Following a passion

I have been following the Home Scholar Blog and web site with great interest lately. She seems to be one of the very few homeschool experts writing specifically for high school homeschoolers.

Recently she wrote about letting kids, particularly high school students, follow their passions:

The message: be students of your students. Observe their passions. Don’t be too skeptical or try to force them to love what you love. They are individuals and will spend their lives striving to become who God intended them to be. You play a critical role in shaping and guiding, but not in defining or forcing.

I have all of my kids study piano for a few years.  Calvin studied until middle school and then when we had to change teachers I just didn’t sign him up again.  He didn’t have a “passion” for it, but he did excel in visual arts. So that is what he pursued in high school.

Gabe did well in piano, but his heart wasn’t really in it.  He prepared well for his performances because he didn’t want to make a fool of himself in public! But he did want to play the drums and so we got him a drum set for his birthday last year and he has been taking lessons since September.

But Sam has done well in piano, although he has to work at it.. Last summer he got the opportunity to study organ with our choir director so he is receiving excellent instruction on both instruments. I think it will serve him well too. Pianists can get gigs, and organists are in great demand because there simply aren’t enough of them!  But to my dismay, Sammy became very interested in all things guitar this fall.  He taught himself how to play with lessons on Youtube and worked his way through the first three beginner books!  This eventually cut into his practice time for piano and organ, but it seemed he just could not stop messing around with his guitar.

At Christmas time, a member of the choir played guitar with Silent Night and it was beautiful. I approached him about teaching Sam and he gladly took Sam on as a student.  So at least now Sam is getting proper instruction (and paying for it from his soccer ref money he earned last fall!).

But interestingly, Sam and Gabe have gotten together with some of the other kids in the neighborhood and put a small band together.  They of course have dreams of playing to audiences and maybe making some money with it as well. I don’t know about that. But at least they are getting some experience in working together and having some fun in the process.  They’re learning as well.

I still want Sam to pursue his organ and piano studies because I think that could be more lucrative for him in the future, but I’m trying very hard to also let him follow his “passion” to see where and how far it takes him.

Gabe on drums -and yes, this is my living room!

A winning smile on bass!

A nice little band with a happy fan!

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