Tuesday 15 September 2009

learning

First off, I'm sorry for not blogging about our anniversary celebrations on Thursday. Bob took the day off, we bought him a suit at the BX - a concessionary of Alexandre of London, and went to dinner at the club (which was actually quite nice).

On to today.

I learned some stuff today which I hope I can keep in mind and use to my advantage.

I have a book called - well, I don't see it, but I think it's - The Way They Learn. It has a questionnaire and some descriptions so you can fit yourself (and your children) into one of 4 thinking styles. The combinations are abstract sequential, concrete sequential, abstract random, and concrete random. I had my suspicions that I was CS, and all the children were AR. Well, turns out (according to their own thoughtful answers) all but Cedwryck are sequential as well. So all this time I've been viewing them as some sort of alien creature, when in fact they are the same sort as me just - get this - immature. They don't do things the hard way just for fun, but because they haven't yet learned the easy way. They aren't illogical, they have undeveloped logic. So a big kick to my backside to get things moving and start teaching them what they actually DO want to know.

(It is driving me nuts that spellchecker won't recognize the plural form of combination!!!)

And then I got an email from my midwife about her website, and I followed some links, and discovered that my hip problem isn't just arthritis. It is a condition known as Symphysis Pubis Dysfunction. I remember trying to describe the feeling to a nurse one day and getting the strangest look... A few weeks before Riah was born I could feel my pubic bones separating. With each subsequent pregnancy it has happened earlier, and at times it has been painful in this one. Turns out there isn't much I can do other than what I'm doing already by instinct. I might want to look into a chiropractor at some point...
I imagine that this, like most other health problems, is made worse by being overweight. I'm really gonna have to do something about that.

Anyway, it's past 11 and I ought to be in bed.

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Ah, learning styles. I remember reading on this topic back in the day, but I'm not good at analysis and not good at doing things another person's way. Therefore, I don't think I learned anything of benefit for myself or my children. Hope it works better for you.
I'm glad you've been able to identify you hip problem; just knowing what it is can ease the mind, if not the body. mums

Wil said...

I agree -- just knowing sometimes makes it easier. At least you don't have the pain *and* the frustration of not knowing what it is... Plus, you're one step closer to a solution -- hopefully.

Learning styles. I've probably heard them divided up a dozen different ways. Summary: most of us learn differently, and few of us fit completely into a box.

Marline can hear and repeat a string of numbers, and then she has them memorized. If I do the same thing, I have to actually visualize those numbers in written form, and then I've got it.

To most people, it seems as though I'm taking longer to learn something, but I'm actually just learning it differently. If they were written down, I'd have them faster. (Maybe.)