Hi EEC Families! Do you know who Jonathan Mooney is? If not, then you should. All EEC clients, who I consider to be twice-exceptional, can relate to his story of learning struggles and perseverance. As someone who’s fought through school with dyslexia and LD, I can deeply empathize. Watch this clip with your kid and consider these questions. How can you graduate from Brown University with a 4th-grade reading level? What would you do if you were the champion of your own learning? https://www.jonathanmooney.com/talks. Ok, onto the real message.
Dr. Murphy’s check-in.
Feeling well? That’s good! So now what?
I have some thoughts….
This is a strange time period for us all. Wouldn’t you agree? It’s been hard for me to adjust and adapt to the shift in priorities. As a coach, I talk to clients about priorities and how to ‘future plan’ with a clearer picture of what priorities look like and how it feels to effectively manage the tasks that matter most. This may be an appropriate time to bring this topic back to the table. As we know, health is the most important priority. If we are not healthy then we cannot care for others, we cannot learn, or work effectively towards living a meaningful life. Now is the first time that we, as a society, are taking a collective and proactive stand to protect our health. So, with all this time on our hands and with our kids sticking around indefinitely, how do we make the best of this strange situation?
Let’s take a glass 1/2 full perspective on this. If you are healthy, then this should be easy. We are blessed with an opportunity to think way outside the box and engage our kids in ways they never imagined. The possibilities are limitless. Unfortunately, our students have been programmed to experience learning in one place, school. Home is for chilling and maybe homework. Now that schools are closed and they don’t have HW or a busy schedule to fill their time, many are in stagnation. Do you blame them? Let’s consider something.
With your gentle guidance, can we open the door to some new possibilities for our children? They are blessed with this opportunity to ‘explore’ their own interests and follow their curiosity. To help elicit their curiosity and creativity, can we facilitate quiet time in the day to promote self-reflection, reading, thinking, and exploration of strengths and interests. Can we engage with our children to create a schedule that allows independent exploration and learning? Truthfully, too many students will need time to go through a process of ‘unschooling’ before they can embrace self-initiated learning opportunities. However, given some guidance and support, they can start to respond to the inner voice and discover that they are curious about many things and those curiosities can form the roadmap to a productive and meaningful life.