Becky’s out of town for a few days so it’s just been me and the kids and lots of divergent thinking.
We spent most of Saturday and a few hours on Sunday in a field full of construction supplies. The neighborhood to the rear of ours was only partially built when the recession halted construction entirely. Concrete tubes, gaskets and hoses, pvc piping litter a field there – all abandoned until the market and our city rebounds.
To some people this place is no doubt an eyesore…
…evidence of a limping economy
…a construction graveyard, failure, rubbish and rocks.
Lots of rocks.
But my kids saw a bee hive.
And bees buzzing.
They rode a tank, shimmied down a chimney, peeked out of their submarine, crept quietly past a sleeping giant’s mouth.
And those rocks?
Toucans.
Clouds.
Llamas.
A school bus.
Are you tired of this yet?
They weren’t.
They made tools. And more tools. And a tool box.
And went back to work.
On a cat.
A sheep.
Then they climbed out of the Grand Canyon, a crater on an alien planet, up the side of a building like spies and ninjas and bugs, onto a waiting ship to make a getaway with their pockets full of treasure.
This is divergent thinking – the ability to conceive numerous answers.
This is the kind of thinking that got the Apollo team home from the moon. It gave us jazz and airplanes and velcro and vaccines. Divergent thinking could someday remedy AIDS and cancer – and cholera in Haiti. Divergent thinking may even turn a field full of rocks and bee hives and tanks into homes.
We’re all born divergent thinkers. But then we grow up and dumb down.
Do my kids have to?
Thanks to William Guice for posting this video first.
kristie says:
Homeschooling….yardschooling? construction-site-schooling? Love it!
Sharon O says:
What an awesome dad… you helped their imagination and you enouraged play time as their creativity come out.
I think it was fabulous and they will remember ‘the time we played on the pipes’.
Michelle says:
I first saw that video about a month ago. So much resonated, especially as I have a child who struggles with regular school (he is 15 and circumstances mean home-schooling is not possible, plus I would probably kill him trying to teach him :D)
But imaginative play, is the best!
JessicaB says:
Agh! My brain is literally buzzing there’s so much I’d like to say about this!
But since this is your blog and not mine (which I occasionally forget in my comments) I’ll just hit a couple of major points.
I was that kid. I am the dry-erase generation. I started ritalin in first grade and took it through highschool. I was threatened and disapproved of and told I wasn’t realizing my potential every. single. year. To this day I hate institutionalized education. Probably why I keep dropping out of college.
That was 10 years ago. My paradigms have shifted about 3,000 times since then. And this year I’m homeschooling with my 4. Which has rapidly turned into unschooling.
Guess it’s just the divergent thinker in me that’s constantly asking “why”?
Okay, think I’m going to have to run over to my own blog now and get the rest of my thoughts out of my system before I lose them! I am from Georgia after all, and I don’t know if you noticed, but it was bleeding ADHD orange on that map. ๐
Lindsay says:
Those rocks are great! I love watching my children’s minds work. At 3 and 2, it’s not quite as advanced as a toucan or toolbox, but I can see the cogs spinning. I’m trying to help them grow, and I’m also trying to let them help me grow, too!
shayne says:
Beautiful, beautiful, creative children. Congrats.
Kelli says:
That video was amazing. As someone who has her kids in public school, I feel like I’m constantly battling within. We’ve prayed a lot about our children’s education and I’ve more than once considered homeschooling, until this summer when we did a trial run and my firstborn and I almost disowned one another.
For now, public school seems to be where our kids need to be, but I find myself working extra hard on the off school hours to combat school. They are learning a second language at home, they are learning to write stories – each of them has a journal for writing and drawing. I want them to learn to use their imagination and I’ve found that, sadly, we’ve had to really work on this. I’ve allowed too much television and technology to dull their natural ability to create. Which is why we are cancelling cable this month and we are going to get back to imaginative play. I want to give them every opportunity to be divergent thinkiers, even if they are in a factory education setting. ๐
JessicaB says:
The “disowning” you speak of is greatly responsible for my interest in unschooling. So many people decide to homeschool, I think, and then just set up little factories at home. Which doesn’t make any sense. Kids learn naturally. So I’ve thrown all the grammar and curriculums out the window (figuratively). And now we’re both happy. And still learning.
Jenn says:
I’m sure you’ve seen those studies that show how play time with dad is so important to kids, namely the less “safe” type of play that moms usually don’t condone or engage in. And I don’t know that you would still call it “play time” when your kids are older, but it’s great that you took them out there and let them explore and use their imaginations. I played like that when I was a kid, but now my Mama brain sees rebar and shards of things, and my inclination is to say “no!” And that kind of “no” too often can lead to kids who never leave the couch.
Megan @ Faith Like Mustard says:
I adore Ken Robinson. I first heard him here: http://www.ted.com/talks/ken_robinson_says_schools_kill_creativity.html and since have listened to other talks. I’ve never disagreed with anything he has to say.
BUT…I get so frustrated when I do listen. What’s the solution? Obviously, school (homeschooling included if it is just a model of traditional school held at home) needs an overhaul, but where does it start? I feel so powerless.
I am actually a certified teacher but I keep going back-and-forth about whether or not I want to be involved in the current system. The one thing that keeps drawing me there is the fact that it puts me right smack-dab in the middle of our Jerusalem (Acts 1:8). As a pastor’s wife, there are people whom I will never get to know in my town because I will not meet them at church or in some of the social circles that my kids are involved in. However, as a teacher, I would have contact with most children–and often parents–in our community. But I digress…
I want to raise a generation of kids who think “outside the box,” but I often feel inadequate to do so because education taught me that there is only one answer and being wrong is undesirable (when in actuality we learn best my making mistakes). Ken was right–school has killed creativity in that aspect.
BTW, that cat rock is AWESOME! ๐
JessicaB says:
Well, there really is a time for everything. So perhaps if you feel led to home school your children now, when they’re grown you can go back to teaching in a more traditional setting. Them babies are only small and moldable once! ๐
Tori Banks says:
WOW! Great post! I have 4 boys and we homeschool. It is really amazing how creative kids can be when they aren’t chained down to the standardized “right answer.”
Thanks for sharing! I especially loved the video at the end. Much food for thought!
jen says:
I want to know if my kids can come play with your kids at the un-construction site – what a cool place! I thought it was cool that you thought to bring chalk to draw!
Thanks also for the clip – good stuff!
I will say though that I think the video is just the very tip of the iceberg; our children’s ability to think creatively hinges on so much more than medical diagnoses and school systems. Sure, they are a part of the situation, but so are the games we play with our kids and the toys we give them to play with (as your post so eloquently depicts) and the sources of entertainment we allow (them and us). I think it is also in the conversations we have and the environment of our homes, the reading we allow and the music we listen to.
Just my two cents.
Light says:
Oh yeah! Thanks for the post! So true.
Tater Mama says:
I’m blown away by your kids’ creativity!
JessicaB says:
Okay, 1 1/2 more things..
MINUTES after reading this post this morning, my Four Year Old asked me to read “Oh, the thinks you can think”. No lie.
And I just watched that video again, and seriously, Georgia is the most orange. Hands down.
Mela Kamin says:
Incredible – offered me major light-bulb moments – gave an Amen at the 6:30 mark … and those artistic dry-erase skills – incredible. Reminds me of the story we used to watch at school where someone narrates and someone draws (think it was in chalk or pastels, though). Always loved that.
My husband believes he grew up with ADHD or sensory-processing issues … always did his best work in groups, or through projects & hands-on experiments, rather than reading or listening. He’s a can’t-sit-still type of guy, which lends itself perfectly to his work. He’s amazingly gifted, resourceful and is always thinking.
Interestingly enough, he got the education, the degree and the job (sitting at a desk) and promptly quit it a year later to follow his dream and has been a commercial photographer ever since. That was 13 years ago and he’s never regretted it once.
Our 8 year-old has been diagnosed with sensory integration dysfunction. He’s proprioceptive, so he’s bouncing off the walls, literally. School is HARD for him – not because he isn’t bright, but because he doesn’t learn or function as well sitting at a desk for hours on end.
This was very interesting – thanks for sharing.
shayne says:
I didn’t have time to look at the video yesterday but I just viewed it. It makes me sad for my children. They are 16 and 18. Is there any hope for them?
My 18-year-old has stated emphatically since she was in middle school that she doesn’t want to go to college; she wants to go to cosmetology school. She also got the bright idea in her head last year to graduate a semester early. You’d think the school system would applaud her initiative and encourage her to succeed. Unfortunately, that hasn’t been the case.
My son does want to go to college, but he absolutely hates school. With a passion. I can’t speak for the rest of the country, but public education failed my children for sure.