By:  Cheryl Henderson-Khalid

This is me… although some parts are not.   I am actually a VERY organized person.  I am messy, but certain aspects have to be organized or I can’t function. ~Kelli

Wow! Can you believe that this is Week 4 of the series? And since this is my final entry on the Colors in Education, I saved the “best” color for last. And that color is Blue! And guess what color I am – I’m Blue! (Just in case you were wondering why Blue was the best … )

Now, to most of you, that doesn’t mean a thing. But if you take a minute and think about the things on our planet that are blue, you’ll gather a few clues. The sky is everywhere and “sees” everything. A person with a Blue personality is usually into everything and wants to experience everything with a side order of everything else. LOL!

We are, as a group, very quick learners and happy go lucky. We’re like Tigger from “Winnie-the-Pooh.” We bounce around from place to place, usually following the beat of our own drum. My husband likes to call me “Captain Kirk” of Star Trek. because I just know where I want to go without really worrying about how I’m going to get there. We’re great improvisers so planning isn’t really our strong suit. The greatest punishment for us would be to sit still and listen to a whole bunch of details when all we want to do is get started. Boredom is not easily tolerated when you’re Blue.

We are known for having fun. And if we’re bored, we’re not averse to making up some fun anyway. That’s what we Blues do. My daughter is blue and when I homeschool her we’re all over the place. She’s learning, but we’re hopping around the room, drawing pictures, playing computer games and a whole host of (to the untrained non-Blue eye) doing everything but learning.

Blue children do well with varied activities. We have low tolerance for repetitious information, especially when we’ve already gotten a handle on the material. While a Green child can sit and go through worksheets without any discomfort, for a Blue child that’s slow and painful torture. That doesn’t mean that I don’t make her sit down and do conventional work/study units. It just means that we need it spiced up a bit, just like Tigger.

People of the Blue persuasion are very good talkers, so you’ll meet us in all walks of life. Our special niches tend to be in sales or other places where the art of persuasion is valued. We’re great public speakers (once we learn to slow down). We also are very interested in people. We’re like little squirrels scurrying around collecting nuggets of information for use later. We’re very creative and have lots of ideas swirling around in our head. Our biggest downfall (aside from having a hard time listening patiently to others) is that we have difficulty when it comes to follow-through.

It’s been said that the Blue personality would come up with the idea of a suspension bridge, but you don’t want us doing any actual work on it. Why? Because we aren’t detail oriented, and if that steel girder doesn’t fit in place right away, we might just leave it off. I mean, do we really need it? I guess it’s a good thing that the Blue personality only comprises 15% of the population. Can you imagine the architectural nightmares we’d cause? LOL!

One of the challenges that I’ll have teaching my daughter is driving home the point that speed is not the same as quality. There’s a time to get answers quickly and a time to sit still and think about why the answer is the answer. I was fortunate growing up because my father Green and taught me the value of being methodical. And I’m blessed that Jade’s father is also of that same type. He’ll keep both of us on an even keel.

Blues need to be involved in something that requires quiet and patience in order to reach our potential. I enjoy needlecrafts and Jade has learned to knit and to sew. The constant hand motion satisfies the need to multitask. It makes me slow down and think about what I want to do later on, to plan instead of just jumping into things. I usually listen to audio books while I crochet – good literature and a cool blanket all in one sitting – blue nirvana.

Jade was enrolled in Tae Kwando and is still taking dance classes. These are physical activities, but they also require precision and focus. She’s also involved in the church choir and will be resuming her piano lessons come September. This is just another way to slow down her brain and learn self discipline. Without self-discipline we’ll end up drifting from one thing to another without a purpose beyond the next “fun job” to do.

Trying to constrain a Blue will only cause you an immense and profound amount of frustration. Save your energy. As they are doing schoolwork, if they like to sit on their heads while they learn, just let them. As long as they are getting the work done, nagging, cajoling or trying to get them to perform in the “correct” (Green) manner will only frustrate you both because a Blue child will tune you out and go play in their own fantasy filled mind.

Blues do well with frequent breaks, especially if it is a tedious assignment, such as handwriting or math. We also grasp things quickly, so giving us repetitious worksheets will only ensure that the answers get more ludicrous at the end of the page. Once we’ve shown mastery over a subject, you really should just move on. However, you do need to go back at a later date and do review work just to be sure that the lessons have stuck.

Teaching your Blue child to take dictation should be one of your goals. We do not have great auditory recall. Why? It’s not for lack of trying, I can tell you. The problem is that we’re terrible listeners because we’re always planning our next great adventure. Case in point, we are following the One Year Bible Blog this year and we listen to the audio bible each day. But I can guarantee that Jade will raise her hand and ask me a question about something that has nothing to do with the verses being considered that day.

So, what I do is have both of my girls draw a scene about the scriptures that are being discussed. When they are doing that their recall is much better and I get lots of details. If Jade is sitting there with nothing to do she doesn’t hear a darn thing!

So when you give instructions, especially involved instructions, the Blue child really should write it down. You should also have them repeat the instruction to make sure that they got it down correctly. If you’re counting on us to remember your instructions and follow-through without notes, you’re really going to be pulling your hair out.

Here’s an example of just how distracted we can become.

Jade can be doing her math homework. Then she’ll suddenly stop working on the math and start doodling pictures. When I ask her what she’s doing she’ll tell me, “The math problem reminded me of a cool picture that I can draw with a squirrel collecting nuts. So, if I draw pictures of the nuts and get the answer to the problem.” Now I have to admit that drives me crazy because I can’t always tell when she’s being a goofball or when these little doodling And she’ not doing it to make me crazy (well, it drives my husband nuts because being Green he would never do something like that) but “inspiration” seems to appear at all the wrong times.

Blues hate deadlines and writing task lists, but they are really necessary if you want your child to get anything accomplished. If you make that a mandatory task you’ll be surprised at how much smoother their day will flow and how much more will get accomplished. We don’t miss deadlines due to procrastination, but with all the wonderful things going on in the world surely there is time to do [fill in the blank] first.

Some famous Blues include:

• Michael Jordan
• Barbara Streisand
• Pablo Picasso
• Jonathan Winters
• Tigger

In Conclusion

One of the cool things about studying personality types is that it has made me more compassionate and understanding. I place greater value upon the way different people approach the same problem. I also have a better appreciation of how others think. Greens will always find a flaw in a plan, not because they’re stick in the mud but because they are practical and like to cover every single contingency if possible. I also appreciate how each color enhances my life. The other colors give me balance and a broader perspective on the things that I am trying to accomplish.

Reds are our leaders, Yellows are our social workers, Blues are our visionaries and Greens are our stabilizers. Our basic personality type is hardwired within us, although we all display aspects of each color depending on what we are doing. For example, most parents come off as Red towards their children because we are the de facto rulers of their world. But the colors balance out and I hope that as my family grows up we’ll all be able to appreciate each other’s natural gifts. Life is a melting pot and we need to appreciate all aspects in order to be successful in our homeschooling, family life and business.

When we learn and teach “The Colors” to our children, we are enabling them to have an advantage in life because they will be better at understanding people that they’ll meet each day. My girls are pretty adept at assessing a person’s personality color and the hurt feelings and misunderstandings have been greatly reduced. Jade and Alaya understand the strengths and weaknesses of each color. They also understand how to deal with each one to get things accomplished. With the Red you be firm, with the Yellow you be kind, with the Green you be logical and with the Blue you tell them about the party at the end of the journey!

Now go forth and spread the word “The Colors are Coming … The Colors are Coming … The Colors are Here!”

About Me: My introduction to the world of personalities began about fifteen years ago when I stumbled upon a website called www.advisorteam.com. They offer a free personality test and if you pay a fee you can get your full results. Anyway, I found the descriptions of the four major personality groups fascinating. About two years ago I stumbled upon a free report that broke these four personalities into four colors: Red, Blue, Yellow and Green that has really simplified all the scientific explanations. Before you start trying to figure out what color your children are, you really need to first discover your own. Once you have your own information you’ll be able to adapt your style to fit your children better. You can take this quiz at my website Homeschoolers-Work-At-Home.com. (You’ll get your results instantly.) And it is also good to understand that each of us has each of the four colors in our personality. These articles focus on the dominant color in our daily lives.

Don’t forget to check out the first parts of this Guest Post Series!

Part 1 – Red, The Color of Power

Part 2 – Yellow, The Color of Sunshine

Part 3 – Green, The Color of Caution

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