Latest / Beautifully Complex / 299: How to Create a Strengths-Based Culture of Learning, with Julia Black

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299: How to Create a Strengths-Based Culture of Learning, with Julia Black · Beautifully Complex

0:03
Speaker 1: When we engage the heart set and when we take
0:05
Speaker 1: it seriously, and when we kind of listen to what
0:08
Speaker 1: a child is here or born to explore and importantly
0:12
Speaker 1: what they love to do, we make them feel seen
0:15
Speaker 1: and heard and valued. And if we think about what
0:19
Speaker 1: I would call an old school paradigm, we never really
0:23
Speaker 1: find out what really really lights them up.
0:30
Speaker 2: Welcome to the Beautifully Complex podcast, where I share insights
0:33
Speaker 2: and strategies on parenting neurodivergent kids straight from the trenches.
0:38
Speaker 2: I'm your host, Penny Williams. I'm a parenting coach, Arthur
0:42
Speaker 2: and mindset Mama, honored to guide you on the journey
0:45
Speaker 2: of raising your atypical kid. Let's get started. Welcome back
0:54
Speaker 2: to Beautifully Complex. I am here with Julia Black today
0:59
Speaker 2: to discuss unleashing creativity and learning. Julia is the founder
1:06
Speaker 2: of lights on Learning and we're going to talk a
1:09
Speaker 2: little bit about that as well. But will you start
1:11
Speaker 2: by letting everybody know who you are and what you do.
1:14
Speaker 1: Yes, thank you very much for having me on. I'm
1:16
Speaker 1: Julia Blair and I am an author, a neuro coach,
1:22
Speaker 1: a mum and an educationalist and I work with parents
1:26
Speaker 1: and educators to implement a culture of learning within their
1:31
Speaker 1: homes or classrooms that really unleashes the creative energy within children,
1:35
Speaker 1: young people, and so that they can explore and express
1:39
Speaker 1: their fullest potential.
1:41
Speaker 2: I love the phrase culture of learning because I think
1:44
Speaker 2: it's so very important, and I'm sure we're going to
1:46
Speaker 2: dive into how to create that culture at least some
1:50
Speaker 2: initial ideas, some general ideas for that. But I was
1:53
Speaker 2: hoping that we could start by just talking about what
1:56
Speaker 2: does lights on learning mean? And how did that come about?
2:00
Speaker 1: So it really came around. I've been working in education
2:04
Speaker 1: for about fifteen years now as a parent, trying to
2:08
Speaker 1: solve the problem for my own children, But in twenty sixteen,
2:12
Speaker 1: I was really looking for something that really encapsulated when
2:16
Speaker 1: we as a team were getting it right, getting the
2:19
Speaker 1: practice right. And I had a meeting with a business
2:23
Speaker 1: strategist and he said, well, how do you know when
2:25
Speaker 1: you are getting it right? And I said, well, because
2:27
Speaker 1: we see it. We see it in their eyes. It's
2:29
Speaker 1: like their lights have come on. And it was really
2:32
Speaker 1: really for me just so clear that actually that metric
2:36
Speaker 1: in itself, lights on, lights off, became our guide as
2:41
Speaker 1: to whether we were working with a child and really
2:45
Speaker 1: re engaging them, but more importantly helping them take ownership
2:48
Speaker 1: of their learning. So it's really about the emotional, the mental,
2:53
Speaker 1: and the physical and even the spiritual connection to learning.
2:57
Speaker 1: And so lights on learning is really an embodied way.
3:00
Speaker 1: It's using our heart. I talk about the heart set,
3:03
Speaker 1: the mindset, and skill set as acting as our learning circuitry,
3:08
Speaker 1: and it's really bringing in the full power and potential
3:12
Speaker 1: of what we have as human beings into the mix.
3:15
Speaker 2: Can you talk about those three things that you listed
3:17
Speaker 2: and a little more detail the let's say, heartset, mindset,
3:21
Speaker 2: and skill set. What are we talking about there? What
3:25
Speaker 2: are we looking at as either a parent or an educator.
3:28
Speaker 1: So obviously many people understand mindset, and I kind of
3:32
Speaker 1: realized that the mistake that we often make, and I definitely,
3:37
Speaker 1: you know, was guilty of this word at the beginning,
3:39
Speaker 1: is thinking like, right, we've got to work on the mindset.
3:41
Speaker 1: But I now never work on a child or an
3:44
Speaker 1: adult's mindset without engaging the heart set first. And so
3:48
Speaker 1: for me, this is really where the thing I believe
3:52
Speaker 1: we're all born. We've come here to explore and express
3:55
Speaker 1: a particular gift or a talent and I kind of
3:58
Speaker 1: believe our heart set whole our dreams and it enables
4:02
Speaker 1: us to find the courage for us to really show
4:06
Speaker 1: up as our authentic, curious, passionate as learners. So I
4:12
Speaker 1: always start with heart set because then the mindset isn't
4:16
Speaker 1: about heavy lifting. It's actually what the heartset does, is
4:19
Speaker 1: I talk about it, our hearts will always dream bigger
4:22
Speaker 1: than our heads are ready for. So it's when we
4:24
Speaker 1: lock in the heart set first, we naturally become more
4:28
Speaker 1: curious and courageous, and so the mindset work that we
4:32
Speaker 1: have to do now doesn't feel like a battle. It
4:35
Speaker 1: just feels like an inevitable challenge along the way. So
4:38
Speaker 1: what I see with children and adults and young people
4:42
Speaker 1: is they become more curious and courageous and they step
4:46
Speaker 1: outside of that comfort zone. And then when we know
4:49
Speaker 1: what the heart set is, I talk about having switches
4:51
Speaker 1: that switch on our lights that really kind of unlock
4:54
Speaker 1: our potential and our creative energy, we can begin to
4:57
Speaker 1: get much more specific about the skill set that's relevant
5:01
Speaker 1: for us expressing our creative energy and exploring the gifts
5:06
Speaker 1: that we've got. So when we begin with the heart set,
5:09
Speaker 1: the mindset kind of is just part of the process
5:13
Speaker 1: and we get more specific about the skill set that
5:15
Speaker 1: we need to develop. For example, my son who's now eighteen,
5:20
Speaker 1: I identified he was a digital wizard at the age
5:23
Speaker 1: of seven. I used to be a filmmaker, you know,
5:25
Speaker 1: So his father is a filmmaker, his grandfather is a filmmaker,
5:29
Speaker 1: and so we were able to then look and go
5:32
Speaker 1: right the technical skills he needs, but he also needs
5:34
Speaker 1: communication and critical thinking and as well. My daughter who's
5:40
Speaker 1: now twenty one, when she was six, I identified that
5:43
Speaker 1: she was a wordsmith. So when we kind of know
5:46
Speaker 1: the thing that switches on our lights, we can really
5:49
Speaker 1: look at the skill set that unlocks that potential. And
5:54
Speaker 1: I think so many of us just focus on mindset
5:56
Speaker 1: and miss these two other crucial elements that I reveal
6:00
Speaker 1: to us really forming our learning secretary.
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Speaker 2: Yeah, and we tend to, I think, skip straight to
6:06
Speaker 2: the skill set and the lagging skills or the missing
6:09
Speaker 2: skills in the educational environment, and we're really missing out
6:15
Speaker 2: by doing that. You know, when we talk about strength
6:17
Speaker 2: space learning or strengthspaceed parenting, we're taking interest and strengths
6:22
Speaker 2: those things that we find and the heart and the mindset, right,
6:27
Speaker 2: and we're using those to help with lagging skills, with
6:31
Speaker 2: learning challenges, and so it makes so much sense to
6:37
Speaker 2: start with the heart and keep building from there these
6:41
Speaker 2: building blocks. From there, I'm wondering, though, I'm curious, how
6:46
Speaker 2: does that look in a classroom environment, because we know
6:51
Speaker 2: teachers are so overwhelmed, we ask them to do so much.
6:55
Speaker 2: They often have twenty five thirty thirty five kids and
6:58
Speaker 2: one adult, So how can they incorporate this process in
7:03
Speaker 2: the classroom.
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Speaker 1: I think it's really important and it makes a massive
7:08
Speaker 1: difference with the teachers that I've worked with or the
7:10
Speaker 1: schools in particular, because when we engage the heartset and
7:15
Speaker 1: when we take it seriously, and when we kind of
7:17
Speaker 1: listen to what a child is here or born to
7:20
Speaker 1: explore and importantly what they love to do, we make
7:24
Speaker 1: them feel seen and heard and valued. And if we
7:28
Speaker 1: think about traditional what I would call maybe not traditionally necessary,
7:32
Speaker 1: but an old school paradigm, we never really find out
7:36
Speaker 1: what really really lights them up, which means that we're
7:40
Speaker 1: not really listening to them, they're not being seen or heard,
7:44
Speaker 1: and they're not having any chance for often for fourteen
7:47
Speaker 1: years in an education system, to even practice explore and
7:52
Speaker 1: express the thing that makes them so hungry to learn.
7:57
Speaker 1: So even the simple idea of in the classroom for
8:01
Speaker 1: teachers to know, and this is where parent teacher collaboration
8:03
Speaker 1: I feel is really important to know what a child
8:07
Speaker 1: is curious about, to know what their natural strength and
8:11
Speaker 1: talents and gifts are. Then immediately they have different conversations
8:16
Speaker 1: with those children. But also what it means, which is
8:18
Speaker 1: really exciting, is when you do teamwork or collaboration, which
8:22
Speaker 1: most schools do or a lot of schools do, or
8:25
Speaker 1: you're doing projects. Now you know, oh, we've got the
8:28
Speaker 1: digital wizard, and we've got the wordsmith, we've got the performer,
8:31
Speaker 1: and we've got the engineer, and we've got the mathematician.
8:34
Speaker 1: So now you can create teams or groups based on
8:39
Speaker 1: a really really empowered skill set within that group, rather
8:44
Speaker 1: than what they sometimes do, which is like, oh, we
8:46
Speaker 1: better put that person with this person because they'll babysit
8:48
Speaker 1: that person and this person, you know, will benefit from
8:51
Speaker 1: being with that person. But we're now being strategic, and
8:54
Speaker 1: this is in the home or the classroom, about how
8:58
Speaker 1: we can facilitate through that culture of learning, really extraordinary learning.
9:03
Speaker 1: And I like to think, you know, ordinary people coming
9:06
Speaker 1: together expressing in this way through like you say, a
9:09
Speaker 1: strength based way, can create something extraordinary that they can't
9:13
Speaker 1: do on their own. So heart set also brings collaboration
9:18
Speaker 1: massively into the mix. It brings communication massively into the mix,
9:22
Speaker 1: because we're making the learning tangible because we're expressing our
9:25
Speaker 1: creative energy. It's not about the head knowledge going in
9:29
Speaker 1: and regurgitating. It's about what is my heart truly, truly
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Speaker 1: want to explore and express and how am I going
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Speaker 1: to do that? So it totally transforms the culture of learning,
9:39
Speaker 1: and it doesn't need to be a whole transformation of
9:43
Speaker 1: the educational practice. For lights on learning really layers on
9:47
Speaker 1: top of what either a parent is doing if they're
9:50
Speaker 1: home educating or even flexi schooling, but also what a
9:54
Speaker 1: school is doing. And I think that's what makes it exciting.
9:57
Speaker 1: I've seen transformations happen with as little is like two
10:00
Speaker 1: hours a week dedicated to projects, passion projects. So it's
10:06
Speaker 1: very exciting. The power when we bring in the heart
10:08
Speaker 1: is intelligence and have a vision for that. We want
10:12
Speaker 1: our children to love learning, because why would we not.
10:14
Speaker 2: Yeah, And as you were talking, that's what I was thinking, like,
10:17
Speaker 2: this is how we get kids lit up about learning,
10:22
Speaker 2: passionate about learning, invested in learning, instead of this, Oh,
10:29
Speaker 2: I have to go do this boring thing again today, Right,
10:31
Speaker 2: I have to go sit and I have to learn things,
10:33
Speaker 2: and I have to be still and quiet. And you
10:36
Speaker 2: know a lot of things that our nerdive vergent kids
10:39
Speaker 2: struggle with already, and that transformation can last for a lifetime,
10:46
Speaker 2: as you're talking about. And I think, you know, that's
10:49
Speaker 2: what we want as parents, that's what teachers want, That's
10:52
Speaker 2: what the reason that educators get into teaching, right is
10:56
Speaker 2: because they're passionate about learning. They're passionate about kids. And
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Speaker 2: it's sometimes oftentimes, I think, at least here in the US,
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Speaker 2: it's very lost. We get into just the system and
11:10
Speaker 2: test scores and things that I learned through having a
11:14
Speaker 2: nerdiversion kid who struggled in school aren't really that important.
11:19
Speaker 2: They're not as important as we make them or as
11:23
Speaker 2: we know give them weight. And so yeah, having these
11:27
Speaker 2: conversations and turning the narrative is so key, I think
11:33
Speaker 2: for not just our nerdiversion kids, but I think all kids.
11:37
Speaker 2: If we have you know a world of people who
11:40
Speaker 2: are excited about learning and curious all the time and
11:44
Speaker 2: connected to each other. It would be so different and
11:49
Speaker 2: really amazing.
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Speaker 1: Yeah, And I think what's exciting about all of this
11:54
Speaker 1: is it's such a simple vision and for me, it's
11:57
Speaker 1: a no brainer. Do we want children to love learning? Yes?
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Speaker 1: Please easy, we raise our hands, and so immediately what
12:04
Speaker 1: that does is we've now moved an entire paradigm with
12:08
Speaker 1: just one simple shift and a yes, into bringing love
12:13
Speaker 1: and the power of love as an emotion and the
12:16
Speaker 1: gateway that that opens up to joy and gratitude and
12:19
Speaker 1: abundance and really feeling that that creative flow. We've immediately
12:25
Speaker 1: let it into our homes in our classrooms. It's such
12:27
Speaker 1: a simple shift that is so powerful. And that's really
12:32
Speaker 1: what lights on means lights on and lights off, and
12:35
Speaker 1: I have a whole spectrum from darkness through to radiance.
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Speaker 1: It is really about becoming aware of the one metric
12:43
Speaker 1: that I believe matters, which is is this child learning
12:46
Speaker 1: where their light's on or off?
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Speaker 2: And we see it.
12:49
Speaker 1: We see it in their eyes, so we don't need
12:51
Speaker 1: to even be trained professionals. This is where it's exciting
12:54
Speaker 1: for parents because we see it and also because our
12:57
Speaker 1: children will tell us so again, having those conversations in
13:01
Speaker 1: our home, like what really gets you excited? What are
13:05
Speaker 1: you curious about? What would you want to wake up
13:08
Speaker 1: and explore every single day? And that becomes our starting point,
13:13
Speaker 1: which means we could also as parents make sure they're
13:16
Speaker 1: getting that outside of school if school isn't lighting them
13:20
Speaker 1: up so much. But I think it's you know, also
13:23
Speaker 1: really important and I made this mistake for a while.
13:27
Speaker 1: The power of also being lights off is where it
13:31
Speaker 1: gets really exciting, because when you start doing and learning
13:35
Speaker 1: and exploring something that you love, you go beyond your
13:39
Speaker 1: edge and that's when you hit frustration. That's when you
13:41
Speaker 1: find challenge, but that's when you also want to solve
13:45
Speaker 1: the problem. And so when we move into being lights off,
13:48
Speaker 1: which is frustration, anger, sadness, sometimes disappointment, sometimes despair, all
13:55
Speaker 1: of these emotions are healthy, normal emotions to really deep
13:59
Speaker 1: learning that's leading to mastery. And one of the mistakes
14:03
Speaker 1: I think we can make as parents and educators is
14:07
Speaker 1: we see our children become disengaged or disconnected or in
14:10
Speaker 1: my language, lights off, and we panic and we want
14:14
Speaker 1: to get them that happy again. And so a lot
14:17
Speaker 1: of the work that I do with parents is really
14:20
Speaker 1: helping them also understand what switches on their lights on
14:24
Speaker 1: and off, and being able to hold space for their
14:28
Speaker 1: children when they are having maybe those moments where they've
14:32
Speaker 1: hit the wall and they want to quit, but of course,
14:37
Speaker 1: with passion and the heartset in the mix, they're not
14:39
Speaker 1: going to quit. And sometimes what we can do is
14:41
Speaker 1: we can jump in too quickly and kind of distinguish
14:46
Speaker 1: the light even more so, I think the power of
14:48
Speaker 1: being lights off for me, I've become to understand is
14:51
Speaker 1: really where the hidden potential is. It's where our limiting
14:55
Speaker 1: beliefs hang out. You know, I can't do this, It's
14:57
Speaker 1: too hard. My brain doesn't work. You know, I'm rubbish.
15:01
Speaker 1: I will never be able to all of those negative
15:05
Speaker 1: thought patterns that we have that well, I don't like
15:08
Speaker 1: to use the word negative emotions, but create emotions that
15:12
Speaker 1: we find uncomfortable sometimes seeing our children experience. And we
15:17
Speaker 1: can use those because it's about helping a child. As
15:20
Speaker 1: soon as we know they think they can't, they think
15:22
Speaker 1: their brain doesn't work, that they're rubbish, we now know
15:25
Speaker 1: the thing that's limiting them express their potential. And then
15:29
Speaker 1: our job as inspiring leaders within our homes or within
15:32
Speaker 1: the classroom is really to help them get evidence that
15:35
Speaker 1: they can. The post struggle success after getting it wrong,
15:41
Speaker 1: make mistakes and failing is such a beautiful empowered feeling
15:46
Speaker 1: that I believe all of us should, like really have
15:48
Speaker 1: the luxury of exploring and feeling.
15:53
Speaker 2: I love let you weave in emotions because I think
15:56
Speaker 2: it's a part that we often miss in education. We're
16:00
Speaker 2: emotional beings. We are either regulated or disregulated, and that
16:06
Speaker 2: emotional regulation can be really tough. And I think that's
16:10
Speaker 2: part of this light's off point that you're talking about,
16:14
Speaker 2: is when we're getting disregulated, things are difficult, and pushing
16:20
Speaker 2: through that being able to or even knowing that you
16:23
Speaker 2: can is super valuable, especially because so many neurodiversent kids
16:30
Speaker 2: really avoid hard things. They tend to shut down or
16:36
Speaker 2: turn and walk the other way when things get difficult,
16:39
Speaker 2: especially emotionally difficult, and so having a process to help
16:44
Speaker 2: them through that and being able as a parenter an
16:46
Speaker 2: educator to recognize that it's part of a bigger process
16:51
Speaker 2: that's going to get us to a really great place
16:55
Speaker 2: where they're going to feel those successes in those winds
16:58
Speaker 2: so deeply and build confidence is really important. And I
17:11
Speaker 2: also wrote down as you were talking fulfillment, because you
17:14
Speaker 2: were describing a lot of characteristics that I sort of
17:18
Speaker 2: put under that fulfillment bucket. But in the past did
17:22
Speaker 2: a webinar on availability to learn and overlapped Maslow's hierarchy
17:28
Speaker 2: of needs and also what we know about the autonomic
17:31
Speaker 2: nervous system and regulation dysregulation, and it was amazing to
17:36
Speaker 2: really look when you put all those layers together, that
17:40
Speaker 2: we can't get to fulfillment, to feeling good about ourselves
17:45
Speaker 2: and our role in the world and all of those
17:47
Speaker 2: things without the basics. And part of those basics is
17:54
Speaker 2: feeling good about what we're doing, feeling regulated, like we
18:01
Speaker 2: are capable. And the way that you're describing lights I'm learning,
18:07
Speaker 2: it strikes me as sort of the same building blocks,
18:11
Speaker 2: so that when you get through, you know, you go
18:14
Speaker 2: from maybe a kids lights off, they're not excited about
18:18
Speaker 2: learning in that way, their lights off, and then they're
18:20
Speaker 2: lit up and things are great, and then they sort
18:23
Speaker 2: of hit that frustration. But then pushing through that, that's
18:28
Speaker 2: where we get to the top of the pyramid, right,
18:31
Speaker 2: that's where we get that fulfillment and feeling good about
18:35
Speaker 2: our place in the world, which is amazing. That's what
18:38
Speaker 2: we want for everyone, right.
18:40
Speaker 1: Absolutely, And that's why I've got what I call the
18:44
Speaker 1: lights on spectrum because we began tracking as families. I
18:47
Speaker 1: began working with a group of mothers to be able
18:50
Speaker 1: to look and go right, well, it's we're fluid and dynamic,
18:52
Speaker 1: like you say, we move in and out of emotions
18:54
Speaker 1: all the time. Right, we might get triggered by something,
18:57
Speaker 1: we might feel it in our bodies, or we might
18:59
Speaker 1: be totally unaware and we might just go into the
19:02
Speaker 1: reactive state or even the survival mode. And so when
19:06
Speaker 1: we began tracking to see, well how much did we
19:09
Speaker 1: move between lights on and lights off, and become really
19:13
Speaker 1: aware of how to use that to our advantage to
19:18
Speaker 1: absolutely what you say, to feel fulfilled from an internal perspective,
19:24
Speaker 1: rather than waiting for the success criteria to you know,
19:27
Speaker 1: from the external validation. But how can we feel so
19:30
Speaker 1: fulfilled through our internal calibration that actually nothing stands in
19:37
Speaker 1: our way? And what we found is when we started tracking,
19:41
Speaker 1: is that it made sense to have three lights off
19:44
Speaker 1: signatures as I call them, and three lights on signatures,
19:47
Speaker 1: And so we move fluidly and dynamically all the time
19:51
Speaker 1: through them and each signature has thoughts, so we have
19:55
Speaker 1: darkness down really at the sort of at the bottom
19:58
Speaker 1: dimness and glimmer, the lights off signatures that we use.
20:02
Speaker 1: Each of them have thoughts and emotions, and we're getting
20:05
Speaker 1: that awareness of where we feel it in our body,
20:07
Speaker 1: so that we can use our bodies as that signal
20:09
Speaker 1: like WHOA, Okay, there's something there, see the emotion and
20:13
Speaker 1: feel the emotion, but then also get to the thought
20:16
Speaker 1: that's been sort of triggered and the cascade that results
20:19
Speaker 1: offen in behavior as a result. And then moving up
20:23
Speaker 1: from glimmer, we go into glow, which is the sort
20:25
Speaker 1: of the entry level of the lights on signatures, glow,
20:29
Speaker 1: brilliance and radiance. And what's been really exciting is that
20:35
Speaker 1: discovering and helping the parents, really them discovering that actually
20:40
Speaker 1: it can be more comfortable to be lights off than
20:44
Speaker 1: it can be to be in the in radiance. And
20:47
Speaker 1: when you know, a lot of the talk really around
20:51
Speaker 1: not really understanding radiance, believing it's something we've got to
20:54
Speaker 1: aspire to, rather than actually, radiances are the essence of
20:57
Speaker 1: who we are. It's with us all the time. It's
21:00
Speaker 1: our kind of renewable energy source. Like the sun can
21:04
Speaker 1: get covered up like clouds, but it's always there. And
21:08
Speaker 1: also the fears that Brannie Brown talks about forebode and
21:11
Speaker 1: enjoy that and if I feel so good and that
21:14
Speaker 1: I need, you know, so little in life and everything
21:17
Speaker 1: is is really is great by risk losing it all.
21:22
Speaker 1: And so that's been a really beautiful process to see
21:25
Speaker 1: families learn that if they want their children to love learning,
21:31
Speaker 1: explore their potential and feel fulfilled, then they themselves have
21:37
Speaker 1: really got to understand, like, how do we get to
21:39
Speaker 1: that place of yeah, just gratitude, abundance and life is
21:44
Speaker 1: good and really being happy and fulfilled by choice, not circumstance.
21:50
Speaker 1: And it's been really beautiful to see the evolution and
21:53
Speaker 1: the growth within the families through the tracking of the
21:56
Speaker 1: lights on and lights off status, because you know, where
22:00
Speaker 1: a year ago they might have been much more lights
22:02
Speaker 1: off and maybe in the comfort zone of glow and glimmer,
22:07
Speaker 1: they're now touching radiance much more often, and that then
22:10
Speaker 1: has this lights on effect within their family without really
22:13
Speaker 1: even changing much. The whole culture and dynamic and energy
22:17
Speaker 1: within the family shifts. So yes, it's exactly what you're saying.
22:22
Speaker 1: It's just like learning to use our bodies is to recalibrate,
22:26
Speaker 1: you know, or to calibrate to what we need in
22:30
Speaker 1: terms of our thoughts. Our emotions are energy at any
22:33
Speaker 1: particular point based on what is it we want to
22:36
Speaker 1: achieve today. Yeah.
22:39
Speaker 2: Yeah, I love that you're giving them the language too,
22:43
Speaker 2: to describe different feelings, different states or stages that I
22:48
Speaker 2: think kids often have a hard time describing, and it
22:51
Speaker 2: makes it like really tangible for them what they're experiencing.
22:56
Speaker 2: I want to shift back to the heart set for
23:01
Speaker 2: a few more minutes before we wrap up, because I
23:03
Speaker 2: feel like this is probably that first step for anyone
23:07
Speaker 2: who's listening who wants to start to embrace your program.
23:13
Speaker 2: Your system is to figure out where the kids interests lie,
23:19
Speaker 2: where is their heart right in learning? And I'm thinking
23:23
Speaker 2: about like, we often talk about a child's profile and
23:26
Speaker 2: we look at their learning profile, but we don't really
23:28
Speaker 2: look at interests within that learning profile, right, And so
23:33
Speaker 2: can we as educators ask kids to fill out a
23:38
Speaker 2: questionnaire about themselves and learn from that, or can we
23:42
Speaker 2: as parents fill out like a one page summary of
23:47
Speaker 2: our kids their strengths, their interests, what they might need
23:50
Speaker 2: help with, and that sort of thing and give it
23:52
Speaker 2: to the teachers ahead of time, but do that exploration
23:56
Speaker 2: maybe as parents outside of the classroom too. Does that
24:00
Speaker 2: sound like a good starting point.
24:03
Speaker 1: Yeah, one hundred percent. And I have two tools. So
24:07
Speaker 1: one is a curiosity audit, which is exactly that, like
24:10
Speaker 1: what are you curious to learn about? And really drilling
24:13
Speaker 1: down into the specific so not just necessary you know,
24:17
Speaker 1: oh I love making cakes, but like what cakes you
24:21
Speaker 1: curious to make? You know, vegetable cakes or for example,
24:25
Speaker 1: or gluten free cakes. Really getting to specifics, but from
24:28
Speaker 1: what point of view of the heart set. So that
24:30
Speaker 1: would be one thing, the curiosity order, which is really
24:32
Speaker 1: simple to do, and I have those tools you know,
24:35
Speaker 1: readily available. But with the heart set, I encourage parents
24:39
Speaker 1: and educators to think about it is it's what I
24:42
Speaker 1: talk about the switch. It's what is my specific way
24:48
Speaker 1: that I love to express myself. And when we think
24:52
Speaker 1: about it like that, it's less about the interest and
24:55
Speaker 1: it's more about I'm a maker. I have to move,
24:58
Speaker 1: I have to use my hand. I love working with cardboard.
25:02
Speaker 1: Give me cardboard and I will do the maths. I
25:04
Speaker 1: really will do the maths, and I will show you
25:07
Speaker 1: that I will do the mass beyond anything that you're
25:08
Speaker 1: asking me to do in year two or at age
25:11
Speaker 1: seven or age ten, I will go all the way.
25:15
Speaker 1: Or maybe it's like I'm a performer. I love to
25:18
Speaker 1: make people laugh. The energy that I have when someone laughs,
25:21
Speaker 1: it just fuels me. And I love to communicate. I
25:25
Speaker 1: love to communicate with my body, or I love to
25:27
Speaker 1: communicate with my words, or I love to communicate, you know,
25:31
Speaker 1: physically with mine So the more that we can really
25:35
Speaker 1: begin to see like how they want to express themselves
25:39
Speaker 1: and communicate through what I call their switch, now we
25:43
Speaker 1: know exactly where we're leading them, but more importantly, they
25:47
Speaker 1: know the adventure they're on, and so it becomes less
25:50
Speaker 1: about what's going into them and it's more about what's
25:52
Speaker 1: coming out of them. That creative energy that is lights
25:56
Speaker 1: on energy is now got on an outlet that we parents
26:01
Speaker 1: and educators know how to channel and how to facilitate,
26:07
Speaker 1: and that is the real power that comes and one
26:10
Speaker 1: hundred percent you can do this as parents. I have
26:12
Speaker 1: a tool that I actually outline in my book called
26:16
Speaker 1: the learning Carousel, and it's specifically designed to help parents
26:20
Speaker 1: or educators learn and look and go, well, what is
26:23
Speaker 1: their switch? Because What I realized is when I had
26:27
Speaker 1: my creative Learning center that actually it's so readily available
26:32
Speaker 1: for us to communicate and express if we have the opportunity.
26:35
Speaker 1: But if we don't get that opportunity, it kind of
26:38
Speaker 1: just lies their dormance just below the surface, and children
26:42
Speaker 1: can go through the whole of their educational careers or
26:45
Speaker 1: their lifetime never fully knowing you know, what they're good at,
26:50
Speaker 1: that they can become greater over time. So I love
26:53
Speaker 1: the question that one hundred percent. As parents, I really
26:56
Speaker 1: urge you to get curious with your kids and and
27:00
Speaker 1: really start to observe, like when you're creating together, what
27:04
Speaker 1: do they go to? Is it the lego, the sewing machine?
27:07
Speaker 1: Is it writing words? You know, taking photos? It's a
27:12
Speaker 1: complete game changer.
27:13
Speaker 2: Yeah, absolutely, And we all link up the resources that
27:17
Speaker 2: you've mentioned in the show notes for this episode for
27:20
Speaker 2: everyone as well, so they have easy access to it.
27:24
Speaker 2: Where can listeners find you online and learn more about
27:28
Speaker 2: your program?
27:30
Speaker 1: So you can find me on across all the socials
27:32
Speaker 1: at the lights on mum and also we've got lots
27:37
Speaker 1: of information about the program and my book on my
27:40
Speaker 1: website lights on universe dot com.
27:44
Speaker 2: Love it. Thank you so much for the work that
27:47
Speaker 2: you're doing to help our kids to really learn and
27:51
Speaker 2: love learning. And I really appreciate you being here and
27:55
Speaker 2: sharing some of your time and your wisdom with the listeners,
27:58
Speaker 2: and I know they appreciate it well.
28:01
Speaker 1: Thank you very much for having me.
28:03
Speaker 2: And the show notes for this episode for everyone who's
28:06
Speaker 2: listening or at PARENTINGADHD and Autism dot com, slash two
28:10
Speaker 2: ninety nine for episode two hundred and ninety nine, and
28:15
Speaker 2: I will see you in the next episode. Take good care.
28:20
Speaker 2: Thanks for joining me on the Beautifully Complex podcast. If
28:23
Speaker 2: you enjoyed this episode, please subscribe and share, and don't
28:27
Speaker 2: forget to check out my online courses and parent coaching
28:30
Speaker 2: at PARENTINGADHD and Autism dot com and at the Behavior
28:35
Speaker 2: Revolution dot com.