If child-led learning means we should follow & encourage our children’s passions – like animals, robots or ballerinas – how will they learn the things they need to know, like math, science, and literacy?
What exactly does child-led learning look like? Does it mean we let our children lead the way in every aspect of their education?
If you are homeschooling do you find yourself wanting to follow your child’s interest and NOT simply replicate the school system in your home but worry they will miss out on the important skills we need to teach them?
Or maybe your child attends school and it seems you always have to fight with them to finish their homework or study.
No matter what your path, this episode has some inspiration and practical tangible steps to bring the enchantment back to learning!
So how can we motivate our children to learn the common core subjects? How can we make sure they get the knowledge without undermining their intrinsic motivation? It can feel like the options are follow the child completely, as in radical unschooling, or sending them to school (or doing the formal school curriculum at home) are our only options.
What if I told you there was a third way? In this episode we’re going to explore how to do both. How to follow your child’s interests AND make sure they are learning the skills they need to know. I’ll give you 3 actionable steps as well as 3 practical examples to get you started. Here’s what you’ll hear:
[3:51] How will my child learn math if princesses is all she will talk about? 👸
[6:25] Can’t I just force them to learn?
[7:07] What’s wrong with candy in exchange for long division problems completed? 🍭
[8:24] Learning IS fun, right?
[11:29] You can learn EVERYTHING through ANYTHING
[13:22] Step 1: PJ masks, paw patrol, fairies… what is it?
[15:22] Step 2: Map it out
[15:57] Step 3: A little planning goes a long way
[16:36] Example 1: The world through Lego
[23:39] Example 2: Enchant with Harry Potter
[33:06] Example 3: Yes even Princesses can be educational!
By using this method we become a partner in their education. We collaborate with them by following their interests all the way through to the myriad of ways it can actually provide the education we may have on our adult agenda. When we teach and guide children in this way much of the resistance falls away and makes way for passion. With this, education then becomes a fun and creative endeavor.
Resources:
The Brave Learner by Julie Bogart
See how we applied these principles through Harry Potter
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I’d love to hear from you! What does child-led learning look like in your home? Is your child interested in a topic that you don’t think can possibly be applied to any area of education? After listening to this are you able to find ways to follow your child’s interests and expand on that interest? Please leave your comments below or over in our (free & awesome) FB community Love Parenting with Avital
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I love this way of schooling and I’m so looking forward to teaching my kids this way. Right now my toddlers really love tractors so I’m researching tractor activities for toddlers. My mom also homeschooled me this way. I went through a phase of wanting to be an astronaut. So I started a space club with my friends and sister and I made a curriculum for the club, it was basically a series of reports about the planets and rockets, we did experiments, and I may have also tried to make my friends memorize all the Apollo launch and landing dates, crew member names, and the weight of moon rocks brought they brought back from each mission. I think this is when my desire to teach started blossoming. I managed to keep the club going for the better part of a year.