Hi, I’m Nancy, also known as “Mimi” to the grands. I’m a former public school teacher who retired to spend more time with my family including watching my three grandsons several days each week. For the sake of their privacy, I will use the names Tigger (8), Kona (6), and Tahoe (4) when I mention them.
Even though I am retired, I still adore teaching, and providing enriching learning experiences for my grandsons is very important to me. Tigger and Kona attend a public charter school and Tahoe attends a local preschool a couple days a week (on the days that I do not watch him). I’m not sure if I would be considered a homeschooler, an afterschooler, or a caregiver. I guess the simplest way to describe my situation is I am still teaching, and my grandsons are the ones I teach.
During my many years of teaching, I was inspired by many professional development workshops and courses. One of the most useful of these teaching strategies was Howard Gardner’s Theory of Multiple Intelligences. In his theory, Gardner proposed that everyone possesses their own unique combination of eight different intelligences (ways of learning). These intelligences are linguistic, logical-mathematical, spatial, musical, bodily-kinesthetic, interpersonal, intrapersonal, and naturalist. Gardner believed that since everyone has a different mixture of these intelligences, it was important that educators include all of these in their teaching to make new learning accessible to all students.
So what does Multiple Intelligences have to do with my grandsons? I obviously want to plan activities for the grands that are going to be engaging to them. Keeping the eight different intelligences in mind as I choose learning experiences for them will ensure that I reach whatever blend of these intelligences my grandsons possess. In other words, I want my grandsons to enjoy the learning process on their way to becoming life long learners.
I hope to share my learning plans and experiences with the readers of my blog. I hope you will drop by again, perhaps to inspire you in your role as a parent, grandparent, caregiver, or educator.
Mimi and the Grands 
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