Over the past ten years, we have fostered and adopted several children. Seven children are officially ours but we have been faced with multiple special needs and learning challenges.

I recognize I need to teach our children they are smart and to embrace their challenges and weaknesses instead of running from them. The book, 8 Great Smarts by Kathy Koch gave me the perfect tools to teach them these concepts directly, therefore giving them the means to succeed.

As a mom, it breaks my heart to see my children struggle. I think all parents can relate to this feeling. I just want to take all the pain away and use my superpowers to give them whatever skills they need.

Unfortunately, this is simply not possible. Struggling is a part of life and that is how we learn. I want you to stop and think of your own struggles. What have they taught you or are maybe still teaching you?

My struggles have led to a greater and deeper purpose in my own life. Without them, I would not be the person or the parent I am today.

However, I can teach my children to take those challenges, embrace them, and use them to bring deeper meaning to their lives. It sounds like a big job, right? I thought so too!

Parenting Perspective

Last year, my parents invited my family out to have lunch and do some boating in a nearby lake. They had a paddleboat and a couple of kayaks. I decided to go out into the paddle boat because I could take three or four kiddos with me all at the same time.

I asked my dad how to do it. He told me he had no idea because he was having a hard time learning to navigate it himself. I asked him if he had googled instructions because that’s the answer to most of my questions. He said he had but it wasn’t much help.

I decided to give it a try anyway and I’m pretty sure my parents got started planning a kayak rescue for when we were stranded in the middle of the lake.

We took off and it was definitely a learning curve. I stayed as far away from people as I could because I didn’t want to take anyone out. As the afternoon clicked by, I got more comfortable as we sailed all around that lake.

On our way back in, I realized how hard it would be to teach someone how to do this because it was something you had to feel. It depended on the direction of the current, which way the wind was blowing, and even how much weight was in the boat. I even learned that you couldn’t make sudden moves instead you had to make small directional changes.

I am telling you this story because driving that paddle boat is a lot like parenting. We have parented a lot of children over the years and guess what? No two of them are alike and none of them came with an instruction manual.

Have you tried to google parenting? Needless to say, it’s very overwhelming and in the end, the answers need to be customized to the kiddo! I had to pay close attention to my surroundings and environment which was changing constantly as I navigated my paddleboat and the same goes for parenting.

Parenting is successful when we pray and pay attention to the child and their cues. We have to learn to make small changes as we see the need.

How I Taught the 8 Great Smarts

I want to share with you how I taught this to our children and our local homeschool co-op. I have put together my lesson plans in a unit study. It is available as a free download.

Introduction

I taught this unit study over a three month period. On the first day, I did a demonstration where I attempted to open a can with a badminton racket, a piece of yarn, and a screwdriver. When the tools wouldn’t open the can I proclaimed that tool to be stupid!

Finally, I got the can opener out and it did the trick. I proclaimed it to be the smartest tool ever and that I would be using the can opener for every job I had in the future. The kids thought I was ridiculous! Can you imagine brushing your hair with a can opener?

I have to admit it was a pretty silly demonstration but the kids got the point. Just because we are not the same kind of smart that someone else is, doesn’t mean we are stupid. Comparing ourselves to others is very dangerous and is not healthy.

The Lessons

After the introduction during the first week, we started learning each individual smart and how they can help us. Here’s the basic outline for each lesson every week:

• The smart review
• The new smart
• Academic discussion
• Game or Activity
• Character discussion

The Smart Review

At the beginning of every class, I would review the previous lesson’s smart by saying the smart, what they think with, and do the hand motions.

The New Smart

I would teach them the new smart and the hand motion that goes with it. I taught the hand motions so that it would help them to remember it. We would discuss the attributes of that smart. I loved to see their wheels turning as they began to do a self-assessment to see if they fell into that category.

Academic Discussion

We would move into a discussion about how this particular smart could help us when we are struggling with our school work. We talked about how incorporating our smart will compensate for our weakness.

Game or Activity

We would play a game or do an activity that would highlight that particular smart. We discussed how the smart applied to the activities and how they felt they did with them. Some would excel because it was definitely something they were strong in while others may have struggled some.

Character Discussion

This is one of my favorite parts. We talk about the strengths and weaknesses of that particular smart. What dark side does this particular smart introduce? We all have tendencies in a certain direction and when we are aware of those, we can focus on making the right choices.

Another aspect of the character discussion is how can we use our smart to help others. If someone is struggling with something we can let our smarts lead them to success as well.

For example, if a child is having trouble making friends, a people smart child can help by introducing themselves and inviting them to join in on whatever activity is available.

FREE Give ‘N Go Unit Study: Just give it to your child and let them go!

Rocks Unit Study

Body Smart

Body smart kids think with movement. They are kids who won’t sit still and need to get those wiggles out. They find it harder to sit still while learning because they think better while their body is in motion.

Body Smart Teaching Tip

Turn that worksheet into a game by adding a relay or an obstacle course. Really the possibilities are endless!

One time I was helping one of my foster kiddos study his spelling test. This particular child thought learning was boring until he moved in with us. It was the dead of winter so going outside was not an option. I got an empty laundry basket, a couple of buckets, and a ball. I lined the laundry basket and the buckets in a line and assigned various point values depending on the difficulty of the shot.

Every time he spelled a word correctly, he threw the ball. He kept track of his own points by adding them all together. See, I even incorporated math in there too!

Word Smart

We all have those kiddos who won’t stop talking! One of my word smart children started talking at fifteen months old and hasn’t stopped. He talks about everything and I think it helps him organize his thoughts.

Word Smart Teaching Tip

Have the child teach another child the concept they are working on. I use this one often around our house and I have seen first-hand how this creates the light bulb to turn on.

The other child benefits too as they are exposed to a new concept or are able to review an existing one.

Book Recommendations for the Word Smart:

Picture Smart

These kiddos are our visual learners and artists. I have several picture smart kids around my house. Do you want to know how I know this? It’s by the stacks and stacks of drawn pictures and artwork I clean up on a daily basis! I mean, what is a parent supposed to do with all of those?

Picture Smart Teaching Tip:

This one is a fun one because there are so many possibilities! I have had them paint their spelling words including both the word and a picture along with it.

Another thing to do is a photo scavenger hunt or taking pictures of a process they are trying to communicate. Think tutorial! Creating a video tutorial for a science experiment gets everyone’s attention!

Book Recommendations for the Picture Smart:

Nature Smart

These are the kiddos who love to spend time outside including taking care of animals. They enjoy the patterns those kinds of experiences offer and find focus just being outside.

Nature Smart Teaching Tips

Looking for patterns in the things we do is helpful to nature smart child. If they are struggling with a concept or idea, have them create an order of operations or step by step process to solve their problem.

For example, if their job is to take care of the family pet, there is a list of things that needs to be done every day to make sure the animal is cared for. Brainstorm with them to create a pattern of care so the animal lives a quality life.

Book Recommendations for the Nature Smart:

Logic Smart

This one is one of my favorites because I am logic smart! I think with questions all the time. If you tell me something, my brain is spitting at least ten different questions about why things are the way they are.

Most of my kiddos currently have this smart too. Sometimes I wonder if it is because of my “logic smart” influences my teaching style.

Logic Smart Teaching Tip

Give the logic smart kids the opportunity to find the answer to their questions on their own. Research becomes a scavenger hunt that never ends. As you find the answer to one question you find three new questions to ask and find answers too. We love to “chase squirrels!”

Science or history lessons could include a question they must research and share the answer with everyone else in the class.

Book Recommendations for the Nature Smart:

Self Smart

These kiddos are the quiet ones who like to reflect on what they have learned. They generally have a lot of common sense so appealing to that creates common ground between you and the child.

Self Smart Teaching Tip

They need to have time alone to process what they are thinking. Spending time thinking about it helps them form thoughts that can turn into words. I have found if I can tell them what I am looking for and then give them time to think about it, the results are a lot more productive.

Book Recommendations for the Self Smart:

People Smart

These are the kiddos that make others feel valued and can connect easily with people. I have found they tend to interpret other people’s body language and facial expressions more easily. They thrive being around other people.

People Smart Teaching Tip

This is the perfect opportunity for teaching the child how to greet someone properly. If the child is strong in this area it will strengthen them. However, if this isn’t one of their smarts then it will give them the confidence to be able to say hi and introduce themselves when they have the opportunity.

I like to practice introductions and teach kids how to make eye contact and shake hands with the perfect amount of pressure. We do a lot of role-playing for these types of conversations.

Book Recommendations for the People Smart:

Music Smart

When you buy the book you get a code to take the assessment to give you a good idea of what your smarts are. I took the assessment and the only smart I tested low on was music. Now when I was growing up I sang songs with my sister and my dad so this low score was not because I lacked talent. Don’t get me wrong, I am not a music expert but I can carry a decent tune.

I took this information and it influenced my decision to join our church choir this past summer. I had kind of written off me being music smart but joining the choir has awakened it and I have found myself remembering things I learned as a child.

Your music smart kiddos are the ones you have to remind to stop singing in the middle of Sunday’s sermon. They always seem to have a tune stuck in their head and it slips out all the time.

Music Smart Teaching Tips

Finding songs about what you are learning is the perfect way to teach a music smart kiddo. It makes those repetitive facts interesting!

A couple of years ago, we did a space unit study. I found a YouTube video called “The Phases of the Moon Rap.” We listened to that song over and over again because the kiddos enjoyed it so much. To this day, if you ask Andy what the current phase of the moon is, he is able to tell you because of that song.

Math facts and parts of speech are great things to put to music for the kiddos to learn. If there is not a song available, your music smart kiddo can probably help you out and compose one.

Book Recommendations for the Music Smart:

Multi-Level Teaching

When I am preparing a lesson to teach my large family, I think of all the smarts. I try to plan activities that will speak to each one of their smarts so I am not leaving anyone out. Since we have seven children, we currently have all the smarts in play, This method also helps strengthen any weak smarts as they are being exposed to all the smarts

8 Great Smarts

I cannot begin to tell you how this book has changed our lives. I have seen multiple kids go from being uncertain to confident because they realized they didn’t need to be “smart” at everything. Instead, they used their strong smarts to shore up their weaknesses.

Just recently, Sam, age 16, was studying for a test and was struggling. When he came to me he was quite frustrated because he felt he wasn’t being very successful. I could see he was headed down a path of anxiety because he didn’t think he was going to do well.

I reminded him to use one of his strong smarts in his study time. He thought for a minute and then created a small relay race where he added movement into his study time. It worked! It took his mind from what he couldn’t do and focused on what he could do. Good news, but he also aced the test!

When a child is misbehaving I gently remind them that they are not being smart with their smarts. Instead, I encourage them to think about how they can turn the situation around by using their smarts in a positive way.

I keep multiple copies of books on hand to give out to people and this is one of the titles I’m regularly sharing with others. I personally have my copy on my Kindle because you have no idea how often I still refer to it!

I hope this book will be a gamechanger for your family like it was for ours! I have included a free download of the unit study I wrote about how I taught this to our kids.

It includes 8 games and activities and one object lesson. Thanks for reading!

Free PDF Download

Another FREE Unit Study:

Puzzles Unit Study