2e Tuesday: Conformity isn’t an option.

As in intro to this video clip, I’ll start off by saying that if you have an Out Of the Box Thinker then you’ll understand that they don’t do things just because. They don’t do things because you say so, they don’t do things that don’t make sense to them, they don’t do things to make other people happy. This frequently leads to ‘power struggles’ and ‘temper tantrums’, especially in the early years. In the later years it may become defiance and a complete tuning out.

In the case of Naturalist, I’ve documented in minute detail in here all the ways she chafed in school. From the first day of Kindergarten to the last day of her formal schooling at about 4th grade. At first, I thought it was my job to fit her square peg into the round hole (or whatever that saying is). That didn’t work out so well for her…anxiety, depresion, phobias and facial tics, all before 9. That kind of forced my hand. I’d tried everything I could to make her a normal kid like her peers, and it wasn’t for her. So, we stepped away from all that and embarked on our journey through homeschooling until resting at unschooling. Some people won’t have that journey, or only go part of the way, but regardless, it needs to be a path that both you and your OOTBThinker will respect.

As my kids become older, I’m trying to find mentors for them–people who have maybe been the Out of the Box Thinker in school and now have a life out of school that embraces their creativity and spark. I think anyone who has a divergent creative learner owes it to themselves and to their kids to find like minded people and learn from them…what their path has been, what their advice is, and what helped them the most to become who they are as adults. This takes some effort, because we’re not talking about businessmen or other people with 9-5 jobs. We’re talking about artists, filmmakers, directors, craftsmen, artisans, and a whole host of other people doing things that they don’t talk about in school. It’s my pleasure to share the people I come across with any of you out there with OOTBThinkers.

This video is made by MdotStrange, who I know very little about other than he animated a movie “We Are The Strange” and has started a Film Fest called “From Here to Awesome”, and comes highly recommended from another mentor I’ve found, Mike Hedge.

This is a long-ish video, at about 16 minutes, but so worth the listen. When I listen to him, I imagine a time machine has picked my kids up, swept them into the future, and now they are beaming back a message to me which is what MDotStrange is telling us here.

Enjoy!