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The Right Side of Normal
Does your child have a highly developed imagination and spend hours doing one or more of the computers/video games, building/electronics, art/photography, fashion/sewing, theater/showmanship, puzzles/mazes, cooking/ gardening, or music/dance? Yet, does your child struggle with math facts, learning to read, or spelling, or is labeled with ADHD, dyslexia, auditory processing disorder, gifted, or Asperger's? Do people consider your child smart, but lazy, living below his potential, or she resists your teaching methods? You may have a right-brained learner.
Schools use a scope and sequence that favors the strengths and gifts of a left-brained dominant person. Because most of us were schooled in these left-brained dominant schools, we learned to value left-brained traits, too. If we have right-brained children, though, we'll soon notice they do things differently. These are intelligent, creative, and inquisitive children who often seem to flounder in school. They resist or perform poorly because we are not teaching in the way they learn. We use left-brained teaching methods on a right-brained child. The good news and hope within this book is that there exists a valid and strengths-based educational approach best suited for right-brained learners, and, with it, they flourish and thrive.
Schools use a scope and sequence that favors the strengths and gifts of a left-brained dominant person. Because most of us were schooled in these left-brained dominant schools, we learned to value left-brained traits, too. If we have right-brained children, though, we'll soon notice they do things differently. These are intelligent, creative, and inquisitive children who often seem to flounder in school. They resist or perform poorly because we are not teaching in the way they learn. We use left-brained teaching methods on a right-brained child. The good news and hope within this book is that there exists a valid and strengths-based educational approach best suited for right-brained learners, and, with it, they flourish and thrive.
506 pages, Paperback
First published September 12, 2012
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Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews
March 21, 2015
This book thoroughly covers the right-brained learner concept - everything from brain function of different hemispheres to how learning modalities play a part, to how to approach different subjects from a right-brained perspective, to an alternate learning schedule for those who are right-brain dominant, to how right-brained dominance appears in conjunction with ADD/ADHD, dyslexia, dysgraphia, ASD, etc. I really like how the author argues that the 'issues' that these kids have should not be considered 'problems', but just as differences in processing, and when taught at the right developmental time for them, they often can learn quickly. Instead of labeling kids when they don't 'fit the standard', leaving them feeling inferior to other students, she advocates changing the standard to allow for differences in learning style. There's many great qualities of right-brained thinkers-they are often builders, creators, artists, and innovators.
The main take-away I got from this is right-brained kids learn differently than current methods that schools use, since they are predominantly target left-brained thinking. This appears in the current emphasis on reading/writing/arithmetic in the 5-7 years, and adding history/science later. Right-brained kids process information globally, not part-to-whole, and often are only ready to begin reading in the 8-10 age range, while the earlier years are more suited to exploration in history and science as they grasp 'big picture' concepts. They often learn complex math concepts faster than memorizing arithmetic facts. The ages of 11-13 is when the left and right brains are more able to integrate fully, so that's when reading fluency comes and writing skills come into play. Knowing this makes me feel a lot less pressure when T still doesn't remember math facts or spell words correctly or forget basic grammar. It honors his own time-table for learning and his need to explore his creativity and passions as he processes the world around him, and helps me to not expect him to fit some mold of some 'ideal student'.
The main take-away I got from this is right-brained kids learn differently than current methods that schools use, since they are predominantly target left-brained thinking. This appears in the current emphasis on reading/writing/arithmetic in the 5-7 years, and adding history/science later. Right-brained kids process information globally, not part-to-whole, and often are only ready to begin reading in the 8-10 age range, while the earlier years are more suited to exploration in history and science as they grasp 'big picture' concepts. They often learn complex math concepts faster than memorizing arithmetic facts. The ages of 11-13 is when the left and right brains are more able to integrate fully, so that's when reading fluency comes and writing skills come into play. Knowing this makes me feel a lot less pressure when T still doesn't remember math facts or spell words correctly or forget basic grammar. It honors his own time-table for learning and his need to explore his creativity and passions as he processes the world around him, and helps me to not expect him to fit some mold of some 'ideal student'.
June 30, 2013
This has been an eye-opening book. I am a homeschooling mom of two right-brained children - and I am right-brained too, so I learned a lot of helpful revealing things about myself! This book is written by a homeschooling mom, so don't be surprised to read a lot about her homeschooling experiences with her children.
I like that she shares personal stories at the beginning of each chapter of how her view slowly shifted in how to teach her right brained children. I also like the format of how the book is organized, though I wish she would get to the section on how to teach them a lot sooner!
A few things I didn't like were that I felt she over-emphasized the use and mention of manga- to the point where I felt she was singing its praises. Yes, I get that her kids read it a lot in her experience, and yes I understand that she is emphasizing honoring her kids' learning style, but there is no way I would allow my kids to read that stuff, especially because of the things that many of them promote. You can still honor their learning style while setting standards and boundaries. I don't think it was worth offering up as a quality reading option. It is very difficult to find comics that teach good values in general, and I wish she had offered up a few GOOD examples.
As mentioned in another review, the book is repetitive, and at times very wordy. It feels like the chapters were written separately from each other instead of taking into consideration of how the chapters would fit together as a whole.
Also, she talks a lot about her kids playing video games and even seems to promote it, but doesn't address very well the media balance concern.
It is also frustrating that her solutions feel so generalized, especially as she talks up the solutions so much. They were very hard to find and you have to dig a little for them. I realize your child's education has to be individualized for their needs, but I was at least hoping for a simple, VISUAL chart or list of helpful books, curriculum, methods, schedules, that are more right-brain geared, etc. - possibly summing up her book so you don't have to wade back through the book to find the information you need! Ack! (I guess her website addresses this to a degree.)
But overall, I think this is a book everyone needs to read because the ideas behind it are so big and changes the way we view our children (who are NOT broken) and the school system (which is broken). This is also a very empowering book not only for me as a parent, but for my children. Our homeschooling will never be the same - and that's a good thing!
I like that she shares personal stories at the beginning of each chapter of how her view slowly shifted in how to teach her right brained children. I also like the format of how the book is organized, though I wish she would get to the section on how to teach them a lot sooner!
A few things I didn't like were that I felt she over-emphasized the use and mention of manga- to the point where I felt she was singing its praises. Yes, I get that her kids read it a lot in her experience, and yes I understand that she is emphasizing honoring her kids' learning style, but there is no way I would allow my kids to read that stuff, especially because of the things that many of them promote. You can still honor their learning style while setting standards and boundaries. I don't think it was worth offering up as a quality reading option. It is very difficult to find comics that teach good values in general, and I wish she had offered up a few GOOD examples.
As mentioned in another review, the book is repetitive, and at times very wordy. It feels like the chapters were written separately from each other instead of taking into consideration of how the chapters would fit together as a whole.
Also, she talks a lot about her kids playing video games and even seems to promote it, but doesn't address very well the media balance concern.
It is also frustrating that her solutions feel so generalized, especially as she talks up the solutions so much. They were very hard to find and you have to dig a little for them. I realize your child's education has to be individualized for their needs, but I was at least hoping for a simple, VISUAL chart or list of helpful books, curriculum, methods, schedules, that are more right-brain geared, etc. - possibly summing up her book so you don't have to wade back through the book to find the information you need! Ack! (I guess her website addresses this to a degree.)
But overall, I think this is a book everyone needs to read because the ideas behind it are so big and changes the way we view our children (who are NOT broken) and the school system (which is broken). This is also a very empowering book not only for me as a parent, but for my children. Our homeschooling will never be the same - and that's a good thing!
February 28, 2015
While it is the true that the book is quite repetitive and clearly written by a left-brain writer (I would have appreciated charts and mind maps for instance), I really enjoyed reading it.
The author reminded me what I have always believed in: you have to trust your children, even if they don't act like others, even if they are not into what others are into and so on.
My kids are right-brain kids, I am a right-brain mom, but even though I know it now, I have been raised as a left-brain kid by a left-brain society and I don't always choose the right-brain way myself.
The author reminded me what I have always believed in: you have to trust your children, even if they don't act like others, even if they are not into what others are into and so on.
My kids are right-brain kids, I am a right-brain mom, but even though I know it now, I have been raised as a left-brain kid by a left-brain society and I don't always choose the right-brain way myself.
May 26, 2015
An important read for people who are new to the idea, but could have been half as long. While she definitely did her research, her main evidence was all based on her own children and experiences (not necessarily a bad thing, just an observation). It was like reading a journal of family anecdotes interspersed with research. I agree with almost everything, but a few sticking points (I won't go into them).
Displaying 1 - 4 of 4 reviews