Betty/Olive/HOD/Homeschooling Our Children
Posted: Tue Jul 28, 2009 7:52 am
I am getting ready to sign off for awhile, but wanted to tell you that I have an update on Betty/Olive and wanted to share it with you. This past May I went to my homeschool convention and heard the most amazing speaker. Her name was Linda Werner and by the time she was finished there were over 1000 parents on their feet clapping, whistling and crying. She talks about teaching to our children's STRENGTH'S, while only managing their weaknesses.
This test has changed my family and even my leadership team for our support group as we've all taken it and many have administered it to our children. It takes Betty/Olive to a whole new level. It is not just a mom (like me) sharing her observations, it's actually put together by Gallup and is scientifically proven. UCLA has used it for their incoming freshmen to help them pick college classes based on their STRENGTH'S!
There are 34 possible themes and this 25 minutes test will tell you what YOUR (and your husband, and your children, and your best friends, and your moms) top FIVE are!
My oldest Brandon tested out as ADAPTABILITY as his number one. I know that I am high in this theme! Here's the description:
You live in the moment. You don’t see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. And so you discover your future one choice at a time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have plans. You probably do. But this theme of Adaptability does enable you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment even if they pull you away from your plans. Unlike some, you don’t resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. Indeed, on some level you actually look forward to them. You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.
How did this change our homeschool? I quit trying to make him follow a strict schedule. Instead I began giving him a to do list, a time to start and a time to finish. DING DING DING..., We have a WINNER! He is more productive than EVER!
OTOH, my 13 year old tested out using the young teen test and his #3 was:
Organizer- Scheduling, planning, and organizing his world make life better. People count on him to get the details right and to pull a plan together.
How did this change our homeschool. He has a schedule that HE helped me put together. We are going to have it laminated and in the front of his very neat notebook. I keep him on task because he will have a breakdown if we go too long with out structure.
How does this relate to HOD? Well a big portion of her talk was about needing to manage our weaknesses. I want my children to have a good education, I want them to have a biblical worldview pulled into every subject when possible, I want my children to learn how to work independently, but I would have to work in my weaknesses to plan that. When I spend time in my weakness I am not engaging or embracing my strength's. BUT this is obviously Carrie's STRENGTH. (I'm guessing she has the themes discipline, learner) and she helps me manage my weakness while she works within her strengths. Isn't that cool!
I blogged pictures, details and even my top five. If you are interested order it from amazon as they are the cheapest. You get your book and in the back is a code. You go to their website, plunk in your code and begin your test. You only have 20 seconds between answers. (which is plenty of time you won't feel rushed but you can't over analyze as they found it not to be as accurate) You do NOT, should NOT read the book first. Take the test and then you can read. It's a fun, easy book to quickly run through but packs a powerful punch!
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MamaMary/692610/
This test has changed my family and even my leadership team for our support group as we've all taken it and many have administered it to our children. It takes Betty/Olive to a whole new level. It is not just a mom (like me) sharing her observations, it's actually put together by Gallup and is scientifically proven. UCLA has used it for their incoming freshmen to help them pick college classes based on their STRENGTH'S!
There are 34 possible themes and this 25 minutes test will tell you what YOUR (and your husband, and your children, and your best friends, and your moms) top FIVE are!
My oldest Brandon tested out as ADAPTABILITY as his number one. I know that I am high in this theme! Here's the description:
You live in the moment. You don’t see the future as a fixed destination. Instead, you see it as a place that you create out of the choices that you make right now. And so you discover your future one choice at a time. This doesn’t mean that you don’t have plans. You probably do. But this theme of Adaptability does enable you to respond willingly to the demands of the moment even if they pull you away from your plans. Unlike some, you don’t resent sudden requests or unforeseen detours. You expect them. They are inevitable. Indeed, on some level you actually look forward to them. You are, at heart, a very flexible person who can stay productive when the demands of work are pulling you in many different directions at once.
How did this change our homeschool? I quit trying to make him follow a strict schedule. Instead I began giving him a to do list, a time to start and a time to finish. DING DING DING..., We have a WINNER! He is more productive than EVER!
OTOH, my 13 year old tested out using the young teen test and his #3 was:
Organizer- Scheduling, planning, and organizing his world make life better. People count on him to get the details right and to pull a plan together.
How did this change our homeschool. He has a schedule that HE helped me put together. We are going to have it laminated and in the front of his very neat notebook. I keep him on task because he will have a breakdown if we go too long with out structure.
How does this relate to HOD? Well a big portion of her talk was about needing to manage our weaknesses. I want my children to have a good education, I want them to have a biblical worldview pulled into every subject when possible, I want my children to learn how to work independently, but I would have to work in my weaknesses to plan that. When I spend time in my weakness I am not engaging or embracing my strength's. BUT this is obviously Carrie's STRENGTH. (I'm guessing she has the themes discipline, learner) and she helps me manage my weakness while she works within her strengths. Isn't that cool!
I blogged pictures, details and even my top five. If you are interested order it from amazon as they are the cheapest. You get your book and in the back is a code. You go to their website, plunk in your code and begin your test. You only have 20 seconds between answers. (which is plenty of time you won't feel rushed but you can't over analyze as they found it not to be as accurate) You do NOT, should NOT read the book first. Take the test and then you can read. It's a fun, easy book to quickly run through but packs a powerful punch!
http://www.homeschoolblogger.com/MamaMary/692610/
This concept reminds me a tad of the Five Love Languages (the one for children 
- though the adult one is pretty on track too 
). It IS helpful to know what makes each of us tick, and when possible to be flexible enough to allow individual strengths to shine. I agree this can be helpful to homeschooling, though it's impossible to always teach to strengths, it makes total sense to try to do so. 
I think we'll spend a lifetime figuring this out - there are shades of the other love languages we show or desire too, but those are the main ones. I would enjoy going through the test and reading the book you've shared here, Mary. 