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Myrna in her natural environment. |
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Check out my new “Ten Tips on Raisin’ Brains” at www.squidoo.com/giftedparent |
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March 2008 Tuesday, March 4: I had some crazy dreams last night. I dreamed that I suddenly realized I had to present at a conference in forty-five minutes, and I wasn’t prepared. I tried to focus on putting some notes together, but was distracted by the clock on the wall, which seemed to be running on high speed. All I could come up with for my notes was this: “Difficult is easy for them,” and “Easy is difficult for them.” What a relief when I woke up and realized that I had no presentation to make, just lunches to prepare. Whew! However, I do find my “dream” notes interesting, because it’s true. Difficult intellectual or creative tasks are often easy for gifted people, but easy intellectual or creative tasks are difficult for them, because those tasks are tedious, boring, and potentially insulting (I mean, really, would you test a college student on the spellings of the words, “were, one, man, girl... ? It would be difficult to sit there and subject yourself to a battery of meaningless and unnecessary tasks, yet lots of gifted students in elementary school experience this every day.) Sometimes the easier tasks are difficult because the gifted person overlooks the easy and obvious solution and misses the boat entirely, searching for more complex strategies with a habitual certainty that all problems require them. Anyway, that’s my presentation for today. Now, I’ve got to run bake some cookies.
Thursday, March 6: I just found out that Intelligent Life in the Classroom and Life in the Fast Brain are both finalists in the 2007 ForeWord Magazine’s Book-of-the-Year Awards! (Education and humor categories, respectively.) The winners will be announced at the end of May at Book Expo America in Los Angeles.
Monday, March 10: Rupert is back in his club organization phase. He’s trying to start a “Jumping from the Swings Club” after school on the playground. He headed off to school the other day with his handmade signup sheets, and he came home with three phone numbers for team captains. However, when he made his phone calls to get organized, neither of the moms of the two other kids were particularly supportive of swing-jumping (in which you swing as high as you can, and just when you achieve the ultimate height, you jump onto the blacktop. It’s like jumping off a bridge without any water beneath you). I had already informed Rupert that he needed adult supervision, and I wasn’t about to go to the playground to watch a group of second-graders jump screaming to the thrill of an arm or a leg hitting the asphalt at the wrong angle. Maybe if he finds a friend whose parent happens to be a paramedic... I’m all for supporting my children in their interests, but I’m hoping Rupert can find something a little different around which he can organize a club. I mean, for Pete’s sake, whatever happened to calm, safe activities like chess or stamp collecting? Next thing I know, he’ll be organizing a rubber band drive to make bungee cords to enhance their swing-jumping experience.
Wednesday, March 12: Pandora and Rupert are both building intricate snow forts in our front yard. They’ve got steps carved out of the sides of snow banks, tunnels for crawling through, foxholes with built-up barriers for snowball fights, and slides for quick escapes. Yes, we do still have enough snow to do all that. I’m thinking I won’t need to invest in lawn ornaments--I’ll just sculpt some out of snow. The good news is that we are supposed to get highs in the thirties all week, so hopefully we’ll begin to get a glimpse of our grass soon. Magnolia says that this ”warm” weather is inspiring the high school students to wear flip-flops and shorts to school. I’m thinking I’ll probably end up doing my spring cleaning in August when things have finally thawed out completely. I thought we might have a longer growing season and more mild temperatures with this move southward, but apparently, I was wrong. Back in sunny Montana, the temps hit the 60s the other day. Oh well. At least the kids are having a blast. I’ll hang out in my own snow fort--the one with insulated walls and snugly quilts.
Monday, March 17: Happy St. Patrick’s Day! Oops, I’m not wearing green. I’ll have to do something about that before the kids get home. I’d like to celebrate the day with a little green on the lawn, but I’m looking out my window right now, and I’m still seeing a whole lot of white stuff. The only way we’re going to be able to have an Easter egg hunt in our back yard this year is to attach transmitting devices to each egg. Perhaps Peter Cottontail will sit this year out and instead we’ll be visited by snow bunnies this weekend. Rupert has been saving his pennies lately to purchase a dragon figurine, but we told him he couldn’t get anything too evil-looking. So, instead, he brought home a bald eagle figurine with two American flags draped across it. He now has a new passion. He loves eagles and American flags, which goes well with his love for Cub Scouts. He carried his figurine, which is about ten inches tall and seven inches wide, everywhere he went this weekend. He can never be content with just liking things. To Rupert, liking equals love and commitment, passion and worship. I’m glad he’s too young to have a girlfriend.
Wednesday, March 19: Magnolia is going to put me in the hospital, and I don’t know if it will be on a gurney with a heart attack or in a straight jacket. The girl who, a few months ago, didn’t care about school or anything in her future and was failing every subject, has just finished her new trimester at her new school here, and now she has straight “A”s. The other day, she started talking about taking summer school and correspondence courses so she could try to graduate early (she’s in tenth grade). On Monday afternoon, she went online to look for scholarship applications. She wants to go into real estate or investment banking. (She has goals!) I asked her what made the difference? Why the sudden turnaround? She just gave me that independent Magnolia grin and said, “For me to know, and you not to know.” Whatever the reason, I’ll take it. She’s a much happier camper, and though my head is spinning in confusion, I am happier, too!
Tuesday, March 25: We took a trip to Montana to visit friends and family for Easter weekend. It was great to see everyone. The only part of the trip I wasn’t looking forward to was the drive back, because I had to drive on the edge-side of the mountain roads, and that didn’t sit well with my fear of heights. The night before we left, I pre-lived the nightmare experience, picturing my car so close to the edge that my tires sent gravel flying down into the depths, an upcoming curve I couldn’t maneuver, or a guard rail that had rusted through. I imagined our van rolling down the steep hillside, and all the while, with every new image, I felt my body tense up and my nerves pop. The only thing that gave me any hope was the tree-covered slopes. Maybe our descent into oblivion would be stopped by the pine trees, like long fingers reaching up to grab at us. (I love trees! They’re beautiful, they provide oxygen, and they stop vans from rolling down steep hillsides!) At any rate, I realized I was making myself sick, so I tried to shut down the old imagination by focusing on something a little safer and boring, like peppermint candy or matching socks. I am not ordinarily an anxious person. Most days, I take things as they come and assume things will work out for the best. But every now and then, my imagination gets the best of me, and it is almost as real as life itself. I have a couple of children with anxiety issues. One is learning how to deal with it, while the other is still struggling. The good news is that I managed to traverse the wild mountain roads and my children and I will live to see another anxiety attack. After we made it through the mountains and came into the wide open of the Idaho plains, Rupert observed, “Wow, Idaho sure has a lot of space it isn’t using.” I’m sure he was in the back seat of the van thinking to himself that this just might be the perfect “middle of nowhere” to build his castle and raise up his army of ninjas. Other good news: Raisin’ Brains is a 2008 Mom’s Choice Gold Recipient for Humor! And yet other good news: Magnolia woke up early this morning and was bored, so she decided to make pancakes, eggs, and a fruit smoothie for breakfast for the rest of the family. Delicious!
Thursday, March 27: Some of the teachers at Pandora’s middle school invited me to help with enrichment ideas. I’m glad to do it, as it offers a creative challenge--coming up with fun and exciting projects that can be done in a classroom setting, projects that stimulate further creativity and send brains shooting off in a hundred different directions. I don’t think I could ever be a typical classroom teacher with the same kids every day and all day long as well as the task of teaching to the tests or sticking to a tight regimen. But, I do love doing special projects, teaching in unconventional ways, and taking subjects deeper or starbursting them out into the galaxy in a way that ignites thought in unintended directions when those ideas collide with the passions of the individual students. ARCHIVES: |
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