Holistic Education embracing Wellness & the joy of Lifelong Learning & Community Building Skills.

HOLISTIC BRAIN-BASED EDUCATION: INNER-DIRECTED OPTIMAL LEARNING

INTEREST CENTERED PURPOSE FOCUED COMMUNITY BUILDING INTERDEPENT CO-CREATIVE EDUCATION
Education in the Information Age: Interdependent Relationships Co-Creating Self-Discipline & Callings

        Before someone told me that Dr. Gardner had added to his original 8 Multiple Intelligences, I had added 2 more: "Spiritual" and "Psychic" to my transparenting concepts. The person who I spoke to told me, that Dr. Gardner had added one(s) with even the same theme(s) - I was overjoyed to be in alignment with such an innovative thinker. My research has been inspired by what I feel is mostly mis-diagnosis and mis-treatment of what are being called “brain-diseases” mainly: Depression, Manic Depression, ADD & ADHD. For instance, to me, most kids who are told they are ADD are really just “Kinesthetic learners” who are usually highly sensitive and most of the time bored or frustrated with out-dated learning methods. This is what led me to Dr. Gardner’s work in the first place. Being a “Kinesthetic learner” who is also a “Multi-tasker” (best at doing several things at once and is good at overviews more than details) who is often not getting the understanding for their individual needs. On top of this, often times they are not getting the correct nutrition or diets cycles, as well as many of them (along with many people, whether they know it or not) are most likely hypo-glycemic and therefore need small amounts of protein though-out the day to sustain their blood sugar levels. Otherwise, they can get very low energy and often get irritated easily &/or antsy by going into adrenaline reserves - either way, they loose the ability to concentrate well and to function in school to a more or lesser degree.
        I feel very few kids are really "sick" in this way and that instead, it is our lack of understanding the whole picture of what makes a child feel good about leaning. When someone is told they are “sick” it is a heavy load to carry and especially for a child who is not then able to feel “normal” through ordinary awkward phases all of us go through growing up. In fact, Dr.’s usually feel, and will tell us without a doubt, that these people will never heal and that their brain’s chemicals are going to need pharmaceutical drugs all their lives no matter how this may hurt their liver, overall health and even more so, their self-esteem. These days, there are so many non-drug alternatives (herbal and otherwise) available - so that if a child (person) has real problems in these areas (such as ADHD) I feel it is pure negligence (if not simply greed on the part of those who profit from other’s ignorance about the matter) not to use, or at least first try - these ever growing alternatives that at least do no harm.
        In addition, I have found that usually these kids have both parents working and this has left them with very little quality time with their parents. Perhaps the parents are well meaning and just have hard financial circumstances. Others think that the ability to buy their kids things is more important than spending time with them - so their real needs are still often times ignored. With the demands of parenting being at times quite overwhelming for everyone, it is even harder for someone who themselves did not receive very much quality parenting. Or perhaps they received parenting that was so mixed that it has still left them with many holes to fill in on how to deal with their own kids in the best way for each individual child. Of course, the easy out is avoiding time with the kids. Sometimes divorce, that’s quite common these days. It has a very complicated effect on kids depending on how it’s dealt with, and in some cases may actually be a way to get some parents to spend quality time with their kids. Perhaps the question should really be: "who has the attention deficit - the kids or the parents".
        I feel that so much of how we learn is connected to how we were disciplined growing up. I find that many of the ADD kids are being punished by out-dated methods that do more harm than good and more importantly don’t really work. When I was growing up is was legal for schools to hit kids and physical abuse was considered a good disciplining method. It is extremely harmful for many reasons; it’s very confusing (because one who is caring for you is hurting you and then telling you that it is for your own good) it’s humiliating (many times there are sexual overtones when a child, pre-teen or worse yet a teen is forced to pull down their pants or other inappropriate demands) and it usually has more to do with the parents moods and less often what the child has done to “deserve” it – thus creating further confusion on what actually is good behavior – especially when the parent is not modeling the behavior that they are asking for “Respect”. Usually parents who hit their kids (a method that I feel never really works under any circumstance for the above reasons) practice the lesser known or easily defined psychologically abuse. This can be seen as the child feeling they need to care for the parents needs above their own, (as in “Drama Of the Gifted Child” by Alice Walker) or just constantly attacking their self-esteem &/or comparing siblings and creating an atmosphere in the home of constant competition for their approval among the siblings. Often times, there’s a combination of these things going on and no pill will remedy the devastating effects it has on our ability to function in a healthy way, let alone learn. Then, to be labeled “sick” on top of that by parents who may even be trying to do well by them by giving them “help” can give a child all kinds of mixed messages and really only confuse them. This is not the path to self-discipline let alone self-reliance.
        Perhaps the parents get some pay-off for the kid being sick, less time with the spouse who may be abusive. Or perhaps the child gets a pay off from it - more attention form the parent who shows more understanding now that they are “sick”. Simply put, humiliation is not a good setting for learning, and outward disciplines create that feeling - to a more or lesser degree based on how they are enforced. A child (person) is left to then choose to be a “victim” and obey regardless of how they think or feel or a “rebel” who is trying to find their dignity through fighting back from what feels wrong to them for whatever reason. Usually a person will swings back and forth in those situations. This is what I feel is at the essence of what is being called the “Manic Depressive” personality. I call Manic Depression “Inspiration hitting the wall of manifestation”. There are tools we can learn to help us to manifest any dream that are based in self-discipline and support for that dream is essential.
No matter what subject I teach kids, my main goal is to teach them how to "care" about their own feelings, needs, and abilities and those of others around them. My focus is to help them to learn how to create interdependent relationships rather than hurtful co-dependent ones that never allow for negotiating skills and doing what is best for all concerned. My transparenting concepts are based on what I call "no-fault negotiating" and other peacekeeping methods that empower self-discipline. This is also an important factor in people with chronic depression, which has a lot to do with self-esteem, how we were disciplined, lack of healthy support, and finding ones calling in life.
        The Multiple Intelligences are very important corner stones in understanding and appreciating our individual gifts. Yet we as educators need to help kids (as well as adults) to know how to create tools to live in harmony with others and have meaningful loving relationships. In order to know inner happiness and lead a fulfilled life we must all learn how to: 1) calm down and get centered 2) eat correctly for ones individual bodies needs & take care of our physical needs through a balanced & joyful approach to movement 3) kindly negotiate for ones needs 4) listen to others, especially when in conflict 5) understand that you can be friends with everyone on a certain level, or at least find something you like about them and realize that if someone really bothers you it is a message to you - about how you feel about yourself 6) get though conflicts towards a peaceful resolution- that may need to be re-negotiated if the first idea didn’t workout until both/all are able to compromise and find an answer that works for all concerned 7) hear advice and how to best offer it and more important when it’s best not to give it 8) most importantly, making the best out of all situations as learning experiences that help us to grow wisdom. The most important thing to understand is that what is perceived as “bad behavior” always has good reasons and there is a journey for someone to complete if there is a troubled soul. In other cultures, those who are troubled or going through life changes or trauma are told to go on a vision quest or “walkabout”. Only in our culture is it a shameful thing to have a “break down”. With loving support and greater understanding of our lives we can make any break down into a break through. The path to good relationships is paved with empathy and self-discipline that comes from empowering interdependent relationship where all can have a voice and where ones inner voice of creativity and insights are both nurtured and protected. Most importantly this is what is important to teach our children so that we may have a new education that can create a healthy society.