The Right Side Of Normal and Honouring Our Individual Learners
Have you ever met someone at a time in your life and you wish your paths had crossed at an earlier time? You say to them, "I wish you were here to share this with me when"....
Well, that's Cindy Gaddis to me. Actually, it's more like- "why are we just meeting each other now???" I need more of you in my life. Now that I do have Cindy in my life, I am sharing more of her knowledge and experience with you. Because I know you need it too!
Cindy Gaddis is a 30-year home education veteran and mother of seven right-brained children, ages 21-35, and grandmother to two sweet babies, ages 5 and 2 months. She’s married to her high school sweetheart, and they live in a log house on 15 acres in beautiful central North Carolina. A passionate advocate for understanding and honoring the natural learning path for creative, right-brained children, Cindy is a popular conference speaker and writer on the subject. Cindy wrote her book, The Right Side of Normal, in order to reach more parents and teachers who want to benefit from strengths-based learning for right-brained children. Cindy fulfilled her dream goal of opening a creative learning center in 2017 in a 1920s farmhouse on 18 acres and primarily mentors middle-high school attendees in collaborative education. You can find her at https://www.therightsideofnormal.com/ where she offers homeschooling consultations and relevant content for supporting creative, right-brained learners.
In This Episode
Both Cindy and her husband loved school, did well in school and were excited to have their first child start his first day. But after a first day orientation that left her very uncomfortable she decided to research other options. She found her way to homeschooling and eventually unschooling. Cindy says that in that first year, she learned so many lessons just through observation of her children and the natural learning process. In this episode we explored those lessons as we dove into the BIG unschooling and learning questions:
Reading and Learning To Read
- Our fears around learning to read
- Children that read early and read later (Her children were early and later readers, from ages 4-15)
- Autism and reading
- How she supported each of her unique learners to build a "positive relationship with print"
- When children are spatial learners as opposed to word based learners
Right Brain and Left Brain Learners and Supporting Neurodivergence
- What it means to be Right or left brain dominant
- Why the school fits left brain learners
- What happens when learning activities and environments only reflect left brain learners
The Right Side Of Normal- Deschooling on Crack
I think that this was one of the best book descriptions ever. And it's so true! Cindy's book offers ideas and reasons as to how learning happens outside of our traditional ideas of school. Deschooling on Crack~opens your mind to allow anything to happen. It gives the WHY. Why our children can learn in these different ways and be happy and joyful learners.
Cindy breaks down examples and resources through different age and developmental stages that support right based learners through using:
- Imagery
- Reading Out Loud
- Hands on and Visual - getting out in the world
- No formal academics before the age of 8
- Comic books, graphic novels and video games
- Allowing whatever our child is doing to be valued
Cindy offers such a huge amount of examples and stories in this episode. She shares books her children loves but also speaks to our changes times and the power of the internet and screens for right brain learners.
Resources
Cindy's Website- The Right Side Of Normal
The Natural Learning Development For Right Brained Children
Cindy's Self Directed Learning Community for Teens - Creative Learning Center
Cindy's Clubhouse Club is Homeschooling Creatively
Jeffrey Freed Right-Brained Children in a Left-Brained World: Unlocking the Potential of Your ADD Child
Thomas Armstrong~The Myth of the Normal Brain: Embracing Neurodiversity
Linda Kreger Silverman~Upside-Down Brilliance: The Visual-Spatial Learner
Books we mentioned our kids loved
Captain Underpants Book Series - Dave Pilkey
Bob Books, Set 1: Beginning Readers
Magic Tree House
Check out my episode with Dr. Peter Gray - Free To Learn
Looking for more support in your homeschool and unschooling journey? I’ve got you! Check out my Patreon Community where I offer monthly Live Q&A on all your homeschool, unschool and self directed learning questions. For the summer of 2022- this live support is open to ALL Patron levels. You also have access to my downloads, special videos, insights and interviews with my family! https://www.patreon.com/honeyimhomeschoolingthekids
Honey! I’m Homeschooling Club on Clubhouse App offer free weekly discussion groups and support.
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Sponsor Shout Out- Night Zookeeper
Thank you to our episode sponsor, Night ZooKeeper!
Is your child a reluctant writer? Do they struggle with reading? If your answer to either of these questions is YES, then Night Zookeeper may be just what you’ve been looking for.
Night Zookeeper is an online learning program for children aged 6 to 12 years old and uses a gamified approach to help to keep kids engaged and focused on developing awesome reading and writing skills, all while having fun at the same time!
Some of the features we love include the educational games, the fun challenges, the personalized feedback and the super safe community pages, where children can work with each other and learn together.
You can try it for free by clicking on the link in the bio! When you register, you’ll get a 7-day, risk-free trial, as well as a huge 50% off your annual subscription, that’s a great deal if you ask me!
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