. One of the reasons I love this decision so much is because I know, in my head, there is no other way to educate my children. I get that other people have choices, and I rejoice with them in their choices. I get that the absolute right decision for other people is a more traditional school setting - that is wonderful. But for us, for this house, there is no other way.

One of those "no other way" moments hit me when working with my younger son today. We were doing some addition problems. It started off rough and the first four answers he really had to struggle to find. But, once he hit his stride - he did them all perfectly. I spoke with my husband about this and I labeled him my "long distance" learner. Like track and field - if you judge a marathon runner by their pace at the 100 meters  mark - you completely miss the boat. No, they aren't fast at 100 meters, they aren't fast at 200 meters, they aren't even fast at 1600 meters. But at mile 26, when most other humans on the planet would have given up, if not had a hard attack a died, here they come. They aren't just jogging, they are now sprinting. They aren't just sprinting, they are smiling! They cross the tape and for many of them, they could probably run a little while longer. They have seen more scenery than most 100 meters  runners will ever see, they have passed more people, they have had an opportunity to think - think and run. What didn't look fast at 100 meters  looks amazingly fast at 26 miles. This year's Olympic winner ran just over 26 miles in just 2 hours. 8 minutes, and 2 seconds. That is less than 5 minutes per mile!

That is my son, who in addition to holding the labels "gifted" and "dyslexic", also has extremely slow processing speed. When people look at him on the surface, he doesn't look as fast mentally as his brother or sister. Heck, he didn't look as fast as the other kids in his preschool class 2 years ago. His "teachers" were looking for sprinters and they would tell us how he just "wasn't ready". Well, he isn't going to go out of the blocks like a sprinter. But when everyone else has bored of the task and put their pencils or crayons away - he is still going. Not limping, not lollygagging, not struggling, but running - fast. In a traditional school setting - with bells and time limits and tight schedules, there is no room for marathon runners. If you are not a sprinter - you aren't "gifted". And if you come in last place at the 100 meter tape, you are downright "slow". No one cares if you are just hitting your stride and you can go on for another 26 miles while everyone else was just in it for the short burst.

My daughter is a sprinter, like me. She "gets" it fast and even finishes her work fast. But, there is just something marathon runners have that sprinters don't. For instance, today the twins both built structures with wood blocks. My daughter, the sprinter, did a good structure quickly. I mean, you could call it a house. It had a floor, 4 walls, and even a facade. Sure, it was quite clear that this was a house, and a fine house that was well built with lots of character. But her brother, the marathon runner - boy oh boy did he build a "house". It took him at least twice as long, if not three times as long. But when he told me about his structure I was floored. There was a weather gauge to check for tornadoes (we lived through a F5 - so tornado surveillance is important to him), there were windows that rotated to give the home owner optimum views, there were doors that opened with ramps leading up to each door. This was a house where every piece was laid down with purpose, there was a story behind every block he chose to include. He even talked about a modification he had to make because his sister had used two pieces he was originally going to use. If I had yelled "time" after his sprinter sister finished - there would have been very little of his house built. In fact, it may not have looked like a house at all.

Imagine if someone yelled "time" when the marathon runners were halfway finished with the race. Some might have tried to dash for the finish line - and most likely hurt themselves by pulling muscles, tripping over obstacles or other hazards along the way, or they may have just fainted from exhaustion and despair. Others would have stopped - frustrated that all their hard work was for nothing since they were never given the opportunity to finish. I imagine some may have chosen to never run a marathon again.

As a sprinter myself - I have to constantly remind myself to not yell "time" when he is still in the middle of his race. I have to remind myself that he isn't an astonishingly slow sprinter, he is an extremely fast marathon runner. He is working at a different pace, but running his race quite well. We need marathon runners. Marathon runners are the researchers around us, those with the aptitude to sit, watch, and wait for the results. I barely had the patience to wait for the results from a pregnancy test and those things only take ten minutes! My son can work on a painting, a book, a story for hours. When he is given the time, the results are amazing. He may just be the brightest child that I have, but most in the world won't see it. Millions upon millions tuned in to watch Usain Bolt run 100 meters in just 9.63 seconds. Not too many people were waiting in breathless anticipation as Stephen Kiprotich won his gold. The marathon record is 2 hours, 3 minutes, and 38 seconds. There are just over 1600 meters in a mile. That puts the fastest marathon runner at around 17 seconds in the 100 yard dash. While that sounds quite slow for a 100 meters dash, consider that a person running a marathon is like Usain Bolt running almost 400 separate -  100 meter dashes in a row. Could he keep up his world record pace? We call Usain Bolt that fastest man in the world, but I would think Patrick Makau Masyoki would disagree. And that is how it is with knowledge as well. A gifted sprinter may look like the smartest person in the world - they might be amazingly quick with math facts, geography facts, or even naming presidents in order of their birth. It makes good television and people like to see that kind of mental speed. It is amazing, and I take nothing away from the mental Usain Bolt's of the world - I have one! But I have seen my son, the mental marathon runner in action. His depth of knowledge far outpaces anything I have ever seen. All he really needs to shine is a long enough track and someone  to let them finish the race and not yell "time" before the finish line.

Oh yea, don't hold me to the math in this - I sprinted and just didn't have the heart to go back and check the numbers!

Our Home School "style"

One question many people want to know is what is our homeschooling "style", or how would we classify our home school approach. An easy way would be to identify ourselves as eclectic, or an approach that draws from a variety of different sources. However, that really doesn't help to identify exactly what we do.

I have always been a fan of unschooling or child led learning and we do use a bit of this approach. It's just that "I" need structure, even if my kids don't. So, I incorporate unschooling by allowing my children to have some freedom in when they choose their assignments as well as some of the topics that we tackle (like my eldest choosing to study world geography and my daughter choosing to learn about weather).

Our need for structure isn't just a personal preference, there are some choices that the children have made that require a more firm routine. For instance, all three of my children are learning at least one instrument, with two of the three learning two instruments. Instruments require practice at least five days a week - there is just no getting around that. If you love an instrument, you either learn to love to practice or you give up on the instrument. My children are still young and while they always have a choice in whether or not they will continue to play their instruments, they don't get a choice when it comes to practice - they must practice every weekday. We are also doing remediation in the areas of vision, auditory processing,  and dyslexia. While it isn't always fun, doing the hard work now means they won't have disabilities holding them back when the real learning and adventure starts as they get older and more independent.

We tend to do math everyday - although we do it in a variety of ways. Sometimes it's working through a math textbook or workbook, other times hands on games and activities, math videos, and even math story books. We do something with reading/phonics daily as well - but this is also done utilizing variety. Sometimes the kids are reading aloud, sometimes they are doing a CD-ROM based program, sometimes doing a hands on phonics exercise, and sometimes even watching a phonics or reading based video. Variety allows us to not get into a rut and allows for depth of learning as well.

We incorporate creative expression and outlet as a part of our weekly home school routine. So arts and crafts, music appreciation, dramatic and role playing are all a part of things we do. Arts and crafts can be anything from painting to clay work to beading crafts or craft kits. In music appreciation we may learn about various instruments, learn about artist, or learn about a music genre. Drama and role playing comes from the kids acting out scenes they seen in their favorite videos or simply role playing life situations. Just having an outlet for expression with no hard and fast rules is an important thing in our home.

We also combine science and art through things like snap circuits, zometools, legos, K'Nex and other building mediums. We can explore them using physics, engineering, and chemistry to learn, grow, and explore. I am constantly amazed by what the children are able to do. They generally start with the guide provided in the kit, but quickly master the basics and go off building on their own. It is beautiful to watch their minds come up with new ways of thinking about objects.

The kids also do unit based "specials". There are topics they choose that I simply provide a lot of materials so they can go as deep or as wide as their passion takes them. A passion for geography brings out a globe, various different atlas books to view maps, learning to read maps, learning to draw maps, doing map puzzles, mapping out various routes, or just learning interesting facts about various countries. We dug deep on a number of topics including the human body where we even put together medical grade models, ferrets where we learned how to take care of them, set up habitats, and even went to visit and hold them at a local pet store. The big thing is the children pick the topic and I gather the supplies. This has been the most interesting part of our home schooling journey as the children have chosen to learn about things well before I would have scheduled them or even chose to learn about things that I wouldn't have come up with. The big thing for me is that they enjoy the learning process.

Physical activities are also a part of our weekly routine. In addition to them taking gymnastics, we also make sure to move our bodies as much as we can. From doing yoga to running laps at the track - we understanding the exercise is not only fun, but an important part of life as well.

So, our style is quite broad. I use what I call the "label" system to determine our daily schedule. Basically, I add 7 labels to their boxes each day. The labels might say a standard - like vision therapy or Singapore Math. They also have labels title "build/create" where they pick the medium or "logic" which can be a game, a book, or us getting together to solve some pressing problem. They also have free choice labels. Once they have finished their 7 mandatory labels, they can pick as many free labels as they chose. These might say "build a bridge", "make a story up about a sibling", "write a letter to grandma", "build an animal habitat", or "run a lap". They get rewarded in various ways be finishing their labels - kind of like adults earning a paycheck for the work that they do. The system has been working quite well and it keeps the kids' interested in what we are doing. It provides us the structure we need while still allowing for lots of freedom and personal responsibility.

So - that's our "style" and there just isn't one or two words to describe it. All I can say is that it works for us and it definitely isn't for everyone. There is a lot of planning on my part that goes into making this work and the kids are probably working harder than most children their age. But, they are thriving, having fun, and constantly asking for more work. I think we found our happy medium!

Why I Use the Term "Gifted"

In the world of education, there aren’t many terms more controversial than “gifted”. Gifted is used to define children who fall on the higher ends of an IQ scale – often times starting with those over the 90^th percentile. But, gifted is more than that – gifted individuals often learn quite differently than their peers. Statistically speaking, most people need at least 7 repetitions of information to learn something new; the average gifted child needs just one to two repetitions. Gifted children tend to be emotionally intense, and highly asynchronous in their development.  In fact, this asynchronous development is the most common reason for needing gifted education. The education system in the U.S. and for much of the world is an age based system.  Learning is based on year of birth and it geared towards the statistical average for any age range. Individuals that fall outside of that range suffer. Gifted children don’t just fall outside the range; they often cross several different ranges depending on subject and social, emotional, and learning factors.

Let’s take for instance learning disability. Many gifted children have learning disabilities, but they often go undetected and even if suspected, they go untreated. Why? Let’s take a look at my eldest son to discover this answer. My eldest was diagnosed with dyslexia. He wasn’t diagnosed in an educational institution, but by a private psychologist who specializes in working with gifted children. Upon her advice, we had his eyes tested by a developmental ophthalmologist. During this testing it was discovered my son had severe deficiencies in his vision. His field of vision was extremely compromised – he couldn’t read words on a page because his field of vision was so small, he couldn’t see an entire word at one time. His eye tracking and eye teaming were so poor he was seeing a completely independent picture in each eye. He still had his Moro Reflex, which should have disappeared before his first birthday. This severely affected his gross and fine motor skills making writing difficult and it also heightened his emotional and physical intensity to such levels that even wearing a pair of socks or a shirt with a tag on the collar painful. Why is this significant? My son was in a traditional education setting at the time of his diagnosis.  When we first discussed with his teacher and the school administrator that we thought there might be some issues with his reading – they looked at my husband and I as if we had two heads. “He is the best reader in the class!” was the answer we were given. This was significant for them because they had grade skipped him into a Kindergarten classroom, were we not in a private school he would have been in a preschool classroom, unable to start Kindergarten for another year. To their credit, he was reading a year and a half above the K grade level when he was formally tested. However, this was the reading level for a statistically average child, a “normal” child. The school took the “all kids are gifted” approach and didn’t take seriously the plight of nuisance faced by gifted children.  My child didn’t just have a learning disability; he had a disability that was severely affecting his everyday life. However, his disability was also very correctable.  Had my husband and I not had our child officially identified as “gifted” when he was just 15 months old, we might have missed the signs we were picking up when he was four and five years old. Had we not devoured as much information we could have about gifted children – how they learn, how they function, how they are “different”, we may not have been able to press against the crowd and seek help. Seek help even when the educational professionals said we were making a big deal out of a “normal” childhood issue as he began to reverse even more letters.

We are now in the home stretch of his therapy. His emotional intensity has lessened; he can wear anything in his closet – including socks and shirts with tags, all without pain. His Moro Reflex is gone and he learned to swim in just two weeks – now brave enough to ask about jumping off the diving board at our local pool. When he still had his Moro Reflex he couldn’t get his arms and legs to work properly enough to learn to swim – a life skill all children should master. His field of vision has opened up and he can now read signs on buildings, street signs, and billboards, for the first time in his life he has a big picture of the world around him. He can also now read with ease and he now loves to read. He isn’t afraid of books and reading aloud doesn’t cause him to burst into tears like it used to. We are a reading based society, without the ability to read well one is severely limited in what they can learn. His eyes not working together were keeping him back from learning many of the things he had a desire to know. While his dyslexia may not be completely resolved, if we never did another thing where he is today wouldn’t hold him back in life, this wasn’t the case at all 12 months ago.

I use the term “gifted” because it is needed to help the people and places we have to navigate understand my children. No, it’s not the best word to describe the attributes that make up these children, but many words are never quite right. We are considered “Black” or “African American”. Both of these are ridiculous in trying to adequately describe ourselves to the world. No human on earth is the color black, my family is more a range from creamy caramel to sophisticated mocha and we haven’t set foot on the continent of Africa in our lives – nor has anyone in our family that we know of for the last 100 years. However, “creamy caramel” or “United States citizen of the darker hue” weren’t options on our last census form. We had to use the words that were commonly accepted to describe our condition as it was. And I am sure a “White” person born and raised in South Africa that emigrates to the United States and becomes a citizen might not be happy about not being expected to define themselves as “African American”. But, as silly as these words and rules might be, they are the best we have right now to describe our reality. Such is the case with gifted. I am sure parents of children that have painted in the likes of Picasso since they were four years old, or opened on the cello for Yo-Yo Ma when they were six would like to describe their child as “gifted” regardless of their IQ and whether they have any of the qualities that often describe a gifted child. They are right; it is a silly word to isolate to one group when it could easily apply to others. However, they are forced to use the word “prodigy”, even if gifted describes them more aptly. I get it, I understand. However, if we had refused to embrace the term “gifted” and go with it, I shudder to think about how my son would be suffering today. Our family embracing the gifted title saved my son from many more years of anguish and struggle. Gifted made our home school transition easy and welcome. Gifted allowed us to find the right psychologist, the right ophthalmologist, and the right path to a healthy life that would have been denied my son if he were allowed to sit and suffer in silence because he was the “best reader in the class” as being defined by rules created for the statistical average. He doesn’t have the luxury to navigate an education system designed for people that fit nicely into the box. Being gifted isn’t easy, it is a constant struggle of finding what works for you. Imagine if someone wore a size 1 in slacks, but a size 12 in tops. It’s first of all hard to find a size 1 on a regular basis. Often times clothing designed for a size 1 are not compatible with clothing designed for a size 12. They would never, ever find an outfit all together in that size. Forget buying a dress or suit – it just won’t happen. The world of fashion wasn’t designed for an individual that out of proportion for the rest of society. It would be understood they would always be limited in their “off the shelf” choices and most would encourage them to just get their clothing custom made. In fact, they would probably have to learn to sew and make their own clothing if they ever wanted an entire wardrobe. If nothing else, they would need a good tailor that could alter everything they purchased. This is the life of a gifted child when it comes to education. There is never something “off the rack” that fits just right. If they do sit in a traditional classroom, their assignments often have to be altered significantly to fit their educational needs. And at this point, half of all profoundly gifted children are home schooled – designing their own curriculum with their family as this was the only option available for them to have a full education to fit their needs.

So, the next time you hear about a child being labeled “gifted”, don’t think about Thomas Horn being a 13 year old Jeopardy whiz kid turned super star actor. Think of that frustrated person ready to break down into tears in the mall as they agonize over not being able to find a single thing that “fits them”. They look around and see absolutely nothing available was made with them in mind. When the world thought of clothing, that person didn’t enter into the thoughts of one designer. That is what being gifted means. When you look out over an entire field of education and realize that with this entire multibillion dollar industry – not one person really and truly thought about you. That everything you get your going to have to work for and you will probably end up having to pull it all together yourself. Sure, you might find a science program here and a language program there; but for the most part – gifted families are on their own.

The "Pet"

There are just some things I home school child has an opportunity to do that just couldn't happen if they were in a more traditional school environment. There are just some things gifted children do that makes much more sense in your own home, than much of the world would understand. Such is the case with my eldest and his pet ferret.
Ferrets make pretty interesting pets - they are full of energy, love to play, love to explore, and the love to socialize. While cute, they are a handful as a pet - which is why we realize our home isn't ready for one. My son, however, decided he was ready for one - in walks his Webkinz Ferret; yes, that plush stuffed animal with an online presence. Now, many kids have Webkinz, and many kids go online everyday to feed, water, walk, and play with their stuffed animal in a virtual world. My eldest will sometimes do just that. However, he doesn't want a virtual pet - he wants a real one. And here we come to the place where only a parents of gifted kids will understand, and where all parents who home school breathe a sigh of relief - the pet.
We visited the local pet store that carries ferrets - every day for a week for an hour! We now continue to go on a regular basis - so that he can watch the ferrets ad monitor their behavior.Wanting to be a good pet owner, my son had me purchase every pet ferret book available. We brought a couple of cute children's books about ferrets - but those were fictional stories to be read with amusement. While fun to read, they didn't prepare him for his pet. So, we moved on to the real deal - books geared toward adult pet owners. He has had me read to him books on how to train your pet ferret, understanding ferrets, even "the Dummies Guide to Ferrets". He could now teach a college level course on ferrets! We even found a video with ferret owners showing off their ferrets (and talking about the dying process as ferrets have a life expectancy of around 8 years). Understanding the entire aspect of ferret ownership, he felt himself ready.
So his Webkinz went from being simply a plush toy - to for all intents and purposes a real ferret. Since we weren't willing to pay $200 for a ferret cage for a toy ferret - he build his own ferret habitat. It has everything a ferret needs including a hammock, a litter box, feeding bowl, water bowl, and even toys. It is multilevel because ferrets like to climb. Knowing ferrets like to go outside - he make a custom leash and harness to fit his "pet" perfectly and even created the perfect pet carrier. He takes his "pet" with him on most of our outings.
How serious is he in this endeavor? I am writing this at 6:30 in the morning and he just got out of bed to get breakfast for his ferret! He can't keep a hungry pet waiting.
While for about 30 minutes of this experience I was concerned, I have been overjoyed the rest of the time. Yes, the neighbors may think they entire family has gone bonkers (we call the "pet" by name and often ask my eldest how the little guy is doing and if he wants to play), but this is healthy. He hasn't moved him any closer to securing a real ferret and he understands that (ferrets are a LOT of work), but he has moved a lot closer to figuring out how to solve his own problems and be the master of his own destiny.
His creativity and problem solving have been impeccable in with this experience. Other than my husband using the hole puncher for the hammock, my son had created the entire habitat on his own. He is also continuing to incorporate new information that he finds. For instance, he learned that ferrets do well with another ferret - so he has started to make the habitat livable for two ferrets. He has increased the number of litter boxes, added a few more toys, and enlarged the sleeping space. He is all set for his new ferret. He has no idea my husband ordered one for him - we are encouraging this journey.
An amazing thing is that he is getting many of the benefits of owning a pet - his ferret has a calming effect on him, he will hold it close in uncomfortable situations (trips to the doctor, intensive vision therapy, and even trips to the dentist), he is learning responsibility, increasing his empathy, and learning responsible pet ownership. I am not sure he would gain more from actually having a real ferret (okay, maybe learning that an animal will actually bite you if you don't handle it properly). All the lessons he could learn from a real pet are probably best learned when he is older - he is only six after all. But "I" am very happy about what he has gained and continues to learn. He has taken on this challenge the way I have come to expect from profoundly gifted children - a desire for intensive and deep knowledge (he recently asked to build a scale model of the skeleton of a ferret), and immense amount of creativity, and the laser focus of a scud missile. I am not sure how long this phase will last, but we are all enjoying the "pet" ferret, but I am mostly enjoying watching my son embrace something he loves and a passion he has so thoroughly.

The Eyes Have it: Our journey through vision therapy

When my eldest was diagnosed with dyslexia, our amazing psychologist (Dr. Spomenka Newman) gave us the wonderful advice of having his vision tested as well as his hearing. Now, we believed as many people – that the trip to the local “eye store” where they had clearly told us he (as well as his younger siblings) had 20/20 vision – so there were no problems with his eyes. We found out quickly that there is quite a bit of difference between 20/20 vision and getting a better understanding of how the eyes function together as well as with the brain.

When we did our initial testing with a developmental ophthalmologist I almost fell out of my chair. While he could in fact see 20/20, that was of little comfort when we saw everything else that affected the way his eyes worked. We found out he had severe convergence problems – meaning his eyes didn’t work together to see one picture, but each eye saw its own separate picture. He also had issues with eye teaming, meaning his eyes would compete for dominance instead of working together to show one overall picture. The best way to describe it is if the colors on your television screen fought to determine which would be brightest (this extinguishing the others) instead of working together to form an accurate picture of the world using all available colors. He wasn’t seeing in “HD” as he should have been. His eyes would fight to show just their own view of the world instead of allowing both eyes to work at the same time providing depth.

So, we started in on our vision therapy journey. About five months in to therapy, the Doctors we were using sold their practice to another team. While this was a big unsettling at first, it was actually the best thing that could have happened. They sold their practice to their mentors who were on the cutting edge of the field. They brought out eldest in for a more thorough exam and we again were amazed by what we saw. Along with the initial issues we were working on, we found he also had almost no periphery vision – he was using tunnel vision almost exclusively. This helped to explain the walking into walls and not being able to find things that were sitting almost right in front of him. He also had issues with his hearing. Seems are son heard “too well”. He could hear at such a high level it was off the scales which could be measured on their machines. While having very acute hearing might sound good, it is actually overwhelming. To hear birds chirping that are over a block away or hearing thunder clap that is miles away – you are always being bombarded with sound. It can get so overwhelming that your brain works to actually cut the sound out – which can lead to hearing problems. Another issue was that, like his eyes, his ears weren’t hearing together. At some frequencies, he would hear more in one ear than the other. This also causes distress as you can hear that stupid bird in one ear, but not the other. Kind of like someone whispering in your ear – someone that isn’t there. Not only would it be annoying, it might also start to give you a complex!

So, we are in the middle of vision therapy to help our son have a more normal sensory existence. We were doing traditional in office therapy once a week, but with his additional issues of hearing being discovered we are embarking on a more complete sensory therapy. In a few weeks he will have an intensive, in office therapy session that will focus on multiple sensory areas. The goal is to work as a bit of a defibulator if you will that will “shock” the senses into working as a team. Basically, he will lay on a table that slowly spins. It will also play soothing music at various decibel levels and he will watch a light lamp that flashes colors in a particular sequence. This will happen for 20 minutes, twice a day, for 12 straight days. He will then have 18 days of light therapy in our home. The goal if for the senses to be forced to learn to work together – getting all levels to be manageable for him to have a normal existence and not be overwhelmed by the world around him.

I will definitely give a report of our experience. We are hoping for good things. Especially since his four year old siblings had their vision and hearing tested and they also have some similar issues. They are a little too young to start therapy, but I will be trained to do some in home things with them to see if we can start to correct some of their issues while they are still young in the most gentle way. They also got prescribed some low dosage reading glasses to help the ward off the near sightedness that seems to be trying to creep in. Oh the joys of parenting twice exceptional children!

Beating the winter blues

Today was the first really cold day (okay, cold for the south, but still) and it really got me thinking about how we are going to make sure we beat the winter blues rut. One thing I did was sign the kids up for some classes/activities. I was excited to find just the things I was looking for. The first is art! My eldest will be taking a ceramics class at the local art museum. Not to be outdone, the twins will be taking their own art class. Lucky for me, the two classes are at the same location at the same time - yes! Those with multiple children of various ages know my pain about different places at different times! The next is science classes (same place, but unfortunately not the say day or time). My eldest will have a science class once a month while the twins will have a class twice a month. They will also be continuing in a weekly Mandarin class.
For more extracurricular activities we will be attending an "open gym". This is a weekly 2 hour block of time for homeschoolers to come and have some neat gymnasium fun. The good thing about this time is there are a variety of ages that attend. The only downside is there aren't structured activities. I think a rousing game of "duck, duck, goose" is actually good for kids! However, the time is there weekly and its free - so I won't look a gift horse in the mouth!
We also started our robotics club which is mainly made up of our kids a couple friends - but at least there will be some weekly interaction for a couple of months. Just to jazz things up a bit my daughter will be having a tea party with friends in a couple weeks as well.
I put in a mid sized order for arts and crafts supplies from Oriental Trading - and yes, we purchased some new games for the Wii. I figure the important things is to stay AHEAD of the winter blues!