I don’t like to garden.  I don’t like to be dirty. I don’t like to be hot.  I don’t like the sun to touch my skin for too long because it will burn me. I don’t like sunscreen; it’s sticky and smells bad.  I don’t like bugs. I don’t like spiders.  I don’t like dirt under my fingernails, and my sun hat makes my hair all flat and ugly the rest of the day.  But I love flowers.  So I’ve figured out a couple of things I can do to cut down on the gardening process and still get a beautiful garden.

I plant perennials mostly, but not the kinds that only bloom one time per summer.  Then I’d actually have to plan and plant things that bloom in order, so that something was blooming all the time. (Way to much process for me.) I like the kinds of flowers that bloom all summer – like dahlias and begonias.   

When I plant perennials I don’t have to dig as many holes the next year. (You can add digging holes to the list of things I don’t like about gardening.) All I have to do to keep them nice this year is water, fertilize, and dead-head.  Easy-peasy – I can do that! 

I’m careful to buy the plants that will tolerate the full sun, western exposure in my front yard, or the very shady eastern exposure in the back.  That way I don’t have to re-plant half way through the year to get that product I am looking for – loads of flowers.  

When I plant an annual, I do it for sentimental purposes. I plant snapdragons every year because they were my youngest son’s favorite flowers.   I can’t plant them at the cemetery for him (they need too much water to survive up there), so they go in the front yard, where I can see them and be reminded of his laugh and his passion for living.  Sometimes they come back, sometimes they don’t, but I always add more.  

I planted daisies for my friend Susan last summer. Susan means “daisy”.  She was fighting breast cancer, and the daisies were my everyday visual reminder to pray for her and my aunt , who was also fighting breast cancer.  Interestingly enough, my daisy’s came back this year, just as Susan was getting a clean bill of health, and a full head of hair.)  In celebration, I added Black-Eyed Susans for her this year.  And yes, her eyes are black as night.

I don’t research what to putin my garden; if I have any questions, I call friends who like to garden and pick their brains.  For me, gardening is about the product, so information must be gained in a pleasant and expedient way. Otherwise, it would create too much process.

I don’t work too hard at preserving the garden over the winter, (too much process) but I do fertilize and mulch in the fall.   What comes back, comes back, what doesn’t – I’ll re-plant from whatever catches my eye at the hardware store in the spring.  I’m there often, following my other product oriented hobby, but that’s another story…

And to avoid the sun and the heat, I have been known to garden by halogen shop lights on extension cords in the middle of the night. I’m not joking… I do it fairly often.

­-posted by Miss Allison, who will tell you all about her mother and sisters’ process-oriented gardens tomorrow.

I have three jobs in my life- wife, mother and teacher.  I list them in that order because if I deal with them in that order, I find that I am a happier, more balanced person, and do all of my jobs better.  Interesting enough, all my jobs are process oriented jobs; there is no product at the end of the day.

Marriage, especially, is process-oriented work.  Both my husband I know that we will never stop working on our relationship and that some days the work is easy and other days the work is hard.  We are not striving toward any goal, but rather going forward as a team, counting each blessing on the path, and slaying the dragons that we inevitably meet; standing back to back with our swords drawn.

When my marriage is in order I am a better parent. I am more patient and tolerant of the idiosyncrasies that come with raising a house of teenage boys. (Why do they have to drink ALL the chocolate milk on the same day I went to the grocery store? Can’t they at least make it last 2 or 3 days?) I am also a better teacher when my marriage is in order.

Neither parenting nor teaching have short-term goals.  While raising and teaching children who become responsible, happy adults who participate in our society and contribute to the betterment of the world is my long-term goal, I don’t get to see the end result (the product) right now.

So I have a whole lot of process in my life, and very little product.  My sister and my mom (who approach marriage and parenting as I do), have goal-oriented jobs.  At the end of the day they have a product to show for their labors.

My sister is a novelist.  At the end of her day she has pages of words, and in a few months, finished stories.  When I open a book my sister has published, I feel a surge of joy and pride at her accomplishment, and revel in the product of her labor.

My mother builds really big things like skyscrapers and malls and university buildings.  When I drive through Denver with my parents (she’s in business building things with my Dad and my brother) she points the finished projects out.  She didn’t drive the nails, but she managed the guys who drove the nails and glazed the glass, and caulked the seals so they wouldn’t leak.

At the end of my Kindermusik year, I have happy kids, who have grown and developed and learned in my classroom. They are on the road to the goal of being responsible, happy adults who participate and contribute to our society in a meaningful way. I would say, in own defense, that they are now farther down the road to towards the goal, but right now they are just blissfully happy kids.

This does not mean that I am in any way dissatisfied with my jobs. I love them all fiercely and passionately.  I’ve never wanted to be anything other than a wife and a parent and a teacher.   It is a calling.  But I need a little product in my life, too.  Sometimes I need more than happy kids at the end of the day. And my mom and my sister need a little process in their lives, I’ve noticed.

Interestingly enough, all three of us have chosen the same activity to fill this void in our lives- gardening.

-posted by Miss Allison, who will tell you how she actually feels about gardening tomorrow.

The Himalayan blackberry has quite a circuitous history. A man named Luther Burbank found this in a plant catalog in India. He then introduced it to America in 1885, calling it the “Himalaya Giant”.  Working backwards, researchers found that the plant originated in Armenia, then made it to Germany in 1835, spread to England, and then was transported to India by the English. Luther Burbank also brought us such interesting creations as elephant garlic, Shasta daisies, and pineapple quince.

The Himalayan (or should I say Armenian?) blackberry grown on canes up to 30 feet in length in dense thickets. Covered, as we all know, by prickers and thorns. It is hard to control due to its rampant growth and enormous root system. In addition, it sucks up most of the water around it, which means that nearby plants don’t get enough water to thrive.

However, my googling indicates there are lots of goats-for-hire companies (think Rent a Runiment) who will hire their herds out to eat those invasive plants. I will tell you that I grew up with goats, and while they won’t eat tin cans, they will eat almost everything else!

I suppose I need to get back to the luscious part of this blog. My friend Karissa gave me this recipe, and I just had to try it. Mmmmmmm…. Delicious! It’s so good that you might need some creative excuses to eat it more than once a day. It’s fabulous for breakfast over Greek yogurt, good plain for a snack, and of course, with “whup cream” (as it’s known in my house) for dessert.

The first time I made it the berries needed a little sugar, but the next time, I found an unraided patch of giant juicy berries that required no sweetener whatsoever.

Blackberry Bars
1 c. packed brown sugar
1 c. butter, softened
1 ¾ cup flour
1 ½ oats
½ tsp salt
½ tsp baking soda
4 cups blackberries washed with sugar added to taste
Mix sugar and butter.  Stir in remaining ingredients until crumbly.  Press 2/3 into bottom of 9×13 pan.  Top with berries (drain juice first).  Sprinkle remaining crumble mixture and press gently onto berries.  Bake at 400º for 25 minutes or until light brown.

-posted by Miss Analiisa, who is sitting here typing with 8 purple fingers, 5 puncture wounds, 3 giant scratches and 1 still-embedded thorn obtained while picking berries for her teacher-neighbor’s its-your-first-day-of-school-you-must-be-too-tired-to-cook dinner she makes their family every year.

Extroversion and Introversion, according to Julie Anderson, is not about whether a child is outgoing or not.  These terms describe how much stimulation a child’s brain needs for optimal brain function.  Does the child’s brain needs a lot (extroversion) or a little (introversion) stimulation in order to be happiest? 

An extroverted child is described as having a “sleepy brain.”  This child requires outside stimulation to keep synapses firing.  He or she will seek out such stimulation, often by gravitating toward social situations.  People cause a lot of stimulating sounds, sights and action! An extroverted child need not be the life of the party.  But the extroverted child chooses to be at the party and gains energy from it.  Also, extroverts may gravitate towards higher risk sports than introverts because of the stimulation of competition and/or team play.  Extroverted babies often take shorter naps. They want to be held, played with and entertained.

An introverted child has a brain that is naturally self-stimulating.   Their brains are active so introverts can be overwhelmed with too much external stimuli. They may have less tolerance for, or even avoid, places with a lot of noise, people or activity.  Introverts often prefer to work or play in quiet places.  They may choose more low stimulation competitive activities like chess, versus football.  Introverted babies don’t like to be held a lot. They prefer quieter home life. When exposed to noisy places for too long, they become more agitated.

Julie explains that on a scale with extreme extroversion on one end and extreme introversion on the other, the extreme extrovert would like to be stimulated 12-14 hours of his or her awake time.  The extreme introvert, on the other hand, would naturally be happy to be alone 12-14 hours of the same day.  The child who is equally extroverted and introverted, called an ambivert, is one whose brain is happiest with equal amounts of alone time and stimulation time.

Julie’s book helped me understand the brain science of extroversion and introversion. My brain happens to be a sleepy one.  Now I know why my favorite study spot was not the library, but the cafeteria!  And in this phase of life, the busy coffee shop is my favorite, productive work space. 

My husband, on the other hand, has a self-stimulating brain.  His favorite study spot in college was the quietest place he could find. Now I understand why he loves to spend hours outside in the quiet of nature. The peaceful environment allows his fertile brain, whose synapses are constantly firing with his own thinking, to be the most productive and happy.  Many artists, writers and other creative people, including my husband, are introverts.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who has found it so helpful to understand how to keep the brains of her extroverted son and introverted daughter more happy!

Our dog Buddy had been bitten or stung by something, and had gone into anaphylactic shock. In addition, after 3 years of deals falling through at the last moment, we were just about to put an offer in on a house. But that was before the unexpected expenses that wiped our savings out.

It was only 7:30am on Tuesday. And the week really didn’t get much better. I’m sure you’ve had weeks like that, too. But before this gets too depressing…

I found myself frequently bursting into song this week. And of all the odd things – hymns from my childhood. There was something comforting about them. I began wonder why.

I remember when I took my husband-to-be, Karl, to his first musical – Showboat.  I grew up on musicals, and went to as many as I could when I lived in New York City. So I was totally dumbfounded when he turned to me shortly into the first act and said, “They just burst into song. Why did they do that?”

I’m thinking, “Well, it’s a musical.

Years later I asked Allison (with her degree in musical theater), why do they burst into song? And she said that the character has reached the point where the emotional intensity of the moment can no longer be conveyed with words.

So this week, when I ran out of words, I found myself singing. But why the hymns? Certainly because the words brought me comfort. But also because when I sang them, I was brought back to the time when I was young, surrounded by my family, in a moment when I felt very loved, and at peace. Where I needed to be emotionally this week.

I got to thinking…What songs did I sing to my babies, and now with my children? Because those are the songs that they are going to sing when they are grown up and need to remember the emotional security and comfort of those who loved them best. 

­-posted by Miss Analiisa, who knows that the math formulas she teaches her children may not be remembered when they are older, but the music and songs she instills in them will be in their memories forever.

When your mom is a Kindermusik teacher, you get to play with ALL the scarves!

The following is taken from an email one of our Kindermusik moms (and newest teacher!) sent to our Studio3Music teacher loop. It’s an amazing inside perspective, and we thought you’d find it interesting as well.

Right about the time that Samantha turned a year old, her behavior shifted dramatically in class (at least to her mom).  She went from sitting in my lap quite contentedly and grinning at me to being more and more independent. 

The last couple of months, she’s gotten so mobile that I often spend most of the class (again, at least it feels like it to me) chasing her around the room and keeping her out of mischief.  It was SO frustrating when she first started doing it (which was also about the time her “selective hearing” got crazy, too, and she stopped listening to me call her back), and I admit, I was really embarrassed. 

I had no idea why my kid couldn’t keep still in class for more than 10 seconds (when I’m lucky), and why she seemed intent on taking everyone else’s instruments, knocking down their towers, and attempting to pillage the toys behind the sheets.  It really felt like my kid was the only one behaving this way, and I started to wonder if I was doing something “wrong” or if Samantha just wasn’t getting anything out of Kindermusik anymore. 

There were days that I came home feeling totally exhausted and confused.  However, since y’all had already hired me, I decided to attempt to stick it out. ; )

Let me first say that I place none of the feelings I felt at the feet of the amazing teachers we’ve had.  I know had I come to any of you, you would have helped me feel better.  But I was embarrassed and felt that the “failings” were mine alone (can you tell she’s my first kid?).

As I’ve been going through the Kindermusik Educator training, this issue is one that is specifically addressed.  I sat in my living room one morning and listened to part of a presentation about it.  As the traits for the developing walker were discussed, I got misty-eyed.  It meant SO MUCH to be told that my kid was not only “normal,” she was doing everything exactly right for her age.  I realized that it was my expectation of her behavior that had to change, and that while she may not seem to be paying attention during much of class, she was still very much alert and aware of what was going on (which I can attest to – she LOVES her Kindermusik materials).

 I’ve also realized this summer after attending some fairly wide age range groups that while it’s tiring to chase after her in Village, it’s a thousand times more so in an older class.  The little ones don’t generally care too much about her rambunctious nature, and the parents laugh when she sits in the middle of the room during an activity and covers herself in scarves or hoards shakers.  This is SO good for her self-esteem to be the center of attention and to feel like a “big girl.” 

With older toddlers, however, I have to keep her in arms’ reach because they get MAD (understandably!) when she exhibits the same behavior.  The parents are always kind because they remember, but that doesn’t keep a 3-year-old from throwing a fit when Samantha takes the cards from his hands for the eighth time that day.  She throws more fits during these classes and comes home frustrated sometimes.  Again, NOT the teachers’ faults.  It’s just that she’s not able to express herself during class and, well, it pisses her off. ; )

 ­-submitted on behalf of Miss Chris, who declares “I’ve become a poster child for the ‘no Our Time before 17 months’ rule.  I am so grateful for a safe, fun environment in Village class where Samantha can be silly and we can both truly enjoy the hilariousness that is her right now.”

5:40 – We enjoy a dinnertime chat as we eat and make plans to go on an evening bike trip.  The Little Mister is happily eating his chicken.

5:47 -  Dinner is done; everyone leaves the table to prepare for the bike trip.  Adrienne goes to change into a less formal dress, Kevin looks for his helmet.  The Little Mister has disappeared.  In his high chair sits his alter ego, The Naughty Magnet.  His chicken is gone and before him sits three small pieces of broccoli…a food he eats at least four times a week and has always enjoyed. Tonight, he isn’t eating it.  Lunch was at 12:30 and we didn’t have an afternoon snack, so I know his belly is hungry.  The showdown has begun.

Jason having a hissy fit.

5:58 -The slight fussing about his broccoli has turned into whining and crying. He’s made several attempts to get out of his high chair, but the warden puts the kibosh on that; he must finish his broccoli. 

6:07 – The fussing has continued.  It’s an all-out war of the wills.  Many an inexperienced parent would give in, thinking “Oh, he’s full,” or “I don’t want to force him to eat something he doesn’t like.”  Not this Momma.  I have the patience of a saint when it comes to food wars. 

6:11 -The Naughty Magnet remains in his high chair, playing with his water bottle. His brother comes in and tries to coax him into eating; he shows him some yogurt pretzels that we’ve packed for a snack, bribing him that if he eats his broccoli, he’ll get some pretzels.  But The Naughty Magnet is quicker than his brother realizes: in a flash, the pretzel is snatched from his brother’s hand and inserted into the Naughty Magnet’s mouth.  So much for the theory that he’s full.  This is confirmation that this isn’t about broccoli…it’s about getting his own way.

6:16 – After five minutes of silence, the Naughty Magnet says “done” and makes another attempt at getting out of his high chair.  The innocent “done” might fool some folks, but this Momma is not fooled.  In a pleasant voice, I calmly tell him “No.  Finish your broccoli, please,” and give him a sweet smile.  His response?  Wails of frustration. 

6:20 -  Decision Time.  Everyone is ready to leave.  At this point, it would be the most fun and convenient for me to say “Well, I tried,” and get him out of his chair for the bike ride. But that would defeat the whole point of the last 30 minute battle of the wills.  I must set aside my desire to go on a family bike ride and instead, ride out the battle before me.  I kiss the rest of my family good-bye.  Howls emit from the high chair because he knows he’s missing something.  I grab a magazine, plop into a comfy chair in the living room and wait. 

Stopping long enough to smile for the camera!

6:26 - It’s been six solid minutes of crying, with one pause.  I got out the camera to take picture of Mr. Stubborn and he actually posed for the photo!  He stopped his crying long enough to smile for the picture.  Now if THAT isn’t proof that a child this age has more self-control than most parents think, I don’t know what is.

6:28 – It’s very quiet in the high chair.  I glace up from my magazine and see it…The Naughty Magnet is gone; The Little Mister has returned and is happily munching on his broccoli.  He has just put the third and final piece of broccoli into his mouth.  I get up and lavish him with praise.  High fives, hugs and as soon as he’s done chewing, a dance and “swoops” in Mommy’s arms around the living room, while I sing a song about “the good boy who ate his broccoli and the smart boy who made a wise decision.”

The point?  Perseverance and patience.  Many parents decide that the battle of food is not one they want to enter, and that is their choice.  I have chosen with each of my children to require them to eat the food I make.  Now, Kevin never liked potatoes (except the deep fried kind that you get at in the drive through) and I could tell when we served them to him that it wasn’t about asserting his will; he simply did not like potatoes in any form.  Jason has never liked eggs.  So I let that go. 

That’s the balance you have to find as a parent.  You need to discern if the refusal is a legitimate dislike or if it’s a battle of the wills.  If it’s a battle of the wills, you need to win it.  Persevere.  Be willing to lay aside your temporary plans (like a bike ride) to be consistent and to let your child know that they cannot win this one. Stay pleasant while they fuss.  Firm doesn’t have to be mean.  Firm can be cheerful.

You may think “That seems too harsh” or “It’s just a meal…what’s the big deal?” but I’m telling you…this is just testing ground for what’s ahead.  Giving in to a child who refuses to eat a food is preparing yourself to be a short-order cook, catering meals to each family member’s likes and dislikes. And on the broader scale, it’s a testing ground for your kids.  They want to know…if I’m stubborn, if I hold out, will I wear her down and get my way?  And usually, they do. 

Moms and Dads, temporarily lay aside your other plans and focus on the character training you are doing.  When you let them win the battle, they are training you.  Don’t let that become the norm at your home.  You are the parent, you do the training.  Stick with it.  It’s worth it in the long run.

-posted by Sheriff Donna Venning, who has had more than one showdown at suppertime and is now reaping the benefits…children who actually enjoy eating vegetables (including Brussels sprouts).

How the brain processes information
Anything that we hear, see, feel, touch, or taste in our environment is called a sensation. Sensations are picked up by receptors (located in our eyes, ears, skin, muscles, etc.) and are changed into electrical impulses that travel through the nerve fibers to the brain.

Electrical impulses travel from one neuron to the next via “bridges” called synapses. An infant is born with most of the neurons he or she will ever have. (About 12 billion of them!) However, at birth, there are very few synapses between the neurons.

Every time a child has a “sensory experience” (is exposed to things like light, touch, sound, movement) new synapses are created. The more of these neural connections a person has, the more capable of learning he is.

Once inside the brain, the electrical impulses are sorted, organized, combined with other pieces of sensory input and then put to use. Over 80% of the nervous system is involved in processing or organizing sensory input. It’s a very complicated process.

Behavior and learning are the visible expression of the invisible activity going on inside the brain. When the visible expression does not produce the outcome we expect, (in Rob’s case, he couldn’t answer “My name is Rob”, even though we knew he knew the answer) we know that the neural messages are not crossing the synapse “bridges” they should, but are getting lost somewhere.

Forming strong synapses
As the neural messages are forming new pathways across the synapses, it takes about 75 millivolts of electricity to get the brain’s neurons to fire. In order to form strong neural pathways, an activity must be done repeatedly. (Which is why children naturally like to read the same book, sing the same nursery rhyme, or play with the same toy ad nauseum. They are creating well-formed synapses.) Eventually, the energy required to fire a brain’s neurons is significantly less.

Additionally, the brain likes and looks for patterns – it doesn’t have to work as hard when it recognizes a pattern. Patterns are also one of the brain’s primary ways to process new information – it looks for information it already knows to “make new information fit.”

A disorganized brain
During the first 7 years of life, a brain’s primary job is to process and organize sensory information. When sensations are not being well-organized, it’s like a traffic jam inside the brain. Language is one of the more complicated functions of the brain, and so more neurons are required to transmit the messages.

It is very common for children with sensory integration disorders to have language development problems. Remember, behavior and learning are the visible expression of the invisible activity going on inside the brain.

Pam (Rob’s Speech Therapist) thought that Rob had some sort of auditory processing disorder – which in its simplest definition means that his ears and brain didn’t coordinate.  He couldn’t be tested until he was school-aged, so we didn’t know for sure.

However, Pam did know that if we could model the language patterns (over and over and over again), he could learn them. I know now we were somehow helping the synapses to form – we were helping his brain to become organized. And it worked.

Are we done yet?
I was hoping that speech therapy would fix whatever was wrong. I was pregnant with my third child by this point. I was homeschooling my oldest, going to speech therapy twice a week, running a new business (Studio3Music), and throwing up multiple times every day. (For 9 long months.) I didn’t have time for all of this!

But there was still something not quite right. I was horrified when one day Pam suggested that maybe Rob would do well in a “special-needs” school. Her gut instincts told her we were missing a piece to the puzzle, but she didn’t know what it was. She then suggested that we have Rob evaluated by an OT. (Occupational Therapist), as he seemed a little “floppy”.

Now seriously, I thought OT’s were for people who had had strokes or bad car accidents. So I turned to a trusted friend – the one person other than my husband who knew Rob almost as well as I did – Miss Allison, Rob’s Kindermusik teacher. At this point, Allison didn’t know much about sensory integration (she sure does now!), but she knew a lot about kids.

Rob was doing a 5 day Kindermusik camp that summer, and was just moving up to the next level – where  attended most of class without me. He was having a very had time with this transition, but we were working through it. I’d hand him over to Allison with a kiss and a hug, and then listened to him howl from out in the hall. (But this is a very important part of the development process, so we worked through it. By the end of the week, he was transitioning just fine, and loving being with a peer learning group.)

Allison said that when I handed Rob into her arms, she expected that he would go stiff and fight her, as a child his age would normally do. But instead, he would go floppy. Based on that little piece of information that matched what Pam said, we made an appointment with an OT. We had no idea what to expect.

­-posted by Miss Analiisa, who will introduce you to the wonderous Miss Vicki next time.

Researchers agree that there are three main learning preferences: Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic.  Author Julie Anderson calls each of these “a brain’s preferred way to best receive and process information.”  Through Anderson’s book, I’ve figured out the way my children’s brain like to learn, and I’m applying that to their schooling.  Below is a summary of the three Learning Preferences.

Visual Learners
Visual Learners learn best when taking in information through their eyes. What they see is what they get!  When tackling a new skill, or assimilating new information, a visual’s brain is most efficient when they can see something—a diagram, picture or chart for example. At first, I thought I was a visual because I love to read.  Come to find out, reading is actually more of an auditory skill. More on that later.

Visuals tend to notice details.  Do you have someone you know who is distracted by a piece of lint on the carpet?  Visuals like things to be in place.  They can prefer an ordered environment.

My husband is the visual learner in our family. As an artist, which many visuals are, he is very observant.  He notices color, form, shape.  And, he finds it difficult to retain information from just listening to it. His brain functions better with some visual scaffolding on which to store information.

Auditory Learners
My son and I are likely the auditory learners in the family.  Auditories learn best when taking in formation through their ears.  Their brains are happiest and function most effectively when they hear or read! Julie Anderson explains that decoding speech sounds and written language happens in the same portion of the brain.  Auditory learners are tuned into sound.

Therefore, they can be easily distracted by irritating noises that others don’t notice. I’ve always been embarrassed by my hair trigger reaction to loud noises such as train whistles or car horns blowing unexpectedly.  Now I understand why.  My brain’s pathway for sound is a super highway.  Sounds get to me fast and have impact!

My auditory son and I love listening to radio drama, while my kinesthetic daughter loses interest much more quickly. He also is a musician, like many Auditories. And when he hears a song, he can often remember the words without effort.  They stick in his brain.

Kinesthetic Learners
Kinesthetics process information most effectively and efficiently through taste, touch and smell.  The kinesthetic learner is aware of how things feel. They learn best when their senses are engaged.  Just listening or just looking at information for a kinesthetic is like putting blurry glasses on a visual or earplugs on an auditory. Their brains have to work much harder if they can’t use their hands or bodies in the learning experience.

Kinesthetics are understandably hands-on learners.  They often become artists, dancers, potters, painters or athletes. Because of their heightened sensitivity, personal space is also important to them. Touch has impact. So, kinesthetic may need extra touch, and also may have a greater aversion to negative touch, or touch from strangers.

At age three, my kinesthetic daughter told her new step-grandpa that her kisses weren’t ready to come out. But after she got to know him, she declared they were ready to come out and she was the quickest to come for hugs and kisses.  This same daughter was also pickier about her clothes and food than my visual son.  Kinesthetics are more sensitive to texture.

Just as my neighborhood kids are all so different, not all Visual, Auditory and Kinesthetic’s brains are just alike. But as you discover your child’s learning preference, you can adjust your child’s learning environment and your expectations to fit his or her needs.  When your child’s brain is happy, he’ll learn more comfortably and naturally when it’s time to head back to school!

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who is would like to recommend Julie Anderson’s book to you:  Quickest Way to Insanity—Homeschool Your Kids.

A veteran second grade teacher I know reluctantly admitted that she’s finished every home project she’d planned and she is bored to death. We all know kids who were ready to re-enroll after two weeks of sleeping in and watching daytime TV.  Their parents have been ready to re-enroll them too. And, if I’m honest with you, even I sense that back-to-school nudge.

So, I have put aside my beach novel for the time being and picked up a book on education that I bought at the end of the school year. I heard the author, Julie Anderson, speak at the Washington Homeschool Organization convention in June and subsequently purchased her book in order to review it for you.  I found her talk so interesting and helpful.

While Julie’s book is intended to be a primer for first time homeschoolers, I learned a lot about optimizing my children’s learning experience by understanding their brain characteristics–even though this will be my seventh year of homeschooling this fall. So, in my next couple of blogs, I’ll summarize her research on the brain and its practical implications for you as a parent:

1) Learning Preferences

2) Introversion & Extroversion

3) Brain Leads

So, you have a couple days to finish that novel before my blogs will join the back-to-school chorus.  If you’d like to order her book or look at her online material to get a jump on my blogs, her book is, The Quickest Way to Insanity—Homeschool your Kids by Julie Anderson.  Her website is:  quickestwaytoinsanity .com.

Watch for the next blog in my series:  Back-To-School Brains:  Learning Preferences.

-posted by Donna Detweiler, who loves that learning about her children’s brains helps her understand her brain and her husband’s brain too.