Different Ways of Learning

     I believe that every person, learns  in a different way.  Some people learn by reading, some  memorize everything, and some learn by doing. 

     When I was growing up , I had to work my butt off for every grade that I got, and still do.  But there were always the kids that would never open a book, and would walk away with straight A’s.    I have three daughters, and the oldest daughter was one of those people.  All the way through school, she would come home from school and put her backpack in her room.  She would not touch the backpack again until she went back to school.  She always said that she would read the material once, and then it was in her brain.   She was fourth in her class, when she graduated.  My middle daughter, on the other hand, would study about 2 to 4 hours per night and would bring home B’s.  She always told me mom, I just have to memorize the material.    My youngest daughter  would study from the time she got home from school til  late in the night and was lucky to bring home a C.  That child would read the material, rewrite it in her own words, and then make flash cards, and study the flash cards.  She still had problems grasping the material.  My method of learning is very similar to that of my youngest daughter.  And I have to work just as hard as she did.

     As I have grown, I have learned what works the best for me.  If I can touch what I am learning, I seem to learn faster..  The kids on the video,about Tinkering School seemed to learn hands on.  If they made a mistake , they figured out a way to make it work.  Gever Tulley, gives the kids the chance to plan and build something, with guidance if needed.   Just like life, if you make a mistake you find a way to make it work.   Sort of like, when life gives you lemons, you make lemonade.  I think that everyone should take the Tinkering School, even adults.  You take what they give you and make something out of it.   Just like life, you take what is given , and you try to make something out of it. 

Please go to the following link and view the video: http://www.ted.com/talks/lang/eng/gever_tulley_s_tinkering_school_in_action.html

Building a Deck with 4 children and a Stubborn Father

As if building a deck in two days, is not hard, throw in 4 children, a stubborn father and a million mosquitos.   Saturday morning came and my brother arrived along with four of his five children, who range from 3 to 13,  and unfortunately a million and one  mosquito's.  Add to the mix my father,  who is in the  end stage of cancer and doesn't walk very well, but still thinks he can do all the things that  he used to. Once all the people had arrived, we started the deck by tearing off the old stairs.   After we got the stairs off the house, we proceeded to sit on the patio and wait for Menard's to deliver the lumber.   This  was especially frustrating because it should have been delivered   2 hours earlier.   The truck finally arrived and all the lumber was unloaded one hour later.   About that time, I heard my mom yell "Denise!!", I turned to see my dad standing by the patio door.  My heart skipped a beat because he does not stand well, and now there were no stairs.  I ran around and into the house and helped dad down the other stairs and got him seated just in time to hear my niece crying. She had been holding the nail for her brother who had missed the mark and had hit her finger with the hammer.    I ran to the house to get boo boo bear out of the freezer and grab a band aid. 

After those two catastrophe’s were taken care of, I took a breath of relief and got back to my brother and the building of the deck.  I picked up two boards and brought them to my brother.  Just as I was lying them down, I heard my nephew crying that he was being attacked.  I asked what the problem was, and both my niece and nephew told me that mosquitos were attacking them.  I realized  that yes, we had been invaded by mosquitos.  We lit a fire in the fire pit, and put wet wood on it  to try to smoke them out, that worked, for about 10 minutes.  I sprayed all the kids with deep woods off and that worked, for about 10 minutes.  We lit the citronella torches and that helped, for about 10 minutes.  My mom finally went to the local hardware store and bought a fog machine.  She had to re fog every 20 minutes.  At the end of the day, we had half of a deck, 192 mosquito bites between us, and  a great memory  to file away.

About Me

My name is Denise Kidd. I am 42 years old. What do I write about me? Well, let’s see. I am a single mother of 3 grown daughters. My oldest is 23 and she has a beautiful little boy who is 16 months old. She is also expecting another little boy in October. I also have twins daughters who are 21. The oldest twin has a 3 year old daughter who is my bug, and is expecting another little girl in January. My youngest twin, is getting married in October.  I am very excited. They all live in Rochester, MN and I see them as often as possible.


The last three years of my life have pretty much revolved around my parents. Three years ago, my dad, who is actually my step-father, was diagnosed with renal cell cancer. It settled in his brain and he had to have many brain surgeries. After his surgeries, my mother could not take care of him by herself, so they asked me to move in and help them. At that time we were told that he had about 6 months to live. I moved in to help, that was three years ago and he is still here. About 7 months ago, we had to place him in a hospice center, as it was getting to be too much for me to take care of him 24/7. So he went to the VA Center in Tomah, on their hospice wing. We bring him home every weekend, so I am still living with my mother to help when he is home.

While taking care of my dad, I realized, how much I enjoyed caring for another person and decided to go back to college to become a nurse. When I told my mom and dad my decision, there were tears in their eyes. Out of 8 of us kids, I am the only one to go to college. For the first time in a long time, they were proud of me. . This going back to college thing, has been a challenge, as I have not been in school in 25 years. But I am determined to finish what I started.