Homeschooling the Creative Child: Do You Have One?

by Andrea Hermitt | More from this Blogger

04 Jun 2007 12:00 PM

As an artistic person, I am especially interested in educating creative kids. While creative children may very well be able to have an interest in art, history, science, and English, many will find these subjects inane and boring without a bit of creativity on the part of the instructor.

How do you tell if you have a creative child? Creative children are often very capable of doing subjects outside art, but they are easily distracted when they do not find the subject fascinating. Besides a propensity to draw, sculpt, and create, a creative child will exhibit the following:

• During language arts instruction, they are far more interested in reading and discussing stories than conjugating verbs and diagramming sentences.
• Science is far more interesting to them when there are charts, and graphs, experiments, than words in a book. They would rather experience nature than read about it. They love field trips.
• Then can remember the events of history, but the places and dates escape them. They can tell you what state is next to which, but the names of capitals and state information is lost to them.
• Math is seldom a problem, unless they have to memorize facts. Multiplication is often done with fingers and toes, and theorems are seldom remembered and quickly forgotten.
• Children are always more interested in what is going on outside of the window than at what is going on in front of them. If they are or have been in school, you have been told they have ADHD, and medication has been recommended.

If any of these behaviors or tendencies sounds familiar, then you have a creative child. While this child will be easier to educate if you too are creative, parents who are less then creative really have nothing to fear. Stay tuned for my next posts on tools and techniques you can use to teach the creative child in your life.

*Have a question about homeschooling? Just ask.

*Want to know more about homeschooling? Start with the 2006 homeschool blog in review!

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Learn more about Andrea Hermitt

Andrea Hermitt is a native New Yorker currently residing in GA. She has been married for over 16 years and has two teenage children.

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Tristi Pinkston (10839) 04 Jun 2007 12:20 PM

Yes indeedy, I have a creative child -- I have four of them! This is one of the reasons why unschooling works so well -- it's easier when we're not so rigid.

Valorie Delp (49340) 04 Jun 2007 08:15 PM

LOL--One of the nursery workers in church was annoyed because my daughter didn't have a favorite color. When asked, she replied simply, "colorful is my favorite color." The worker was concerned that my 4yo didn't know her colors!

Andrea Hermitt (5512) 04 Jun 2007 08:19 PM

It is amazing to me how people get annoyed when others don't fit neatly into their alloted space.

Tristi Pinkston (10839) 04 Jun 2007 09:13 PM

Oh, man, Valorie!! That is such a highly intelligent comment for your daughter to make -- how can the teacher possibly think she didn't know her colors?

Valorie Delp (49340) 05 Jun 2007 10:06 AM

The teacher isn't as smart as my daughter--that's why she didn't know! ;-) If I have a child who will change the world through her ability to think critically--this is the one. I wrote about her and her creative problem solving here before. . .I think it's called Coloring Outside the Lines. I'll look for it and post the link if I can find it.

And Andrea, I find as a parent I get very easily frustrated and nearly defensive when my kids are 'forced' or 'encouraged' into their allotted space. My oldest (the one who is a budding artist) NEVER colored in the lines nor did I encourage her to. (I didn't encourage her not to either. . .just gave her paper and crayons.) She had been told on more than one occassion that her product was inferior bc of her refusal to color trees green. . .LOL or her willingness to color the background but not the picture! Then she went to art classes at hte Y and was light years ahead of the other kids in terms of her ability to picture things. Hmmm. . .wonder if it had to do with all those purple trees?

Valorie Delp (49340) 05 Jun 2007 10:11 AM

http://homeschooling.families.com/blog/coloring-outside-the-lines Here's the link. I have to say it's probably one of my favorite pieces that I've written here. Enjoy!