Earlier this year, I attended my first ever vision-board workshop here on the island…at an art studio down in the Strand District. I so thoroughly enjoyed meeting the nice ladies there, sharing our visions about the life we hoped to inspire through art…the lives I-for-one, hoped to find.
My visionboard still hangs on my wall, where I can see it every morning when I wake up. To look at it gives me insight into my desires as a woman, as a mom, as a wife. Some months later, entering my first ‘official’ year as a homeschooling mom, my vision board has also inspired to create one with my five-year-old.
Sitting down at our dining table–the desk we use for studies, art, and games–I provided my daughter with foam pads (the size of a sheet of paper) of her color-choice, her Fiskars, Elmer’s Glue, and several family and travel magazines. Guiding her through the process at first, I smoothly backed off and let her take charge of her own visionboard creation.
As I looked-on, I watched the secrets of her little mind spill-out onto her blue foam boards (she chose to do two boards instead of one), and I was delighted to be invited into my child’s mind…her thoughts, choices, and dreams.
In the end, when the glue had dried and we had shown Daddy when he arrived home that evening, I felt like I knew my little one much better than I had when we woke up that morning. I felt I had discovered a hidden door into my daughter’s mind. It was a win-win for me as a homeschooling mom, grasping at new and productive ways of ‘teaching’ without really teaching.
Vision boards with your homeschoolers? It will remain a fun activity for me and my homeschooler for years-to-come. Try it with your child. You’ll be so happy with your discoveries…and wonderful memories made together.
Forty Something Parents 