Friday, September 13, 2013

How a kid's passion can fuel education

So, Star Wars has captured Brady's imagination more than anything I can remember for a long time, maybe ever.

I have mentioned previously that drawing is not Brady's favorite thing. But he drew this during church. It is the scene when the Emperor is shooting lightning at Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader turns to the good side right in that moment and saves him.

Wow, maybe that's a good thought for church. I like that he is showing emotion in the faces and even wrote a word!
He is using Star Wars in his drawings at school and in sentences. It is motivating him to do these things he's not crazy over.

He told me this the other night after taking a LOOONNNGGGG time to brush his teeth:

"I'm sorry. I got distracted and was pretending that the toothbrush was C3PO and the lid to the toothpaste was R2D2."

And here he is with a Giant Lego Star Destroyer he made chasing a Mini Lego Millennium Falcon. The top part of the destroyer is the command deck!

I am starting to realize his passion for this one thing - and who can resist an epic space battle of good vs. evil - can transform how he looks at things he doesn't even like, like drawing or reading or writing (he'd be happy if school was all math and recess).

Next up in this saga: I'm going to order those old Star Wars books I used to read and we'll read them together. If he sees that there are exciting things to read in the world, he just may change his opinion about it. 

What inspires your children? What passions do they have that could fuel their education and learning?



20 comments:

  1. Passions are so important to learning! It makes it so much easier for all of us if we are engaged and want to learn! And Star Wars has a lot of great life lessons!

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    1. For some reason that thought never occurred to me before but now it makes so much sense! Passion leads to motivation which leads to opening of the mind to learning.

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  2. That is too cute! What a great idea to read the books with him. That should help a lot. But it is great that he is passionate about it. It can't hurt.

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    1. We love to read and this will only make it better :)

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  3. My youngest son is crazy about Plant Vs Zombie, ANgry Birds, and Dragon city. He just plays on the weekend, but he can capture things in his mind. Maybe because he misses his weekend playing time, he draws a lot of things about those series and makes stories out of them.

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    1. What is plant vs zombie? That sounds interesting. Brady likes Angry Birds and especially, go figure, Angry Birds Star Wars. He mostly plays weekends too, but it is a nice relaxing thing for them. When it piques their imagination in other ways it is just great.

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  4. That is so sweet! Back when I taught 4th grade I used to encourage parents to find a topic that really captivated their child (boys especially) and find as many reading materials as they could on that subject. Sometimes it's just the simplest things that can get our kids passionate about so much!

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    1. Well, neat that you encouraged that with parents too. I can't believe it never occurred to me until now. Brady usually shows me the things I need to learn :)

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  5. When you follow what interests them children learn so much more

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  6. This is so true! It continues through adolescence and adulthood. When I allow my students to choose their research topics in English, the things they come up with and the diligence they show is amazing. Nice post!

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    1. How cool that letting them self guide helps them to do even better. That's true learning, IMO.

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  7. My oldest is crazy (craaaaazy) about Transformers and now Power Rangers, too...it's amazing how much it inspires, actually.

    Thanks for linking up with The Blogging Bunch!

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    1. Yes, Transformers was his passion for awhile too. It makes it so much more fun when they can see things through the lens of their passion. Thanks for offering the link up!

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  8. Your son is lucky that you are willing to fuel his passion in a constructive way. I'd imagine you see Brady become very interested in those books.

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    1. Missy, I sure hope so. I think he will. I think his love of books will overcome his hesitancy to read in the long run, if we can all just stay patient :)

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  9. My kids will do anything for Star Wars too...it's crazy, but good motivation! Hope it continues!

    Thanks for stopping by the Saturday Showoff Linky at The Blogging Bunch.

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    1. Yes, all things considered, Star Wars is not the worst thing to have as a motivator :) Thanks for offering the link up! It's fun!

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  10. Oh my! My older son was also obsessed with Star Wars. He read a whole book about light sabres, he watched all the movies, he collected little figurines and, like your boy, constructed, battleships and drew pics every where! I love it too because I'm as nerdy as he is!! :)

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    1. It's so neat when they delve into something so completely, kind of practice for someday if they take up guitar or gardening or some other skill that requires work and research. And I'm a total nerd too!

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