Five-Six Things to Love about Volunteering in Kindergarten

1: The way the kids are bursting with pride when you sit down to read with with them, ready to show off their skills. And if not, the way they get proud when they do it.

2: How their eyes light up when you tell them what you like about their reading.

3: The probing questions out of the blue, like: "Do you have any pets? What are you making for lunch?"

4: Overhearing your daughter repeatedly telling her friends, "That's my Mom. Her name is Catherine. My Grandma, her mom, used to sing to her when she was little".

5: All those adorable eyes that smile at you and say, "we're glad you're here".

6: Everything I ever needed to know, I learned in Kindergarten. Remember Robert Fulghum? "...Share. Clean up after yourself. Learn some and think some. And draw and paint and sing and dance. And play and work everyday some. Take a nap every afternoon. When you go out into the world, Watch out for traffic, Hold hands and stick together. Be aware of wonder."

Driving away from the bus stop this morning, just me and my big empty van, no longer constantly eligible for HOV, I realized (okay..again I realized...what can I say? I'm a slow learner) THAT my kids are getting so grown up.

Annika is newly 6 and newly a little independent social butterfly. Well, she's always been a social butterfly, but now it's more of a fulltime job. This morning, she was talking to herself, practicing I guess for situations she supposed she might encounter later in the day. As she sat clumsily but persistently tying her shoes (another new skill), she mumbled, "Hi guys! (with enthusiasm), How are you?". There was no one around her, so I had to assume she was "practicing".

Then as she was climbing in the car, she quietly said (with feeling), "I'm so sorry". I asked, "what for?" And she replied, "oh, nothing".

And then Lauren is like a little 4th grade college student, so diligent and capable of amazing academic feats. She studies every night, and she's motivated to do all her homework and seek excellence in her projects. She is seriously making meteoric rises in her academic career. She's getting 100% on tests, her spelling has gone from sloppy to stellar in 5 weeks. And all this drive is coming from within herself.

It's weird how I can now step back from my role as super involved homeschooling mom, and watch my amazing kids go out on their own everyday. It still makes my head and heart spin some days.

Talk

Talk to me. Just like it used to be.

Plunge our hands into the cold creek, what treasures under the rocks?

Unwrap the picnic.

Look at each other, in total trust, and tell the truth.

What do I want to be when I grow up?

I’ve just been pondering all the moms I know, in the Woodinville MOMS and elsewhere, and all of their different titles. Every one of these friends of mine puzzles, to some degree, over how to spend the most “quality time” with her kids and still keep up some form of “career” as well, or at least the dream of one day having a career. There’s the ‘fulltime working mom’ (with kids in school and daycare) all the way to the ‘stay at home mom’ (kind of a misnomer as she’s hardly ever staying in any one place, including home, for very long). And we all become jugglers, fluidly defining our roles as moms and individuals.
As the kids grow up, they go through various stages which basically are leading toward their independence. That means our job as mom, if we’re doing it well, is on a track of planned obsolescence. It may seem so far off for most of us (even me whose kids are 9 and 6), but all childhood milestones-- learning to smile, crawl, talk, potty train, dance, do calculus--they all lead eventually to the same end: a grown up person.
Although we rejoice over our kids’ accomplishments, we also have our fleeting moments of yearning for things to never change. But that’s another great thing about being a mom: it forces you to continually accept change and roll with it. When my oldest daughter can go from an innocent, perfect newborn to a brilliant young scientist, runner, musician, and contributing community member in the space of TEN short years, I realize how quickly time marches on and how much growing and changing a person can do every year.
It’s inspiring really. If our kids can grow so much, can’t we too? Well, you might be saying, “we're not kids anymore, Cathrin”. But I don’t really buy that whole theory that kids learn better than adults. I believe with the right attitude we all have lifelong potential to learn. For example, I didn’t start learning French until I was 20, an age some “experts” might call “too late”. But I speak French fluently now, and my accent is even quite good. Five years after I started learning the language, I had the pleasure of astounding one of these so called language experts. Listening to my accent, this Linguistics professor kept insisting, “surely you had a parent or an aunt or someone who spoke French to you as a child? A playmate? A neighbor? Anyone? But I did not. He was so sure of his expert research that I don’t think he ever believed me.
All this is to say that I do not know what I want to be when I “grow up”, but I do believe that there’s nothing more fun than plotting out some dreams and plans and going for them step by step. Being a mom has taught me to change and grow alongside my blossoming kids. They aren’t afraid of trying new things. They’re not afraid of failing or of wasting their time. They just naturally go for learning with gusto. If we also have passion for a subject plus time, there is no end to what we can do. And the thing about the kids becoming more independent is it gives us more time to figure out what we are passionate about to also go for learning it.

A few random things about me

I grew up in Coquitlam, B.C., Canada, just outside of Vancouver.

I hosted a community radio show in Quebec City. It was a music show, and people called in with stuff they had to sell, and I announced their ads on the radio. That was in 1990. This was a French show and an entirely French station. I also helped produce a community affairs show there.

I taught English at Vancouver Community College.

I have not subscribed to cable with the hope that my family would read and practice music more. We do, but we still are often drawn to dvds, youtube or hulu.

I performed as a professional actor for a few years, acting in theatre, video and radio commercials.

I love Wes Anderson movies.

I homeschooled my daughter for two years for 2nd and 3rd grade.

I support local and/or organic farmers and food producers. I also believe in buying recyclable products and creatively reusing all kinds of stuff.

I worked in the video industry for a few years, doing graphics, camera, directing and producing.

I love improv theatre and would like to do more of it.

I have started two businesses (seems I start one about every ten years); one was a video and photography business and the other involved selling and creating reusable gift wrap and reusable gift tags.

I get a thrill from raising money or doing work for charities and the many deserving people suffering in our community.

Biography and Autobiography are two of my favorite genres.

Do you know your child's "learning style"?

Education is not about filling a bucket; it's about lighting a fire. William Butler Yeats

Every parent dreams their child will be on fire for learning, and knowing their "learning style" can help with that. This is a basic summary of "learning styles". It's simple, but you can use this information and quiz at the bottom as a jumping off point in deciding which curriculum or activities or projects will work to help your child learn.

If flashcards only help to frustrate your child and talking through an addition or subtraction problem just confuses him, perhaps the usual study techniques contradict his personal learning style.

Once you know your child's learning style, you can tailor his study habits accordingly. You study smart, meaning you use your best strengths, whether it's visual or auditory or kinesthetic.

Visual learners learn by watching. Use pictures, handouts, movies, and maps. Visual learners tend to study by themselves in a quiet room rather than in a group. When studying for a spelling test, visual learners often benefit from visualizing the words in their mind and then writing them out on paper.

Other helpful study methods for visual learners include:

• Use color highlighters
• Make lists and outlines
• Read books with pictures, maps, and graphs
• Visualize information to aid memorization
• Draw "webs" that connect all of the child's ideas on paper

Auditory learners learn by hearing. Group discussions, videos, lectures, and music all work with these students. They learn better when they read a text aloud or can discuss what they think. Auditory learners take cues from their teacher's tone, pitch, and speed and often find underlying meanings.

Roth recommends asking children to repeat what they've learned in their own words and then help them prioritize the information.

Auditory learners also can:

• Study with someone so they can talk about concepts
• Compose or listen to speeches
• Create jingles or poems to help memorize information
• Use a tape recorder instead of taking notes on paper
• Read instructions aloud
• Talk through a problem or explain it to others

Kinesthetic learners learn by doing. "Kinesthetic learners always want to touch everything and be involved physically with the material they're learning," Roth says. "As much as possible we want to provide something that they can hold or manipulate."

Kinesthetic learners learn best when their muscles or senses are actively engaged. They take a hands-on approach, learning from imitation and touch. Roth adds that kinesthetic students sometimes have difficulty because visual and auditory teaching methods are used most in schools, and abstract concepts are more difficult to hold or manipulate.

"Kinesthetic learners sometimes find science concepts difficult so I ask them to act them out. It helps them to better conceptualize a cell or an atom," she says.

Kinesthetic learners can bounce a ball as they recite their times tables or write a spelling word in the air to help them study.

Other helpful study methods for kinesthetic learners include:

• Manipulate models whenever possible
• Chew gum while studying
• Take study breaks to move around
• Read on an exercise bike
• Play charades or role play

Learning styles are not absolute. Children can use all three modes when they learn. "Everybody learns a combination of ways. Learning areas are not separate functions; the brain is not made up of segments but works together as a whole," Roth says. "The primary role of parents is to stand by and know their child and observe their child and to help them to succeed by helping the child to understand themselves. If they do that, they become the best parent because they'll understand the uniqueness of their student."

QUIZ: Is your child a visual, auditory, or kinesthetic learner? Answer the following questions to find out.

1. What helps your child work through a math problem?

a. Adding or subtracting from a pile of blocks.
b. Reading the problem out loud.
c. Writing it down.

2. When given a new building-block set, does your child:

a. Dive in and start matching random pieces together?
b. Talk to himself as he figures out where each piece goes?
c. Make a car just like the picture on the box?

3. What does your child enjoy the most?

a. Playing "Head, shoulders, knees, and toes."
b. Singing songs.
c. Looking at colorful videos or pictures.

4. Which is your child's favorite class?

a. Gym class
b. Music class
c. Art class

5. When given a spelling word, your child:

a. Writes it down to see if it feels right.
b. Sounds it out.
c. Closes his eyes and pictures the word before writing.

If you answered:
Mostly As: Your child is a kinesthetic learner.
Mostly Bs: Your child is an auditory learner.
Mostly Cs: Your child is a visual learner.

Darn it. Yayyyy.

I'm in that place of, "oh man, why didn't I"...

-start earlier (but I had a great summer)
-study my camera functions
-ask Louise to put a "campaign" link on her super high traffic website

I live and learn. I love making videos and blogging. I've learned that too. The written word is a special medium, but something about images and sounds opens up a whole world of opportunities for important stories to be told in a beautiful and possibly more accessible way.

And this morning, fog is floating from the ground almost up to the treetops. When I was little, this was the kind of morning that made me think the world was magic.