One of the reasons we decided to homeschool was that Liam showed a remarkable ability to teach himself in his strongest areas of interest. The videos he's made were made on programs he taught himself. We showed him THAT he had PowerPoint on his machine when he was about 4, but he was the one who figured out how to do not only graphic layouts, but play with it in innovative ways to create mini-videos (it's what inspired me to show him stop-motion).
A few years ago, we hired a talented and flexible piano teacher, and while Liam learned quickly, he showed no interest in practicing. We took a break from formal piano lessons to focus on something he does non-stop, art.
Lately though, he's found a program called "Synthesia," which is a piano training program (http://www.synthesiagame.com/).
He started by searching for tunes he liked, watching them on YouTube, then going to the piano and playing what he remembered. Then he took his iPad with him, setting it up as sheet music on the piano and followed along with the program.
Recently, he's been playing songs on his desktop, and tapping on the screen - not to make the notes, but to match the left and right hands, something he's working towards, slowly.
Although my husband is a classical pianist and composer, and I am an artist, Liam shows no interest in learning from either of us, when he can find it on his own. The best part is that, even though he wants to find and practice it on his own, he is asking us to come and watch him more and more. He's feeling the need to share.
Amazing what he can do, if we just get out of his way!
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We hope that sharing our journey will inspire other parents to find the most useful path to developing their own child's stengths. If you have a comment or question, feel free to post. We will review all posts before publishing, to ensure a kind, respectful discussion.