Mimi and the Grands

Nancy "Mimi" Taylor
Walnut, California

Bio: Hi, I'm Nancy, also known as "Mimi" to the grands. I'm a former public school teacher who taught fourth and fifth grade for 30 years, and also mentored many new teachers during my career. I have been married for 45 years to my hubby aka Grandpa Jim, who is also a retired teacher. We have been blessed with a son, daughter, son-in-law, and three energetic grands. Besides my wonderful family, my other passions include reading, movies, theatre, and traveling. I retired several years ago 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 (11), Kona (9), and Tahoe (7) 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. When I first started my blog, the two youngest had not started school yet, so I was more of a "preschool homeschooler" and wanted to provide them with some learning experiences that didn't require worksheets. We spent time together reading books, doing crafts, listening to music, playing outside, etc. I did develop some focused lessons using multiple intelligences to help them learn their alphabet, numbers, and give them background in nature. All three boys now attend a public school and I watch them before and after school. I feel it is important to support them in what they are learning in their classroom, so I try to keep informed of the topics in their classrooms to provide activities for my grandsons that can either be used as part of their homework (such as their daily reading homework) or help provide some depth into the topics they will cover with their teachers during the school year. I'm not sure if I would be considered as 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. Additionally, I am a big believer in giving children lots of creative problem solving opportunities. In fact, my husband and I have been involved in some way with local Odyssey of the Mind teams for over a dozen years. 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.

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