The modern public school system doesn't allow for much interest-led learning. The subjects and topics are chosen for you by the state, and the methods by which these topics are presented is determined by a teacher or the school district. Unfortunatley individual learning style and individual interests are hard to take into account when there is a single teacher responsible for an entire room full of students.
One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that we're free to change things up a bit and let our children have more say in what and how they learn. This is often called student led learning and there are many benefits that come along with it.
Higher Student Interest And Cooperation
When children get to be involved in deciding what they learn about and how they do it, they become much more willing participants. Nobody really enjoys being bossed around, and kids are no exception to this. A lack of control over one's life creates frustration and often leads to children resenting school.
Children who get to play an active roll in choosing the topics they learn about tend to be eager to learn because they are truly interested in the topics they are studying. Additionally, people tend to retain information better when it's about something they find interesting.
Develops Problem Solving And Critical Thinking Skills
Student-led learning allows students to think for themselves rather than simply following directions. While following directions is an important skill, the ability to think for one's self and question things are important skills that are often ignored in many school settings. I want my children to grow up to be free thinkers who ask the difficult questions. I don't want them to go through life always just doing what they are told, and accepting things the way they are.
Student-led learning also allows plenty of room for children to make mistakes and try again. Mistakes are a part of life. How are kids ever supposed to learn to solve the problems life throws their way if they are always set up for easy successes?
Students Can Develop At Their Own Pace
Allowing students to help choose what and how they learn allows them to learn at their own pace and by methods that best suit their individual learning styles. Not everyone learns in the same way or at the same pace, and that's okay. I love that my kids can choose to linger or delve deeper into a subject that they need or want to spend more time on. I also love that if something isn't working, we have the freedom to change what we're doing, or to simply move on and revisit it later.
Better Student Educator Relationships
Since student-led learning often leads to students being more eager and willing participants, it cuts down on frustration and friction between students and educators. Children who have more control over their education tend to have less behavioral problems in the classroom setting because they actually enjoy what they are doing. More engaged students, mean happier and less stressed educators. Learning should ideally be an enjoyable experience for both students and their educators.
What Student
One of my favorite things about homeschooling is that we're free to change things up a bit and let our children have more say in what and how they learn. This is often called student led learning and there are many benefits that come along with it.
Higher Student Interest And Cooperation
When children get to be involved in deciding what they learn about and how they do it, they become much more willing participants. Nobody really enjoys being bossed around, and kids are no exception to this. A lack of control over one's life creates frustration and often leads to children resenting school.
Children who get to play an active roll in choosing the topics they learn about tend to be eager to learn because they are truly interested in the topics they are studying. Additionally, people tend to retain information better when it's about something they find interesting.
Develops Problem Solving And Critical Thinking Skills
Student-led learning allows students to think for themselves rather than simply following directions. While following directions is an important skill, the ability to think for one's self and question things are important skills that are often ignored in many school settings. I want my children to grow up to be free thinkers who ask the difficult questions. I don't want them to go through life always just doing what they are told, and accepting things the way they are.
Student-led learning also allows plenty of room for children to make mistakes and try again. Mistakes are a part of life. How are kids ever supposed to learn to solve the problems life throws their way if they are always set up for easy successes?
Students Can Develop At Their Own Pace
Allowing students to help choose what and how they learn allows them to learn at their own pace and by methods that best suit their individual learning styles. Not everyone learns in the same way or at the same pace, and that's okay. I love that my kids can choose to linger or delve deeper into a subject that they need or want to spend more time on. I also love that if something isn't working, we have the freedom to change what we're doing, or to simply move on and revisit it later.
Better Student Educator Relationships
Since student-led learning often leads to students being more eager and willing participants, it cuts down on frustration and friction between students and educators. Children who have more control over their education tend to have less behavioral problems in the classroom setting because they actually enjoy what they are doing. More engaged students, mean happier and less stressed educators. Learning should ideally be an enjoyable experience for both students and their educators.
What Student
-Led Learning Looks Like For Our Family
Student led learning doesn't necessarily mean giving kids complete free range. We strive to still cover all the necessary school subjects in our homeschool, we just do it in a flexible way.
At the beginning of each school year, I sit down with my daughter and ask what she would like to learn about that year. I let her choose what science and history topics to cover and then I search for resources to make that happen. This year she asked to learn about the human body, plants, and ancient Egypt. For the human body, I ordered a science kit all about the human body from The Young Scientist Club's, Magic School Bus series, and ordered a few books to go along with it. For history I found a fun ancient civilizations curriculum from Evan Moor and scoured Pinterest for lots of extra activities to go along with the lessons. We're saving plant science for the spring and haven't picked out exactly what we're doing yet. I don't typically like to order or plan too much stuff at once in case she changes her mind and decides she would rather study something else.
At the beginning of each year we also sit down and discuss what about the previous year she enjoyed and what she would like to change. This year she asked to do more free writing time rather than writing prompts I assign. I'm totally okay with this, as long as she's writing, she's developing writing skills.
As far as reading goes, I rarely give her reading assignments of my choosing. Instead we just do free choice reading time each day. She's generally free to choose whatever she wants to read. This definitely leads to a lot less friction and frustration and makes reading an enjoyable activity for her. I also spend a little time each day reading aloud to my kids, something of my choosing, to make sure they are introduced to a wide variety of literature. I find this system to be a great happy medium.
One of my favorite things about student led learning is all the interesting impromptu lessons about topics that were never in the plan. For example, a few weeks ago, my daughter saw a tall white bird in a marshy field near the river and began asking lots of questions about it. This led to several days of researching local aquatic birds until we were finally able to identify it as a snowy egret. It was wonderful because she didn't even look at it as "school work", she was just completely dedicated to figuring out what this bird she saw was.
Student-led learning will look different for everyone and that's the beauty of it, it allows students and families to learn however works best for them.
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-5 Reasons To Read Aloud To Your Kids Even After They Become Proficient Readers
-How We Teach Geography Without A Curriculum
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Student led learning doesn't necessarily mean giving kids complete free range. We strive to still cover all the necessary school subjects in our homeschool, we just do it in a flexible way.
At the beginning of each school year, I sit down with my daughter and ask what she would like to learn about that year. I let her choose what science and history topics to cover and then I search for resources to make that happen. This year she asked to learn about the human body, plants, and ancient Egypt. For the human body, I ordered a science kit all about the human body from The Young Scientist Club's, Magic School Bus series, and ordered a few books to go along with it. For history I found a fun ancient civilizations curriculum from Evan Moor and scoured Pinterest for lots of extra activities to go along with the lessons. We're saving plant science for the spring and haven't picked out exactly what we're doing yet. I don't typically like to order or plan too much stuff at once in case she changes her mind and decides she would rather study something else.
At the beginning of each year we also sit down and discuss what about the previous year she enjoyed and what she would like to change. This year she asked to do more free writing time rather than writing prompts I assign. I'm totally okay with this, as long as she's writing, she's developing writing skills.
As far as reading goes, I rarely give her reading assignments of my choosing. Instead we just do free choice reading time each day. She's generally free to choose whatever she wants to read. This definitely leads to a lot less friction and frustration and makes reading an enjoyable activity for her. I also spend a little time each day reading aloud to my kids, something of my choosing, to make sure they are introduced to a wide variety of literature. I find this system to be a great happy medium.
One of my favorite things about student led learning is all the interesting impromptu lessons about topics that were never in the plan. For example, a few weeks ago, my daughter saw a tall white bird in a marshy field near the river and began asking lots of questions about it. This led to several days of researching local aquatic birds until we were finally able to identify it as a snowy egret. It was wonderful because she didn't even look at it as "school work", she was just completely dedicated to figuring out what this bird she saw was.
Student-led learning will look different for everyone and that's the beauty of it, it allows students and families to learn however works best for them.
If you enjoyed this post, check out:
-5 Reasons To Read Aloud To Your Kids Even After They Become Proficient Readers
-How We Teach Geography Without A Curriculum
Follow me on:
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