In my most recent blogs I wrote about homeschooling talented children. I pointed out that when you homeschool talented children, you first need to identify their talents. Once your child’s talents are identified, you must then nurture their talents. In this post I want to talk about allowing talents to evolve.
Many parents, including myself, become attached to their children’s talents. While my sons attachment to the computer was impressive, I was overjoyed when his piano teacher said he was a natural. I bought a piano, paid for lessons, and insisted on daily practice. He expressed that he wanted to learn all musical instruments and be a musician when he grew up. I was all for it. However his excitement and interest in the piano waned. I was heartbroken but after trying to re-spark his interest for a year, I gave up and let him refocus his time and energy on the computer.
My son’s skills on the computer shot through the roof. He taught himself to write html, and got a church member to teach him to use flash and few other programs. He is so good at computers that people are paying this 12-year-old boy to make features for their website. How cool is that. If I had forced him to continue on the piano, he would have never had the time to become as proficient as he is on the computer.
In allowing my son to refocus his interests, an interesting thing happened. After a few months of dedicated computer time, he returned to the piano. He does not have an instructor right now. Instead, he is teaching himself and brushing up on his old skills.
I do not know where my son’s interests will lead him, but I do know that I have to give him space to explore his talents and take a break when he needs it. With his permission, I will hire a new piano instructor next year, and we will see where this talent takes him.
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