unlocking the brain

Beware: this is a very long and potentially boring post.

Alex is a very unusual Cleaver. We've noticed over the last year that he has an uncanny ability to understand a few different concepts. His latest is multiplication. One day a few months ago he watched as I showed Katie that 8 time 8 is the same as 8 times 4 doubled. I wrote it out on paper like this:

8

8 32

8

8 64

8

8

8 32

8

I guess I didn't think anything of Alex looking on. A few minutes later he started saying things like: 3 times 3 is 9 because three plus three plus three is nine. He wanted me to ask him other times questions to see if he could get him right. A few weeks later when he answered 12 times 4 correctly. I said, "Alex how did you figure that out?" His excited reply: "I just used my brain." I would like to know what exactly he thinks in his brain since he doesn't use his fingers to count--just thinks. Math is not the only thing that comes easy for Alex, I've also noticed how much he understand when we read the scriptures at night. Right now we're reading Matthew in the New Testament. After reading a parable I ask the kids what the different symbols are in the parable. Alex seems to always get it right off. He gets excited as he talks about different things. He says things like, "so that's why we should be nice to people even when they're not nice to us." Its interesting to note that Jordan is a great critical thinker too. Katie on the other hand is always playing with her hair and doesn't really care. Reading comprehension isn't her strength.

Watching Alex has made me wonder about the brain and how it seems so efficient in some people and not so efficient in others. I cannot take any credit for Alex's math skills. It seems he was just born with an ability to learn quickly. But I did teach him (if you can call pushing him to do his reading lessons teaching) to read before he started kindergarten and I wonder if maybe that helped unlock his brain. While he was in the middle of the reading book (Teach Your Child to Read in 100 Easy Lessons) I noticed that he suddenly understood how to read music under my sister's tutelage (she was his piano teacher at the time). It seemed to just click. (I've heard reading age is the best to teach a child piano because they already understand that a symbol equates to a word and connecting a different symbol to a note on the piano makes sense.) Also once he started getting the reading down and it wasn't such a chore I noticed he felt more confident in himself. I've noticed this with the other kids too. When Jordan learned to tie his shoes it seems he was happy about it and much more motivated to learn other things. I guess its the same for me even now. When I accomplish something that I didn't really enjoy in the beginning it makes me think maybe I can learn other new things. So I'm thinking maybe reading unlocked Alex's brain.

Do you remember when your brain was unlocked? For me it wasn't until I was a Junior in high school and had a really great set of teachers. We had critical thinking writing assignments daily and at least a couple of times a month we had debates about any given topic. We were required to study our side of the debate and be prepared to backup our philosophies with credible sources. It seemed all the sudden I could think on my own.

So it seems Alex and Jordan have a head start on me. I wonder about Katie though. How to unlock her brain. She was also an early reader and really quick with math at an early age but she has never been successful with critical thinking. It makes me wonder what I can do to help that. She has a totally different personality and learning style than the boys. I guess its back to the books to figure out what learning style she has and what to do about it.