Caleb is Learning

It's no secret that every child learns a little bit different than their friends. Caleb definitely is not your standard learner (if there really is such a thing). By that I mean he is NOT the type of child that learns well by sitting as straight as a 2x4 with his hands folded on his desk or the table. Before Caleb even started school my mom and I were amazed by how much he would learn or remember from church. The reason for our amazement was the fact that Caleb never appeared to be listening to the service. Often times he would be coloring drawing or writing. Even though he appeared to be playing and in his own little world it was not uncommon for Caleb to mention something Pastor said or ask a question in reference to the message.
Now that Caleb is finishing up his school year I sometimes find myself wondering how much he has actually learned - until recently.

Lately school has been moved from the little classroom downstairs to the kitchen table. The other day my mom had some work to do downstairs so she took advantage of the fact that both Andrew and I had the day off. We were in both in the kitchen I was cooking/cleaning/helping Caleb and Andrew was at the other end of the table doing paper work. While Caleb was listening to his classes he was playing with his little animals chattering to himself and every once in a while answering a question. I never said anything to him about needing to stop playing and listen because I have realized that he still learns while his hands are busy I just never really realized how much he learns. However Andrew was telling Caleb to stop playing, put your toys away, listen to the teacher.... After a little while of this I could see that Caleb was getting very irritated and that I needed to step in. So I simply told Andrew to leave Caleb alone.

Later that day Caleb came to me and said, "Lish I don't understand why Andrew keeps telling me to stop playing, stop talking and listen to my teacher. I have two ears! One to listen to me talking and playing and one to listen to my teacher! He just doesn't understand."
I refrained my laughter, simply chuckled to myself and told Caleb not to worry about Andrew just worry about doing your best in school. He then went back to playing and I went back to yet again letting myself wonder how much is he really learning? Until today. This morning I was talking with my mom and the boys and mentioned that one day soon we should go to the b-e-a-c-h, "Oh the beach!" Caleb said. I continued my statement with, "so he can fly his k-i-t-e", "oh my kite, ya lets do that that would be fun!"
I think he is learning.

Now for those that may think we let him run wild during his classes that is not the case. He may be playing and chattering, but often times his chatter goes along with what he is learning. If he is in Skills class and learning about opposites he often grabs animals that are opposite in some way. If he is in Numbers he arranges his animals to help him add or subtract. If he is in Phonics class his animals do the reading. For example if Caleb has a cow in his hand and the teacher asks him to read a sentence. Caleb will read it in his cow voice and maybe add a moo here and there. :)