Interest-led History Part II or George Lucus meets Dracula

Yesterday's post described a give and take between one son and myself. It was easy to describe in writing, as it was tangible. I saw a direct trail from the game he was playing, Civilization 3, to books. Conversation about this topic was very concentrated in a 30 minute time period. I reported it easily to my husband. But, one son dove in with me, another son wandered away.

Does that mean one son is learning and one is not?

Tapestry keeps coming to mind. Learning is not linear, but is interconnected. Often it is not even verbalized or detected by others in the same room. Learning is thinking and thinking is very private. Connections are made by each individual in their own way, in their own time.

The post yesterday was very easy to write. My son obliged me by giving me a concentrated dose of 'reading-learning-connecting-sharing' all at once. Oh, us mothers need that every so often!

But, I need to look around the edges and not get lazy. Or make easy assumptions.

Learning can be very subtle. Watching both my children, I can see connections they have made to this game, history and other topics permeate in their conversations, actions and play. Though one child may be more extroverted in sharing a nugget of knowledge, another child may hold it within him, to ponder and absorb. Deep connections are possibly being made.

Meier Briggs personality tests help us get a glimpse into how other process, think and learn. And express, or not. Reading the book Please Understand Me last month I was particularly taken by a section on extroversion vs. introversion. Each of us have a bit of both, but some people are wired strongly in one direction or the other.

It seemed I was an extrovert until I hit junior high. Then, moved across the country, going into that 'awkward age' I had been warned about and losing my external support system, (my peers had been my whole world) I 'became' an introvert. It lasted until college, when I found my voice again and that extroversion returned.

But, I think I was always an extrovert at heart. My spirit had just been crushed.

So, I am trying to understand those with stronger introversion, which make up half of my family and many of my friends. This statement from Meier Briggs was telling. Intorverts need their space. They need territory, be it physcial, mental or emotional. They need that distanced private area to work things out. Infringement is a word to take seriously. There a spirit can again be crushed.

And the book, Introvert Advantage tells us that being an introvert is a good thing. Really good! These are our thinkers and they really keep the world running. The extroverts may execute the plans and get the credit, but someone has to think them up and work out the details.

So, back to history and learning.

I am becoming more sensitive to understand how my children are learning. Seeing clues. Ensuring that those with the need for more 'territory' are not resigning to jumping through the hoops of the extroversion-crazed world and their sometimes-crazed mom. It is easy to write about that flurry of talk from a child who wants to question and discuss everything we find. But a little more delicate task to understand the quiet learner... the thinker, ponderer - the 'stiller waters'.

Later on last night I found them both reading the history books and laughing. Finding tidbits that interested them. Pondering in their time and space. They both came in to report findings. Oh, that was nice. I do like it when I get my petit fours on a silver platter. :)

One told me that Dracula really did exist in Transylvania and tortured rats for fun. The other that George Lucas (a folk-hero around here) is listed in the Timetables of History by Grun.

Now, this is cool.

Connections. Who knows what else they found?