I LOVE personality books, tests … you name it I love it. Some might say it is an unhealthy obsession (nah). I still remember the first time I took a personality test, the Myers-Brigg. We were at a OMF conference in Taiwan and I was probably in sixth grade. My Dad must have been giving the test to other missionaries there and I ask if I could take it too. With a warning that it might not be very accurate since I was young he let me take it. The result said I was ISFJ. Today I am an ISTJ.
Since then I have taken so many different kinds of personality tests. One of my favorites is pyscho-geometrics because of its simplicity. I am a proud box. My mom is a box. Kiki too. Lulu and my sister are circles. My Dad is a squiggle. My hubby is a box as well. What is fascinating is how different tests reveal different parts of your personality. Even though my hubby and I are both boxes, when you test us against the Gregorc Model we come up very different.
Several weeks ago my MOPS table mentor mom suggested a book, “The Way They Learn” by Cynthia Tobias. I have read many personality books but had never heard of this one so I promptly went and checked it out at the library. This book used the Gregorc Model and I identified strongly with both the CS (concrete sequential) and CR (concrete random). The chapter on CR was particularly eye-opening because it felt like the author had observed Kiki and I’s battle of the wills.
There is a chapter on “How we concentrate”. Do we like it quiet or noisy? Clean organized area or messy is just fine? Bright light or dull? At a desk, on the floor, on a bed, etc. I am so glad my parents did not force a particular studying environment on me. I studied quite well on my bed in the quiet with no distractions (radio, food, etc).
This is me organizing the homeschool stuff. When I stood up I started laughing because I was comfortable and working quickly while on the floor. It did not occur to me to go to the kitchen table.
The girls keeping busy while I organized.
