Smart Teens' Guide to Living with Intensity: How to Get More Out of Life and Learning

by Lisa Rivero

Overview

This book is written for pre-teens and teens who love to learn, although they might not love school. Read about how to understand your intensity, manage perfectionism and self-talk, understand your parents better, and take charge of your education, whether you go to public school, private school, or homeschool. Discover yourself as an intense and excitable learner, a creative learner, and a self-directed learner. When you open up the possibilities of how you can learn both in and outside of school, you can live life more fully, intensely, and creatively. This is an excellent companion book to A Parent’s Guide to Gifted Teens, written by the same author but for parents of gifted adolescents.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781935067009
Publisher:	Great Potential Press, Inc.
Publication date:	03/01/2010
Pages:	146
Product dimensions:	5.90(w) x 8.90(h) x 0.50(d)
Age Range:	13 - 17 Years

About the Author

Lisa Rivero is a freelance writer, home education parent, college instructor, and life-long learner. Rivero spent her childhood on the Rosebud Sioux Reservation in South Dakota before moving to Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to attend college. She has an M.A. in Literary Studies from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and a B.A. from Marquette University. Her professional interests include gifted education, home education, creativity, literature and the humanities, and the challenges faced by all families in this fast-paced and often perplexing 21st-century life. Rivero's interest in gifted education began when her son was an early entrant to kindergarten. After two and a half years of public school, where he was in a program for highly gifted students, and one and a half years in a private gifted school, her son began to learn at home rather than in a school classroom. Although the family never planned to homeschool long-term, Rivero's son made the decision to homeschool through high school. Homeschooling allowed him to learn and socialize at his own pace and in a way that met his needs, as well as gave him the time and freedom to know himself and to explore his interests. While Rivero knows that home education is not the optimal choice for every gifted child, she believes strongly that learning at home is an important and sometimes lifesaving option for families of gifted children, and it is often the best education for children who have a great passion and drive to learn.

Table of Contents

Introduction 1

Part I You as a Learner: Interested and Intense 9

Chapter 1 Smart, Talented, Intense, Gifted? 11

Chapter 2 Who are You, Anyway? 15

Chapter 3 Understanding Your Intensities 19

Chapter 4 Intellectual Intensity 23

Intellectual Intensity Affects Learning 24

Intellectual Intensity Affects Relationships 26

Chapter 5 Psychomotor Intensity 29

Psychomotor Intensity Affects Learning 29

Psychomotor Intensity Affects Relationships 31

Chapter 6 Sensual Intensity 33

Sensual Intensity Affects Learning 34

Sensual Intensity Affects Relationships 35

Chapter 7 Imaginational Intensity 37

Imaginational Intensity Affects Learning 38

Imaginational Intensity Affects Relationships 38

Chapter 8 Emotional Intensity 41

Emotional Intensity Affects Learning 42

Emotional Intensity Affects Relationships 43

Chapter 9 The Care and Feeding of Intense Parents 45

Part II Choose to Be a Creative Learner: Divergence and Discipline 47

Chapter 10 What Is Creativity? 49

Creativity as Divergent Thinking: All Those Uses for a Paper Clip 49

Challenges for Divergent Thinkers 51

A Closer Look at Creativity 52

Creativity: Personality, Process, or Product? 52

Creativity as Personality 53

Creativity as Process 53

Creativity as Product 53

Chapter 11 Complexity, Flow, and Creativity 55

The Complexity of Creativity 55

Flow in Creativity 58

Overcoming Inertia: Redefine Laziness 60

Chapter 12 Sleep Your Way to Creativity 63

Chapter 13 Creative Discipline: Habits of Mind and Body 65

Chapter 14 Waiting until the Last Minute: Procrastination, Perfectionism, and Creativity 75

Why We Procrastinate 76

Perfectionism 76

Lack of Goals or Planning 77

Lack of Interest or Investment 79

Too Much (Or Too Little) to Do 79

Managing Procrastination 80

Embrace Your Urge to Perfect 81

Remember that Imperfection Is Necessary for Creativity 81

Do Anything Rather than Nothing 82

Learn to Say No 82

Think about How You Want to Feel in the Future 83

Plan to Procrastinate 83

Part III Becoming a Self-Directed Learner: Teaching Yourself and Learning from Others 87

Chapter 15 What Is Self-Directed Learning? 89

How Self-Directed Learners Handle Classroom Learning 92

What Do You Want to Know or Do? 94

Online Schooling 97

Know Your Parents' Non-Negotiables 98

Chapter 16 Homeschooling 101

Why Homeschool? 102

Homeschooling Allows for Specialized Study 102

Homeschooling Accommodates Intensities 103

Different Ways to Homeschool 104

Unschooling 105

Patchwork Homeschooling 106

Part-Time Homeschooling 106

Homeschooling while in School 107

But What about College? 107

When You (or Your Parents) Don't Want to Homeschool 107

You Say Yes, They Say No 108

They Say Yes, You Say No 108

Chapter 17 College and Beyond: Non-Traditional Paths 111

Starting College in High School 112

Early College 112

Two-Year Colleges, Technical Schools, and Associate Degrees 113

Taking a Year (or More) Off 114

A Conclusion in which Nothing Is Concluded: Weaving Your Own Education Tapestry 117

Habits of Mind for Intense Learners 118

References 121

Index 125

About the Author 131

Editorial Reviews

"It's very important for you to live your life intensely, fully, and creatively. This excellent book will help you understand better how to do that."
Alisa Valdes, New York Times bestselling author of six novels for teens

"Practical, insightful, and heartfelt advice on developing self-understanding, practicing joyful learning, and taking ownership of one' s education. The book I wish I'd had as a teen!"
Tamara Fisher, M.A., co-author of Intelligent Life in the Classroom: Smart Kids and Their Teachers, and gifted education blogger for Teacher Magazine ("Unwrapping the Gifted")

From the Publisher