Superlearner story: Leeron the firstborn

Teaching your own kids is exceptionally hard. It is more than I can usually handle. However, Anna is such a great educator that she can even teach our own kids. With Leeron, our firstborn, the challenge was higher, but the results are very rewarding. Today, at the age of 16, Leeron reads 1500 wpm Hebrew and English, and he is one of our very few instructors.

Initial challenges

It is somewhat counterintuitive, but our methodology works better for people with real challenges. As a child, Leeron had plenty of challenges. He inherited my mild ADHD, while from Anna…

Leeron had issues with phonological awareness. From the age of 3 to the age of 7 we had a weekly visit to a speech therapist. Typically Anna and I use 3-4 languages as we find fit. After the birth of Leeron for several years the situation was so dire, that we and our parents spoke at home only Hebrew.

Pinpointing the issue

Being parents, no matter how educated, we were not properly positioned to diagnose specific learning issues. Moreover, there was no single “smoking gun” situation. Initially, we tried to address the ADHD issue. The outcome was inconclusive: “While there is some unrest and sensory regulation anomaly it is currently impossible to provide a clear diagnosis.” Next, we tried to address the phonological awareness issue. Apparently, sounds did not form properly into words syllable by syllable, however with some practice Leeron started to handle entire words. It is not entirely clear which strategies worked, yet by the age of 7 the phonological awareness issues were behind us, and we could talk any language we wanted. Fortunately, my other two kids have a positive predisposition to foreign languages.

Quite often it is harder to pinpoint the root causes of the challenges than provide simple strategies to excel in challenging situations.

Leveraging discipline

Fortunately, Leeron also has many strengths. He is very smart, creative, and incredibly disciplined. When we talk about discipline there are several options. Both Anna and I are rebels and will do whatever is necessary to express our true selves. Our daughter is just the opposite and will follow any commitment she makes to herself or others. Leeron respects only the commitments he makes to himself, and Daniel only the commitments he makes to others. So in our small family, we can witness all four basic motivations.

Once we understood Leeron’s motivation and he became 9 years old, we were able to help him plan his weekly schedule and he incorporated memory techniques in his routine. Then the was the next issue.

Overcoming aversion to reading

When I was a kid, my grandmother used to read me books all the time. My own kids did not get this example. I am easily bored and instead of reading books, I told the relevant stories from my memory. It does not matter which illustration appeared in the book: technological inventions, historical figures or mythology. I had enough information in my mind to talk about the subject every evening when the boys went to sleep for at least an hour, typically without repeating myself.

This was probably a mistake since my kids did not really understand the value of reading when their father can tell more about it than their books or teachers. The magic of a book is its voice, which transforms a very boring person into a wonderful storyteller. In my case, the effect was the opposite. My kids truly prefer to get all the information they need from youtube.

Learn speedreading instead…

Since reading is an important skill, we did not give up. Once Leeron became 13 years old he learned speedreading. The concept was very close to his heart since he always struggled with syllables. Speedreading bypasses this limitation, enabling visual comprehension of entire words. His progress was very impressive, and quite soon his reading speed in Hebrew reached 1500 wpm.

Leeron is very visual and technical. Since he was 6 years old he successfully assembled very complex Lego sets intended for much larger kids. I guess he addressed reading like Lego allowing the phrases to connect and perform their function. This is not really something we teach. My logical visualizations closely follow mathematical notation and historical symbolism. Anna’s creative visualizations are inspired by her autobiographical memory. Leeron’s visualizations take some less defined middle path, and yet they work fine.

Music as a language

There was still a gap in Leeron’s phonology, especially when he addressed foreign languages and names, the sort of gap that we decided to fill with music.  While Leeron tried to play a piano and a contrabass, he eventually decided that an electric guitar is the right tool for his musical pursuits. So for several years, he played guitar, with an emphasis on jazz and progressive rock. He even starred in the relevant course: https://keytostudy.thinkific.com/courses/keytomeaning-guitar-masterclass (Please write me [email protected] to get a 90% discount for the course)

Once Leeron learned the basics of rhythm and composition (with a very competent tutor), he started to follow the tonality of the human voice and eventually was able to improve his naming conventions and foreign language skills. With time his English improved to the point that he can now speedread 1500 wpm in English.

Teaching

Around 15 years old Leeron became sufficiently familiar with investment theory to follow specific stocks, composite indices, and crypto assets. His technical and fundamental analysis skills need a lot of practice, but he cannot legally invest his own money. Moreover, he spent all of his savings on some very cool guitars.

To deal with his financial situation Leeron started teaching, both as a volunteer and as a paid tutor. Fortunately, Leeron is quite talented in math and programming. After facing so many personal challenges, Leeron is very familiar with the most effective teaching techniques. And yet, when he was selected as the best instructor from 150 of his peers we were surprised.

Since then Leeron has been teaching both face-to-face and online, acquiring himself a reputation. He wants to amass enough money to invest effectively once it becomes legally possible.

Wellbeing

Since Leeron was small he loved sweets and eventually became slightly overweight. Anna constantly took him to various sports sections, but nothing stuck for more than a couple of years. As a young teenage Leeron became painfully aware of this situation, and decided to focus on his wellbeing using his regular well-planned approach.

As step 1 Leeron learned cooking, with a focus on lean meats. This is an ongoing struggle since we really prefer all sorts of marbled beef. We also love salads, but Leeron prefers a very different kind of crunchy. So for about two years, Leeron was eating copious amounts of chicken breast with all sorts of dressing.

As step 2 Leeron started to practice in the local gym around 75 minutes per day, combining weightlifting with swimming. While he really enjoys both activities, he especially enjoyed the weight loss.

As step 3 Leeron switched from muscle-building techniques to endurance-building techniques and supplemented his diet with food supplements (like Zinc). He is currently somewhat concerned about his height, and excessive weightlifting can slow one’s growth.

Interestingly I did not teach him anything about this. He performs his own research, forms weekly plans, and follows his plans in the most disciplined matter.

The surprising benefits of learning as a family

Leeron is our firstborn, and he is 18 months older than his brother Daniel. Surprisingly, or not very surprisingly, Daniel caught a large part of what Leeron was taught unintentionally. This also challenged both kids to become their better selves, due to competition between the brothers. Since my daughter is significantly younger than the boys, she did not benefit from the same study group atmosphere and she is a very different person.

As a bonus, Leeron is joining our family business as a very affordable instructor. Through this post, you probably could feel his strengths and weaknesses, and you may choose him as your coach. He is extremely disciplined and somewhat technical, with a strong focus on personal motivation and hard work.