The Ugly G Word

I've been doing a lot of thinking lately about the word gifted. The word bothers me. It conjures up images of the bottom of the Christmas tree with all of its perfectly wrapped gifts. Shiny bows and ribbons, matching paper, perfect little boxes waiting to be enjoyed. That feeling of anticipation and beauty, and all the things you love about giving gifts.

For some reason I seldom think of things like the time my mother-in-law gave me clothes for Christmas that were 8 sizes too big. She didn't know what size I was, just that I was bigger than her. That was a wake up call to hit the gym, let me tell you! Or the time I bought my husband a cordless drill for his birthday. Worst gift EVER! We don't let him near power tools (this decided after all the pretty little star patterns surrounding the screws on our deck). Or what about the time when I was about 4, woke up in the middle of the night on Christmas Eve and went downstairs to sleep on the couch by the tree. I woke up to my parents screaming at me that I could have ruined Christmas "what if something hadn't been wrapped?!" FOR SHAME!!

I guess my point is that I feel like most people are like me when they hear the word gifted. They think of the artfully wrapped Martha Stewart like packages filled with something you really want. They don't understand that when you open those boxes life is a mess! It's more like I opened up a box full of clock parts without instructions on how to put it together.

Sure Zoë can read at a high school level, but it's hard to find things for her to read with subject matter appropriate for a 10 year old, and once you do find a book she reads it in a single day. Yeah Aiden can do geometry, but have you seen how he falls apart if he gets a single problem wrong? Yes, Zoë is excellent at deciphering emotions in people, but have you watched her spirit crumble as she has heard about the genocide in Rwanda, or the victims of Katrina, or Haiti, or any other tragedy? Yes Aiden can beat most people in many games, but have you spent your days listening to him endlessly drone on about them? Have you tried to sit on the couch and relax for just 10 minutes with a child who's brain is just not wired to shut off? Good luck with that gift!

Let me tell you "gifted" just doesn't sum it up! Hopefully some day we'll come up with a term that better describes how these people are wired, preferably one with less stigma and jealousy attached to it. Until then, I'll just keep trying to fit these clock parts together I guess. Oh and I should still remember to hit that gym!

Math Week

Aiden is in charge of the lessons this week. He has decided that they haven't been doing much math lately, so that is the theme for the week. They've both spent a while on Khan Academy doing the practice and earning points/badges. We've played around with this before, but I had forgotten how great it is. Although you have to do a set number of problems correctly to become proficient, you can skip around on the flow chart and it will back fill proficiency as needed. Best of all it's FREE!

He also wrote 10 story problems for Zoë to do based on Halloween. They're cute problems like "You get 12 Reece's peanut butter cups, but Dad gets a 25% toll. How many peanut butter cups do you have left?" We've also been playing math games like Equate and Set. Basically he said he wanted to find a way to do math things that Zoë would enjoy.

We are also as a family learning Sign Language. That has been a lot of fun. The kids are excited that they can now "talk with their mouths full." We checked out books from the library and have a friend that knows ASL so we can practice with her. Most of our dinner conversation last night was spent sharing signs and trying to talk in sign.

My big issue right now is coming up with a way to evaluate success in their learning by the end of the year. I've started to piece together some vague ideas and in the end I'm hoping to have a questionnaire we can each use to see how we think things are going. It needs to be life skills/job performance based instead of a standardized test. In this information age it isn't important that they can recall mundane facts, but rather can they work on a team, can they communicate (in many forms) their ideas to others, can they solve problems creatively...that kind of thing. I'm constantly evaluating and thinking about these kinds of things, but it would be nice to have it in writing with specific examples. In the end it will probably help if I need to create high school transcripts for them too.

Pasta, Link and enzymes

As usual our week off doesn't mean a lack of learning, just a lack of record keeping for me and a very relaxed schedule. On Monday we all tried our hands at making pasta. It tasted fantastic, but I'm not sure it's worth all the work it took. Tuesday the afternoon was spent planning and designing a treehouse that the kids are going to build with their Grandpa. They were also both bitten by the cleaning bug and spent hours cleaning their room in the morning. It is so great when they do things like that without being told!

Zoë has more sewing lessons with Nana this weekend, and I'm sure they'll be busy finishing Aiden's Halloween costume. He's decided to be Link from the Zelda games. He's even growing his hair out to fit the image.

I also wanted to share this success story with everyone. If you're not familiar with Foldit, it is a game put out to help scientists fold proteins to try to find cures for diseases. Apparently a gamer has accomplished in 3 weeks, what they have been trying to do for years. We have played around with Foldit for about a year now. It's amazing what can be learned through games!