WHAT DO YOU SEE?
by Robin

What do you see and think when you look at the above picture? Young learner? Slow learner? Learner with disabilities? Nope. It is none of those.

This is the work of a homeschooler. He just turned 12yo, in 7th grade, tested appropriately for that age/grade and when given lined paper to take notes for ice core drilling research, this is what happened. Does he know how to write correctly on lined paper? Yep. He has pretty much always done it right since he started school. I think what I see when I look at this work is a strong development of creativity working in his brain. He is familiar with drawing picture horizontally. The schematic on the page before this lined sheet was printed horizontally. Amazingly, he did not feel the restraints of lines to hold back his deep creativity working in his brain. He was deeply engrossed with research, turned the page to take notes and kept writing until he was called for dinner. Infact, it hadn't phased him until this point that maybe he wasn't taking notes as the paper was designed. I'm still not sure it bothers him. He plans on transferring all his notes to a Word document before presenting them; so for him, this isn't a problem of how the paper is used.

Is it efficient? Maybe not in our minds. Is it efficient for him? Maybe so. Who can say for sure? God created him to be unique and unique he is. He is loving his role in the FIRST Lego League and his logo design was picked for their t-shirts. He is loving every hour he spends building, researching and programming. I think we have found his niche. I love that he thinks outside the box. This is the beauty of homeschooling. The passions of their heart are searched for and discovered in new ways. It is independant thinking at its best. It reminds me much of the spirit of our forefathers. There is no malice in intent of being different (than England) but they were strongly driven, passionate, free-thinkers in pursuit of dreams.

Thank you God for our freedom to homeschool in this great country.