some random articles about brain development in children (and adults)

I found an article in a really, really random way - someone posted it in a comment about a picture posted on Facebook. REALLY random. I rabbit-holed my way into some other articles by the same author and these are AWESOME. They're also very validating to our decision to homeschool our children, because yes, after 3-ish years, I still need validation that we're doing the right thing for our daughters.

These are not just flippant little blog posts of someone shooting off their mouth with their clever little opinions. They're substantive articles. And they're long. Be ready for that. They're all by the same writer, who is a behavior therapist for autistic children and cites a lot of brain studies which are footnoted (and linked). While studies certainly can be (and often are) disputed, the fact that she cites studies in the first place and isn't just presenting conjecture gives her thoughts more weight. Here are the articles and some of my thoughts about them.

Article 1: You can increase your intelligence - 5 ways to maximize your cognitive potential

The 5 ways are - seek novelty, challenge yourself, think creatively, do things the hard way, network. No standardized tests or conformity among the options there. I saw a lot of my husband in the novelty and challenge sections - when the brain develops mastery of a subject or skill, it gets bored and doesn't continue to strengthen the neural connections that had developed during the learning. That is totally AC. He gets bored really easily and constantly has to find something new to do.

Her example of using GPS in her explanation of "do things the hard way" hit a chord with me. I actually don't really like using it. I've always enjoyed looking things up on a map (I mourn the loss of those big paper maps) and figuring out my way from Point A to Point B. It was also a fun way to find side trips. Once upon a time, AC and I were using a paper map to chart a route from DC to West Point for his brother's graduation, and we noticed that Sleepy Hollow was near there. We took a side trip to check it out and it's still one of my most prominent travel memories, in part because of how we found it. Google Maps is okay because I can get the picture that I miss from my paper maps, but still. It just tells you what to do instead of letting you figure it out yourself. That's the fun part!

Article 2: The educational value of creative disobedience

The big question: How much of a role does the rule-dependent nature of school play in children's cognitive development, and does school help or actually hurt children's intellectual growth? Her hypothesis is that the structure of school as it currently is presented develops linear thinking and imitation, and penalizes creative thinking. Ouch. And that leads tangentially to the next article.

Article 3: Creativity - a crime of passion

A group of teachers was given a questionnaire which asked what qualities they wanted to develop in children in their classes, and what they favored. Creativity was at the top of the list. Then they ranked their students by behavior, of what they rewarded and what they penalized. By far, the kids who demonstrated creative behaviors were the least favored and the most penalized. The students who were the favorites were the quiet conformists who just did what they were told. Oops. Got that a little backwards, haven't we?

And this isn't just with kids. AC and I have experienced it as adults - we get outside the restrictive status quo in a program and all hell breaks loose. We've actually left local organizations over it because the powers that be decided that our "rebellious streak" (which, oddly enough, involved following the book from the national level) was too disruptive to their don't-make-waves mentality.

Back to Article 2 - the last section of the article said that all this was great and wonderful information, but then it's usually just set on a shelf and we (the universal "we") continue to just do the same junk education structure and often make it even worse. MORE standardized tests. MORE blocking kids into "you must learn X at age Y or else you're stupid and bad." MORE conformity. With homeschooling, I'm trying to keep my kids out of that kind of mentality but probably slip into it myself quite a bit when I hand them grammar worksheets and have them circle the nouns and underline the verbs. I'm working on the steps of Article 1 - seeking novelty and trying to get outside the societal brain box when it comes to educating my daughters.

There's a lot here to process and I'm thinking about it - not just in a "that's interesting" way, but what do I actually DO with this information. How do I take all those words and put them in action with my homeschooling, developing the principles in my kids, and developing them in my own learning. That will have to be another post, because this one is long enough.