Okay, Now What Do I Do About My Little Edison?

Okay, so you might have a little Thomas Edison at your house. Now what?
First of all, know that you are doing the best thing for them by homeschooling. Divergent thinkers benefit from the one-on-one instruction and freedom of homeschool. Just make sure you are taking full advantage of those benefits.
Keep lessons simple to allow maximum time for individual exploration.
Limit media time.
Use multi-sensory lessons whenever possible. Manipulatives for math (Lego’s, action figures, coins, etc. all work well, especially for little ones), songs for memorization, experiments for science, picture books for History.
Use color codes for lessons. For some reason it helps the divergent thinker focus. Write a math formula on a colored card and then highlight the problems in the assignment that use that formula with the same color. Have your child highlight the parts of speech in different colors instead of traditional diagramming. Write a Spanish word and its translation in the same color.
Leave lessons as open-ended as possible. Let your child choose the topic for an English assignment. Allow him or her to pick a person from a particular time period to read more about. Give your children choices when you assign book reports (see our blog for lots of ideas).
Allow for breaks and active time during the school day.
Remember that Edison trait children often have to try and fail at a new skill many times before mastering it. Choose curriculum that will work with that. For example, we used Saxon math because new skills would return as part of the exercises for weeks. My Little Edison learned by missing most of the problems and figuring out what he did wrong until finally mastering the skill. A curriculum that presented a lesson followed by problems and then moved on to a new skill the next day would have frustrated him (and me!).
Remind yourself often that your child isn’t broken, and that lots of very successful people have struggled just the way he or she does. Commit yourself to learning to speak his or her learning language. And then marvel at our awesome Creator who didn’t make us all the same. He has a special purpose for your child, and you have the amazing privilege to prepare your little ones to fulfill that purpose to His glory!

Please leave any tips you may have for others. Or tell us about your problems or concerns.