Learning Styles... a la Ackroyd

It has been interesting to see how our kids approach learning in two totally different ways.

Jill always wanted to do whatever it was she wanted to do. We went to those mom and tot swimming lessons. The teacher would say, "Let's sing Ring Around the Rosy" and Jill would pipe up, "Nah! Let's sing The Wheels on the Bus instead!" ...and it's just gone on from there. Once she has found something she wants to learn about she runs with it...and it seems to take over her life. I've had some wonderfully laid out plans now and then with things I thought would be wonderful for her to learn but have learned that unless it's her idea, it's rare it's going to take off quite like I envisioned.

A man ought to read just as inclination leads him; for what he reads as a task will do him little good.-Samuel Johnson

It's all good though. She always has an agenda and could spend all day working on whatever is her passion at the moment. She's gone through the Roald Dahl phase (read every book the guy has written for kids), the horse phase, the Harry Potter phase....and more. Whatever she's into she gets deep into it. My hope is that one year she'll have a teacher that will recognize this and be the kind of teacher that allows her to just run with it and build on her strengths. So far we've mostly had those kind of teachers who lock arms and move forward all together. She's learned that finishing work quickly only means more more....so she has mastered the art of classroom dawdling. Every year I have a conversation with her new teacher about Jill and her ability to work independently on something she loves....we'll see if this year pans out better than the previous years.

Peirce, on the other hand, is a different type of learner. He complies and works through stuff I give him. He has his own areas of interest, but he's pretty content to comply with things I hand him as well. He doesn't like to let on about how much he knows. I noticed that when we went to the Student Led Conferences last year. Mme Gover had some words on a pocket chart and I asked him to read them to me. The teacher was close by and so she led him in this endeavor. He slowly sounded out words that I knew he could read with ease (rat, cat, pat, fat, etc.) Seemed pretty clear to me then that he knew that was what he was supposed to be learning....so he pretended to be learning it. (Wouldn't want to fluster the teacher I guess!)

We were reading the Book of Mormon tonight after dinner. We didn't have his regular Book of Mormon reader that has the words all color-coded that he knows. Usually he reads his words and we read the others and it all goes tickety boo. Well, we couldn't find the book so he had to use a regular Book of Mormon...and when it came time for him to read his verse he read it...pretty much the whole thing! Who knew that kid could read like that?!

The other day I told him that there are less than 30 days before school starts. He gave a shriek and did that hockey player/football player move where they go down on one knee and do the pulled back clenched fist..."YES!" He was the one I always worried about...but man, school is his thing!! Give that kid a workbook and he'll fly through it. When I told him it the countdown was on for school he told me we ought to get practising - basically so that his brain is well oiled and ready to go I guess. So the last couple of days I've given him a workbook page to do from some workbooks someone in our neighborhood gave us a while ago wondering if we could use....and never did (did I ever mention I think workbooks are the worst practise/dill/teaching method there is?!...but the kid loves them...what can I do?!). I hadn't really had time to come up with anything too exciting....just slapped those workbooks on the table. I went about cleaning the kitchen and before I knew he it had finished 5 or 6 pages of the book. They were all things I thought I'd have to sit with him and work through with him. Nope. Easy as pie. This morning he did about 10 pages. I said, "Peirce, I think that's enough for one little boy." He was sure he could handle more.

It's quite interesting for me to see how unique they both are.

There are exactly four more weeks until the big day....the first day of school. This will be the first year for me that they'll both be in school full-time. 27 days to go!