Friday, June 26, 2009

Proven by, of all things, Pokemon

Iggy has just recently discovered the world of Pokemon and was fortunate enough to score a "Pokemon handbook" from a garage sale. Yesterday he got wrapped up in his own sweet and lovely world and sat down to read it.

It always tickles me when he grabs a big ol'book and wants to read it. Because it consistently shows me, at least with my experience, that if a kid wants to know something, he will plow through those words he might not know to find the information he wants.

In this case, he wants to know all about pokemon.

And so he pushes through words like poison. And psychic. And a million pokemon names. He starts telling me all the attacks they have.


How do you know that
? I ask, with a half grin.

Mom, it says it right there.

And so it does.

Lo and behold, working through those bigger words wasn't the only accomlishment. We also had to find out what a phrase such as 3' 11" meant. When Iggy realzied it referred to height, a whole new world was opened. I mean, figuring out how tall all the pokemons are, and how that relates to how tall Iggy is, or Mom is, or Dad is...that was the most interesting thing in the world to him.

So this little seed Pokemon is only an inch? he asks.
Yep.
He holds out his fingers to estimate an inch.
Wow. I hope no one steps on him.

Then he wanted to go through the book and figure out who was the tallest, who was the littlest, who weighed the most, etc. And I sat back and marveled at all the concepts he was sucking up into his brain. From a Pokemon book.

I'm sure I have friends and relatives who might suggest that Pokemon is useless crap.

I have to disagree.

4 comments:

Three Mommies said...

Pokemon is wonderful! Ethan really pushed through all the words in the manuals, and taught himself alphabetization so he could use the Pokedex, and he has lots of fun playing all the games. I like it, too :)

Jessica Monte said...

With a background in English literature and certification as an English teacher, I have to say that I think Pokemon is a fine source of literature for your guy. I remember relying upon pop music, comic books, and new fiction to lure students to discuss aspects of literature that they otherwise might not have cared about or considered. What a great idea to use Pokemon with your son!

By the way, I leave this comment as someone who is very much hoping to homeschool her children, :-)

Ruralmama said...

Wow, that is so cool! Good for you for recognizing that the book was worthwile and had value!

Stephanie said...

It always brought a huge smile to my face when Trev was cutting his literacy teeth on dinosaur words.
Cretaceous. Pachycephalosaurus. Pteranodon. Euplocephalus.
:)