(quite a lot, it turns out)
Homeschooling launched me into unplanned study of how children learn (as I watched our son sometimes struggle, sometimes soar and wanting to understand why) and thereby a study of how brains work.
The most fascinating find for all of us was the concept of right brain/left brain learners. They each see the world differently, process information differently and therefore, learn much differently. To put it most simply, left-brained thinkers/learners are extremely linear and logical, seeing part-to-whole, while right-brained learners are more abstract, jump around and absolutely see whole-to-part.
I feel very privileged to witness these processes in action, to witness firsthand the proof of theories. To be part of the magic when connections are made and eyes light up and joy is felt in learning because we have found the way he sees the world.
Today it was witnessed in a music/art class we are doing with a friend. They listen to a piece of music based on a planet. Today it was “Venus: Bringer of Peace”. Then they create a piece of art inspired by the music. Our friend is clearly left-brained, very precise, having planned out his entire solar system prior to hearing all the music, each planet cut from stencils and carefully glued in place. Color representations change as do small details added onto the planet to represent the music. On the other hand, our right-brained boy, as he listened suddenly said, “I’m seeing that creature from the movie ‘The Abyss’ — the one with all the colored lights in it.” And so he drew — abstract shape full of multi-colored wavy lines, another smaller one in the distance, angel-shaped, and the general shape of the city-ship, again full of wavy, amorphous lines. No planet. No space. No solar system. A concept. A whole thought.
It was beautiful.
They are each so totally different. They really could not be more different, in fact. Vastly different ways of hearing the music, processing their vision and putting it on paper. Is either one wrong? Absolutely not!
So it is with all other learning: reading can be learned by phonics and drills and sounding out (part-to-whole), or it can be learned by being read to, asking what words are, getting a visual and retaining it, with phonic understanding and sounding out maybe coming later if at all (right-brained). Math can be learned by drilling facts with worksheets, or by experiencing concepts and later discovering the facts used in those concepts. Either way, the destination is reached. Just as all roads lead to Rome, each approach leads to learning. But understanding how your child learns certainly makes the journey less stressful and more fun.
Reading to him, telling him the words, telling him how to spell, leads to reading. Playing with Legos, blocks, building a fort, measuring his room all lead to addition, multiplication, fractions and more. And “Venus: The Bringer of Peace” is the illuminated creature from “The Abyss”.
Works for me. It sure as heck works for him.
And it shows us all a different way to see the world.




