One reason why I love a Charlotte Mason philsophy is that I enjoy reading books with my teens. Right now, David and I are reading What Ever Happened to Justice? published by Bluestocking Press. I have fallen in love with the common sense approach of this book after only two chapters. Today, I read a passage on page 20 that sums up what I have learned about autism:
In other words, always beware of anyone who tells you a topic is above you or better left to experts. This person may, for some reason, be trying to shut you out. You can understand almost anything. If you know you are giving it your best effort and you are still finding an explanation difficult to grasp, it may be because the expert has poor communication skills. It could also be that the expert doesn't want you to grasp it. Many people are twice as smart as they think they are, but they've been intimidated into believing some topics are above them.
I think every person sitting around the table at an IEP meeting ought to be required to read that statement!
Here's an unexpected method to stir up something you need to remember: body position. Incredibly, just holding your body in a similar position unleashes faster, more accurate access to certain memories.
For example, if you stand as if holding a golf club, you're quicker to remember that forty foot putt than if you position your body in a non-golfing pose.
Can't remember where you put your keys? Try getting back in your car, put your hand near the ignition slot and move it back... Memories are highly borne through our senses. An odor or sharp cry might stir up an event from childhood. Connections can be obvious (the tinkling bell of a Good Humor truck driving slowly by; the sweaty odor of a locker room) or hard to decipher.
A recent issue from Cognition reveals that experiences from your past are remembered faster and better when your body position's similar to the pose struck during the event.
What works best for you when you attempt to retrieve information you need from your noodle...
In honor of Pamela beginning the photobiography Always Inventing, I wrote this photoblogpost about lessons learned from dissection. We have been dragging our feet on the four dissections included in the Apologiabiology book for months. David and I finally mustered up the courage and just did it!
Here are my lessons learned: 1. Dissecting is not as disgusting to me as it was in high school. 2. Lighting vanilla scented candles might be the reason why. 3. Imagining you are viewing really good graphics or that the specimen is made of plastic squelches any waves of nausea. 4. The usefulness of hot, stuffy masks is inversely proportional to the time spent dissecting (see pictures four and six). 5. Sloppy cutting makes a huge mess (yes, I helped and it still was a mess). 6. Earthworm poop looks like dirt. Oh, wait, it IS dirt!
Pamela's answer to the outdoor life is to sit on the back porch and work on a rocking chair. She soaks up the fresh air, undeterred by heat or mosquitoes. We do nearly all of her schoolwork here, and she loves learning in the company of blue jays, cardinals, and squirrels. One morning about a month ago, I sat there with her reading while she licked a popsicle she made out of orange juice. Suddenly, a hummingbird flitted about six inches from her icy treat and decided to forgo the frozen treat!
David just started his first year of AmblesideOnline's House of Education. We are doing a blend of the less intense versions of Year 7 and Year 8. We school year round and should be able to fit both years into one. Today things ran quite smoothly, but every school year starts out with zest and energy. Once I see whether or not the new schedule is working, I will share it. David is looking up his current events articles for the day. Unlike Pamela, David has no favorite spot to learn. He reads in the office, in his bedroom, and in the living room. He does his table and computer work here, there, and everywhere. Occasionally, Mr. Random actually studies in the homeschool room or at the desk in his bedroom. Which causes me to ask . . . why is my homeschool room nothing more than a place to store books, files, and the exercise machine?
I am excited for many reasons. I have a shiny new laptop. I am not in the process of moving or unpacking, nor do I see it in the near future. I live in a house that no longer needs major renovation (and attention from me). Steve gave me a sweet espresso machine. What more could a homeschooling mom want?
The notes of the lecturer are passed to the notes of the listener - without going through the mind of either... Mortimer Adler
Have you stopped to wait in silence after asking a question when leading?... It seems risky and uncomfortable... What if no one says anything? The gut screams that you'll appear foolish since you appear to be wasting time. So why bother?
Connections - Silence allows folks just a bit of time to link what a speaker says to their ideas, knowledge and experience. Silence provides enough space to make connections. When you stop and pause, it opens space for deeper thoughts.
Learning - Leaders around a table have a chance to think and reflect... when this space is provided some of our most important thinking occurs - and ideas come forth that're otherwise smothered. "Some leaders view staff development as conveying information," Dennis Sparks, of the National Development Council claims. "It's not about what a trainer or coach does, but the effort invested by leaders as learners as they participate." Spaces of silence allow for reflection.
Active Listening - When silence occurs as others speak, you engage active listening, something most humans do not do since in many cultures including the U.S. , we're formulating our next words and waiting our next opportunity to jump in and speak. When we engage in this, we really do not listen. However, we could learn from Asian cultures where speaking patterns differ and people pause to think and don't have the pressure to jump in just to fill a pause. How would you rate your listening skills?
Community - Important and lasting learning occurs in community. The Inuit elders' talking stick can work as a tool to enforce silence and enhance individual thinking and reflection until space is provided for input as each holds the stick to speak. Dr. Ellen Weber saw the effectiveness of a talking stick when living with the Inuit for two years in the High Arctic and uses this approach at many of our MITA sessions. Any neutral object serves well. Talking stick sessions ultimately lead to new ideas at the table. And, people in the community tend to bond more as deeper thinking emerges and they learn more about each other at a deeper level.
Voice - Though it may seem strange to include voice in a post on silence, many voices are never heard when only a few speak. For instance, Anna, one of my commenters said last week, "I know that I know, but my confidence level would be sometimes low. And I sometimes could not believe how many engineers I saw that they argue their way so strongly that they are right, later to find out that they were wrong." Anna's voice was important, but was often held back at engineering tables. Spaces of silence, along with the talking stick, can bring new confidence to all players so that their thoughtful contributions can come forth. What might happen in your team?
Reconfigures Minds - the most powerful changes in thinking create new neural networks in the brain and develop relationships that sustain us and our work. Stillness and spaces to reflect enable that process.
Cultivates the Heart - Silence affects your beliefs in ways that affect you and other leaders.
Ready to Still Your Voice? Consider ways stillness might be used to begin a conference or meeting, as a transition between topics of discussion, or to help leaders in meetings reflect on what they've learned, gather their thinking or ponder where to from here. Surprises come to those who listen.
Thanks, Steve Roesler, you stirred my thought and research on silence in your post on Employee Needs. This post cooked a few days on the back burner.
Remember, Silence is only frightening to people who are compulsively verbalizing... William S. Burroughs
Today, Pamela and David sang with the adult choir here at our little church in South Carolina. At first, Pamela did not want to go to church and sing in the choir. Rather than direct her and demand it of her, I applied an RDI way of doing things and focused on the relationship. I pouted dramatically and said, "Oh, Pamela. Poor Cindy the director will be so sad. I know she's going to ask me, 'Where's Pamela? I miss Pamela. She has such a pretty voice.'" She smiled and decided not to let down poor Cindy.
Pamela did beautifully, but I did have my secret weapon (I allowed her to write in her journal, which has now grown to twenty-seven pages, to help her keep quiet). She stood up for almost everything, except at one part when I did not give her enough notice. Fortunately, many members of the choir warmly welcomed Pamela and Cindy made a special effort to thank Pamela for coming.
David is no stranger to adult choirs. He joined the adult choir in Minnesota as a soprano before his voice changed (he was thirteen at the time). In fact, he was the only boy to sing Stabat Mater during Lent that year. When we moved here, they had an age limit for the adult choir: eleventh grade and above. However, they grudgingly accepted him in the men's choir until it disbanded. Then, we were so desperate for voices that they lowered the bar to fifteen years of age, and David just turned fifteen.
I despise age segregation! Personally, I agree with my choir director in Minnesota, a fabulous singer, former member of the Robert Shaw Festival Singers (Eileen Farrell). She accepted younger voices into the choir based upon maturity and ability. If a young person could not cause distractions and could learn the music, age was not a barrier.
I plan to blog typical homeschool days and, later, detailed information about what I am calling "Guided Reading" and "Guided Written Narration". Last week, Pamela and I followed this outline fairly well considering I had major time eaters unexpectedly dumped upon me. Pamela is an early riser, so she usually starts her math on her own BEFORE eight o'clock. The activities in green are the ones she does independently.
04:55 PM Exercise for five minutes on the elliptical
I put the schedule in Excel and check it off as we go. I circle tasks we failed to accomplished to remind me to make them up. Pamela with her sequential orderly mind wants to finish the list and cooperates with me to get finish off the list.
, 