Vol VI, No 10 - October 15, 2024

Is this the year of phenomenal nature events? First, we had the solar eclipse. Then, the Northern Lights were on display as far south as Florida last week. Add to that the annual color show that the trees put on for us and we can consider ourselves very fortunate nature viewers.

One of my favorite October events that we attended every year when we lived in Texas was "Owl-o-ween" at the Trinity River Audubon Center. There were craft stations, real live owls to meet and learn about, hiking trails, and a huge pumpkin catapult. What is more fun for an engineering-minded kid than catapulting pumpkins into a field?

This month's feature article is on the SEM model and how to use it in the homeschool setting. Read below to find out what SEM stands for and to get some ideas for catapulting your child's interests into the next level using this system. See what I did there?

Enjoy all of the of the smells, colors, and tastes of fall.

-Marna

Marna Walthall Wohlfeld is a mom of four, a former non-profit director and journalist, and now a doctoral student at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education. She has deschooled, unschooled, and homeschooled various kids at various stages. She loves learning about and championing kids' unique brains and learning styles. She hopes to use her graduate degree to support parents and caregivers of twice-exceptional children as they move through the journey of parenting their wonderfully complex kids. She also hopes to advocate for 2e students by creating greater understanding about the need for strength-based approaches and support for vulnerable nervous systems in education and life. Marna is a trained SENG facilitator. She has presented at NAGC and WCGTC and has written for 2e News.

One of our faves, Online G3, is enrolling for their one-of-a-kind fall courses. Always on our shortlist of recommendations, always expertly tailored to gifted and 2e, and, if you're a GHF Friends sustaining member, you will find a 10% discount code in GHF Membership Benefits!

"Online G3 nurtures critical and creative thinking in a diverse community of gifted learners by providing a supportive and flexible online homeschool curriculum. By pairing passionate teachers with engaging and interactive academic content, G3 offers appropriate acceleration within an accredited, secular, and affordable education program." Check out their amazing program: https://www.onlineg3.com/

What Do Amphibia, Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), and Halloween

Have in Common?

By Katrina O'Neil

If you think that I am out of my mind for suggesting that there is something in common between 1) the Amphibia TV series, which my kids greatly admire 2) the Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM), a learning strategy aimed to provide engaging educational experiences for students, and 3) the beloved Halloween holiday, bear with me. I promise it will make sense soon. But let’s rewind and start from the beginning.



The Schoolwide Enrichment Model (SEM) is a framework developed by Drs. Joseph Renzulli and Sally Reis at the University of Connecticut in the late 70s as an approach for growing the strengths and talents of all students in general and gifted students in particular.¹ It has been successfully used at many schools and is characterized by three types of activities that can be seamlessly infused into an existing educational process. Type I activities are meant to introduce students to a broad range of experiences, topics, and fields that may have been previously unaccessible to them. The idea behind these activities is to identify what each student’s interests and strengths are by exposing them to as many opportunities as possible. Educators can implement these Type I activities by using a variety of methods, including field trips and invited lecturers. Once the child’s interests and inclinations become clear, they are given an opportunity to engage in Type II activities. Through these, they will learn – individually or in a group setting – specific skills they need to deepen their knowledge and expertise in their area of their interest. Let’s say that as part of their Type I activities exploration a student becomes interested in astronomy. To go deeper in the subject, as one of their Type II activities they could be given an opportunity to learn how to use a telescope in order to find the Andromeda Galaxy in the sky. Alongside learning how to use a telescope, they might also need to learn how to read an astronomical map, how to identify specific constellations of stars, and how to predict the best nights for observations. Equipped with the skills they learned as part of their Type II experiences, the student can choose to work on a real-world Type III problem or investigation with the end goal of generating a concrete product, such as a report, presentation, video, podcast, formula, enactment, or anything else that can be presented to a real audience. The idea is to really engage students in something that they are fascinated by, develop it into their strength, and grow their expertise and self-confidence by letting them work on a real problem and be valued for it. For our astronomy enthusiast this could turn into working with a mentor on something as crazy as discovering a new star and giving a TED talk on their discovery.

But it does not have to be as crazy as this. And it does not have to be as academic as this. And it does not even have to be done at school. In fact, homeschoolers naturally apply the SEM, often without even knowing about it. For instance, I have a daughter who is artistic and creative. And we found that out by exposing her to various activities, starting by going to the Camp Augusta family camp (which we continue to attend yearly), where she got to try everything from archery, zip lines, and axe throwing to candle making, paper marbling, and felting. She also tried a bunch of different crafts at several maker spaces, including sewing, knitting, embroidery, woodworking, T-shirt printing, and soldering. Finally, my daughter also got to experiment with a number of different art media, including acrylic, colored pencils, ink, graphite, alcohol/watercolor/POSCA markers, gouache, and digital art thanks to Galactic Fiber Art. All these basically functioned as Type I activities for her, and thanks to them, she learned her predilections and discovered her talents.

At some point, she decided to put more effort into learning how to do basic drawings, oil pastels, acrylic, sketching, and digital art and worked on her skills via Type II activities with Art for Kids Hub, Alla Viksne, Jesse Robertson, Art & Fun Studio, Svoimi Slovami, and Arts School of San Francisco Bay.

Ok, that was a long preamble, and now we are finally getting into the meat of this article, so we can answer the question posed by the headline. My daughter is a big fan of The Owl House, Gravity Falls, and … Amphibia TV series. In September of last year she decided that she will be Darcy – a character from Amphibia – for Halloween. She also decided to make the costume herself. This was her Type III project with the costume being her end product that she presented in front of her friends when they went trick-or-treating. To accomplish her idea, she purchased a black & gray scythe, a set of larger white horns, a catsuit, and a red cape (she already had a black one). Following that, she made arm pieces, the breastplate, and the smaller part of the scythe out of cardboard and paper, and a set of smaller horns out of electrical tape. She also turned the inner part of her bike helmet into the headpiece, having painted it black. In addition, she painted the larger horns, scythe, breastplate, and shoulder loops. Finally, she sewed leg and arm pieces, and red and black capes together to complete her costume. Thanks to the interest she discovered by being exposed to Type I activities and the skills she built engaging in Type II activities, she was successful in completing her Type III real-world project. It took her more than a month, and I was so proud of her taking the initiative and seeing this project through all on her own. Do you see now how the seemingly incompatible Amphibia, SEM, and Halloween are connected?

This year, my daughter is working on another costume, but I am not allowed to know what it is yet. I am excited and intrigued to see what it’s going to be. And how about you – what are you going to be for Halloween?

References

1.  Joseph S. Renzulli and Sally M. Reis. The Schoolwide Enrichment Model: A How-to Guide for Talent Development. 3rd. ed. (Routledge, 2014).

Yekaterina (Katrina) O’Neil is a homeschooling mom by day, a doctoral student by night, and a software security researcher by trade. The mom to two 2e kids in middle and high school, she began homeschooling them after public school turned out not to be a fit. To understand and support her kids better, Katrina is pursuing a Doctoral Degree at Bridges Graduate School of Cognitive Diversity in Education, while attempting to juggle a career in cybersecurity at the same time. She is passionate about neurodiversity and hopes to spread awareness and acceptance of neurodivergent individuals at home, at school, and in the workplace. She holds a B.S. and M.S. in Computer Science & Engineering from UC San Diego.

GHF Press Featured Title

Parents today lead busy lives and it’s difficult to “get it all done.” Gayle and Lin have created a guide encouraging parents to strengthen their connection with their youngsters using shared reading time. This book provides a selection of carefully curated picture books that can be used by parents to address important issues with their children, such as worry, perfectionism, and managing “big feelings.” Gayle and Lin also provide expert advice to gently guide parent-child conversations using simple, science-backed methods, including ways to help your child develop empathy, self-regulation, and self-acceptance. All of this is artfully accomplished as the authors share both research-based strategies and their own parenting experiences to bring out the very best in children using a strength-based approach.

Purchase Using Picture Books to Help Little Ones Learn About Themselves here.