Wednesday, November 18, 2009

Blowing my cover with a massive brag fest

Shhhhhhh.

There something that I think is really amazing about children. Fascinating and interesting. Crazy cool. But don't go telling anyone I said this because it could shatter my image into the gutter (how big headed am I to think I have an image anyone but me cares about- ah well).

I think it is so awesome that a person can teach them stuff and they learn it.

Not me mind you. See, I can't teach kids worth a damn. People always told me they thought I would be a great teacher. They were wrong, wrong wrong. I worked with Teena and Genea all summer on educational whoosie whatsie stuff and neither of them learned a thing. Nothing. At all. ! . If you account for all the time Teena spent either a. talking or b. trying to do it all her own way that pretty much explains it. Then Genea spent all of her time being a. oppositional and b. deliberately inattentive so she learned how to do those things with greater persistence, but that was just not what I was trying to accomplish. Not was I was hoping for.

My kids have learned far more from PBS and DVD's than they ever have from me. And that is just fine (I just wish I would have saved myself the effort. And time! And oh my shit the hassle!). Teena just sucks in information from everywhere around her. Like if you are wearing black and every cat hair for miles scurries up and gloms onto your clothes forever. She learns just by being in the general area of something new. We were out at a restaurant when she was almost 2, a time when we were still counting her age in months instead of years, and she started pointing at a sign on the wall and yelling out the letters. How could she do that? M! K! A! Now, when we are doing Genea's math flash cards, she sits and collects the finished ones and has the answers memorized. Today she made word flash cards for herself, for fun, before school.

Now Genea is in school and is like a detached vacuum hose- where it flops and flips around sucking up little things from the whole room. It is just amazing, stunning, what she is learning and retaining. The Husband and I were watching something on TV the other night and Genea started pointing out- there is the White House, there is the Court with all the judges, and there is the.... the..... let me think..... (imagine 4 minutes going by so I can spare you) finally she says, OH YEAH its the tin can. Tin Can? Yeah, the Lin Can. The Lin Can? OHHHH the Lincoln Memorial? Yes Mama, that's what I said! She is 6 years old. It is just amazing to me what she learns and comes home and can tell me about. The Liberty Bell! England! She can read entire books in a sitting. Her reading is so good she is actually a few weeks ahead of her class on word recognition-- CRAZY COOL!

Not all is pretty yellow roses. She struggles in math enormously (like me) and spends 1-2 hours getting math homework done, one sheet. She has been unable to pass her first addition time test, on zero's, because she freezes up either from the testing situation, or the pressure of the timer. But she knows her zero's, so I am ok with it. I don't care about testing. The rest will come and the teacher is trying different things to help her through. GET THIS- her teacher gave her an area to work when she is feeling distracted and Genea goes there on her own when she needs to focus!

Oh yeah, and they can both imitate Cantonese!
*snort tee hee*

9 comments:

  1. That's very cool. You know, one of the reasons we decided to adopt Anastasia was because she was so wonderfully studious and focused. She can calm herself by writing and organizing...making little books and flashcards. And....she is a good little student, too.

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  2. Yeah for Genea! Sounds like a smart cookie and I can relate on the math thing too...Id rather stick needles in my eyes tnan do math. ick.

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  3. Couldn't teach a genius how to put air in a balloon. Teaching (and math) are not my thing. Yet I am homeschooling. How scary is that?????

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  4. My first grader came home and announced, "I know what sound 'dge' makes at the end of a word!" Umm, yeah, I told her I had drilled that and many other sounds with her the past 2 years. She vehemently denied that I ever taught her anything. My children DEFINITELY learn so much better from other people than from me. So I'm glad to know there's another person on the planet for whom this is true. :)

    I'm glad for Genea - whoop it up for how brilliant she is!!!

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  5. It is amazing. My daughter is 2 and I can't believe the stuff she picks up on. She is truly my little spongue (sp?).
    You are so funny, btw. Love reading your blog:) If you want to follow mine, feel free to email me at ana1968@sbcglobal.net, and I'll send you an invite:)

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  6. Yup, the absorptive capacity of their little brains is scary stunning.

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  7. I use to try and teach my sister fake words like Gretylemph. And tell her that's what water was called.

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