Academy Leader Update --

Hi all,

I hope those of you at the last meeting are having a great week with the ideas we gave you day by day. We've been doing this a while so I thought I'd let you know how we've spent the last couple days in growing our environment at home.

In a couple of bold movies this weekend, I invested $12.50 in 8 foot by four foot white board for Michael's room (Home Depot cut the 8 foot board in two for free). At six, he's ready to begin Algebra and Geometry lessons. Believe it or not, most six-year-olds love to learn about shapes and volume, acceleration, mass, planets, elements, etc.

Algebra and geometry take quite a lot of space, as does story boarding for English, language, etc. so if you can find a little wall space and $12 I'm happy to show you how we did it.

Our first lesson in Algebra simply defined algebra as "searching for the unknown." We talked about using letters for the variables that interact. We made a rule not to use the "X" sign for multiplying anymore. If your teacher hasn't done that, make sure you do.  We now use a dot exclusively.

In geometry, which Michael will probably like a lot more at first, we simply took a pre-test for shapes like rhomboids, parallelograms, cones, spheres, cubes, etc. and I had him draw the shape on the new white board on his wall. Pretty fun! Pretty impressive too. Not in the sense that he's smart, but in the sense that he spelled out the words and drew the shapes and memorized only one formula, a times b times c. Just enough to make him feel he accomplished something cool and advanced. Tonight we went back to elements. Tomorrow some more algebra and a short review of some shapes. Use Khan for an overview if you haven't yet. Just watch Khan for a couple minutes and move on. Leave them hungry for more. You're just looking for sparks if you have younger or less initiated children.

This summer I want everyone reading this with children from about four and up to learn to keyboard. Michelle and I talk a lot about this, but a child who can't keyboard nowadays is almost like a child who can't read. I wanted to invest in a cover for the keys, but Michelle told me all she does is cover the keyboard with a sheet of paper and has them type under the paper.  Saved a lot of money! I never did this as a child so my typing is slow and I have to look at the keys. As when I coached, my swimmers made more National championships in events in which I never competed. So take heart -- they will fly even if we are stuck coaching from the ground in some areas. I've had to get over it. Ego is out the window onc you have kids! :)

Have them memorize the keyboard == start at the beginning qw; qw; qwe; qwer; qw; qwerty;  -- just keep chunking and repeating. Be patient. Find something good, especially at the end of the lesson, but keep at it at least two to five times a week. Eliza has completed the first row on her first day (we got lucky -- she was ready once she saw Michael starting to type). She already forgot it three days later. That's the process and she is used to it. She is just learning to sight read, but she already knows the alphabet forward and backwards, and how to count by 2's, fives, tens, etc. and to twelve now in seven languages. She thinks it's all fun! So do I. It's a happy and valuable use of thirty minutes of my time a day -- and yours! Just laying the foundation.

Eliza will get a family ice cream party when she completes her memorization of the States of the US. Michael barely did that by his fourth birthday. Eliza might make it this week, about four months earlier -- thanks in no small part to him (and to us improving). We hold the bar high, and they have learned love it. We don't do percentages -- 100 percent of the states or we keep going. The real key is making the process fun and consistent. Michael will get his ice cream party twice - once for the first 10 elements on the periodic table - and again for the whole thing.

What learning area do your children love? Can they learn to name 50 fish? Or maybe fifty countries? Keep making heroes of them; teaching them how to strive, fail, get back to it and succeed. Tell us all and encourage us to encourage your children. How can we support you? How do your children react when they see kids like ours doing this stuff on their own? Who will be there when we open summer talent code workshops on or about the week of June 11th? Michelle and I will work for free this summer directly with motivated children and parents.  Both Mr. and Mrs. Wickwire will also donate their time, passion, experience, and energy. How about you? We know you have gifts to bring. Just being part of this and trusting us is a great gift for us and for your children and to those who will learn by your example.

Feel free to invite friends and neighbors this summer. We've set the bar high for us too -- we want to improve the world for our children. It starts with one and we hope it inspires millions. What will you commit? See you next week!

Steve

See you at 5 tonight!

I am excited about tonight's Workshop.
We will feature Gustavo Dudamel and Argentina's El Sistema as a role model for teachers and parent teachers (all effective parents are teachers too!).  We will explore the real roots of talent and demonstrate two kids who are in a talent code household and who need a talent code "village" or "team" of parents, teachers, administrators, and other children. Will you be part of this movement? Will you change the world? If so, your journey progresses tonight with a simple child-parent interview - 15 minutes for your child and fifteen minutes for you. Go to Talentcodeacademy.com to get the notes if you missed them tonight. We have posted might by night suggestions for the next week that are built to be progressive, embedding a family "habit" of interactive education. It's fun -- ask Michael and Eliza tonight. We aren't faking it -- these are normal kids who are two grade levels ahead. Anyone with passion with a heart for their children and teachers can do it. Tell everyone you know.

We are also joined tonight by Mrs. Wickwire who has been kind enough to certify Talent Code training, allowing parents to earn more financial support and become more effective in this wonderful collaboration that will best ensure our children will reach their dreams.

Check out what is happening on the website: Talent Code Academy