Brave Creativity: Becoming My BEST Homeschooling Self

Reconnecting with WONDER

Recently I read Kindness and Wonder about Fred Rogers (Mister Rogers). One story grabbed me about a preschool that had a local sculptor who was also a professor come in and teach sculpting once a week. One year, they changed it up. 

The sculptor simply came in with his supplies and sat in the middle of the preschool area and enjoyed sculpting in front of them. That's IT. No "formal" lesson plan or telling the children how to sculpt. He brought his joy and love of sculpting and integrated.

Guess what they found? In this cohort, the children created more sculptures than any cohort ever had before and on measures of complexity and creativity, they far surpassed prior peers. 

This story circled me back to the concept of Big Sistering learning discovered in The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart. The concept of the homeschooler as a collaborative partner in learning.  

A Glimpse of Practical Magic 

This week has been a Godzilla themed week for us. We take a strengths based approach and believe everything can be learned through anything and anything can be learned through everything.  

So let's play a game, can you spot the learning? Subject areas? Modalities?

Liam asked for his dad to translate the musical score for Godzilla into a simplified version he could play on his keyboard....and memorized it in 15 minutes flat. Then performed the concert for us and his nanny too.

He wrote a Gozilla story in StoryJumper and in the process learned to spell new words like island, chasm and discomfort. We don't "do" spelling lists or tests due to anxiety and he gains new vocabulary each week through his love of writing and curiosity about words. 

With our new Godzilla coloring book, he is the Creative Arts Director. His role is to decide what colors to paint and what media to use. My role is the implementer of his vision and to be a joyous artist in front of him just like that sculptor. It is a gorgeous collaboration that enrolls his soul. We are still creating ART....plus I get the stress-reducing benefit of creating art too! (He's still developing the fine motor skills and confidence for some art and the sensory aspects like how it feels/sounds)

We've listened to six chapters of the audiobook Godzilla: King of the Monsters on Audible which I love because the narrator is dynamite and the story more complex than he's heard before. We also watched the movie by the same name, cuddled up with three cats, a pitbull, a ferret and buttered popcorn. He's a comparison/contrast lover so we compare/contrast the book from the movie and have rich conversations.

The book of 500 Godzilla Facts also arrived, which he will no doubt commit to memory. 

We used a fun clay electronics kit to "wire up" a 3-D Godzilla creation. And for programming, he independently created and programmed code for his very own Kaiju using Tinker. So today, we measure Gozilla figures or create a replica of a Godzilla footprint from salt dough using measuring cups for our fractions sneaky lesson.

How easy was it to spot music, writing, art, reading, STEM and math with a healthy side of creativity, imagination and critical thinking?

We used hands-on, art, music, audio, video, StoryJumper and Tinker to name a few. Liam keyboards instead of handwriting as an accommodation for learning which is separate from his fine motor *intentional practice.* Between it all, we regulate, regulate, regulate with frequent body breaks, swinging, sunshine when we can find it, therapy appointments, really good food and LIFE.

In our homeschooling, I've decided to worry less and WONDER more!

P.S. Did you know that when Godzilla dives into the water his tail falls off? just wait--I'm going to be a big hit with this trivia at our next cocktail party!