Homeschooling...the learning challenged and gifted children.


School table and shelving with legos and building materials, art supplies, lego magazines, a tie fighter, packing materials for our big move, a crane, and a couple of boxes containing speech and handwriting material.

Brighton had his psychology evaluation for ADHD (and more) today.  He performed a bunch of tests and evaluations to get an idea of who "Brighton" is and how he learns.  A part of me wants to rebel and say NO MORE.  I have (I want to have) your run of the mill average learners, thank you very much, that is what I can handle, deal with, educate, parent, etc...  I don't want the extra challenges that come with great intelligence and great learning challenges.  Sometimes, I think the Lord finds your wants and your challenges and your abilities completely irrelevant.  LOL!

So...as I already know...Brighton suffers from a language processing disorder...in the speech therapy world, this is called "auditory processing disorder", in the world of academics (reading and writing), this is called dyslexia.  I am thinking in the world of neuropsychology, this is a large umbrella called language processing.  It is global...meaning it is reading, it is sound sequence, it is auditory, it is  expressive...if it deals with language, it is an issue.  What I know (knew)...Brighton is a smart little boy.  I don't/didn't know how smart (because sometimes his communication skills get in the way).  I knew he had started to lip read as a way of compensating for his inability to hear sounds, the psychologist noticed this.  Well, he is "off the charts" (quote from the psychologist) intelligent in non verbal skills - reasoning, perceptual, visual and constructive.  While we don't have his official test scores, this is the evaluator's opinions and I am not really sure what that means...just that this is a strength.  

So what do I do?...the suggestion is to give him 2-3 hours of a day of welding, woodshop, metal work, robotics, electronics, programming, sequencing, hands on activities.  Let him explore engineering, architecture,  mechanics, mathematics.  Hmmm, so pretty much, everything I suck at!  (Good thing Phil is so good at all this!).  And yes, he is ADHD, so let him move...a lot.  Let him listen while he colors, builds, fidgets, etc.

You know, he is not my only child like this....he is Sawyer's carbon copy in many ways and Evi has the same challenges only with a creative and artistic slant.  Glorielle will have something similar as she matures.  I have one child whose educational needs seem to be a little more in line with "average" or "normal".  I keep thinking to myself...Lord, I am not sure you understand here...I am not the kind of person, the kind of parent, the kind of intelligent, creative, PATIENT mama that these children need.  They are not your average run of the mill children and they need someone who is really smart and skilled and emotionally really stable to draw out all their potential...not someone who academically always struggled, who doesn't excel in these areas, who tends to live according to the ups and downs of life, and who kind of thinks they aren't that smart, who feels like they fail a lot...this is not the mom they need.  

You know, we accidentally kind of bought a house.  We weren't expecting it, weren't planning it, we didn't intend to, it wasn't on the horizon...it wasn't even a realistic goal we had.  It happened, through blessing and gifts...and I can completely see how it is going to give opportunities to our special and unique learners.

Lord give me the strength to listen to You, to learn, and to let go of all of the perceptions of what intelligence is and what learning is, let me accept, let me submit to Your will and Your plan...all children are special and unique and made in Your image...and some reflect a unique part of who You are.  Let me see You in them.  Let me teach You to them.

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