I’m not usually the type of person who tracks and celebrates milestones. I am dyslexic after all and can’t keep such things straight! But moving to the mountains in the wake of one loss after another was huge.
It was a dream come true, a terrifying leap, and a return to my roots all at once. Five years later, I have learned so much about life, nature, rodents, and weather patterns. I have also, at this same time, learned a lot about teaching struggling learners!
So in that light, I thought I would combine the two and share a few things that life in the mountains has taught me about working with struggling learners.
1. Be a Cheerleader for Crazy Dreams: When I decided to leave my flatlands community for a fixer-upper on ½ an acre in the mountains, I was a newly single mother of 4 kids between the ages of 9 months and 9 years old. Most of my friends and family thought I was crazy…only one friend cheered me on.
Be the cheerleader. Yes, their dreams may be crazy or perhaps even impossible. Yes, their dreams will likely change over time. But some of them will most certainly come true and whether they come true or not, don’t you want to be remembered for believing in them?
2. Be an Elk…NOT A DEER: Our front yard is a favorite for grazing elk and deer. When the deer see me they PANIC & RUN (Yes, it’s a reference to Lion Guard). The elk, on the other hand, look up and watch. They study me calmly and then they go back to their beloved grass.
Be an elk…not a deer. Panic will not help the situation no matter how hard the struggle is. Running away from it won’t either. Calm, steady, attentiveness with a bit of fun added in will do wonders for your study sessions!
3. Watch Like a Hummingbird: Haven’t we all had one of those bosses that just spent a bit too much time looking over our shoulder? I just can’t stand people watching me work! But I don’t mind when the hummingbirds do. Did you know they look into windows? They are little spy’s but they are so lighthearted and curious that you can’t help but appreciate their spying.
Dyslexic kids spend so much time under the watchful eye of an adult. The last thing they need is a critical boss stressing them out. Be more like the curious hummingbird looking on with joy and lighthearted compassion!
4. Keep Your Fear of Bears in Check: The first summer we were here we were obsessed with the risk of bears. We inspected the yard carefully before going outside. We avoided going outside at night and carried bear spray on a walk around the neighborhood. Five years have gone by now and we have never seen a bear here.
It’s so easy to obsessively worry about our kids, their future, their friends, their struggles, their bad habits, and so much more but our worries rarely come true and never do much good so we must learn to keep them in check with a heavy dose of reality.
5. Know When to Stay on the Trail, When to Stop and Smell the Flowers, and When to Chart a New Path: Hiking has become a summer pastime for our family but this advice is far easier to follow on a hiking trail than when supporting our struggling learners. In our quest to help them, we sometimes swap reading programs too much. But sometimes we hold onto a program that isn’t working too long. And then there are those times when we just feel burned out and desperately want a break but worry about falling further behind. Choosing the right path is incredibly tricky with no easy answers so offer yourself plenty of grace when things go wrong and do your best to enjoy the view!
Whether you are new on the trail of dyslexia or a seasoned pro, I hope these mountain mama perspectives have given you some new ideas to make progress peacefully!