I don't skip through the halls of homeschool conventions singing this news (for fear of being smacked, punched, or gunned down — or maybe all three!), but my children do enjoy learning. It gives them pleasure and satisfaction. They delight in their studies.
So there. I said it. I usually refrain from advertising my love-to-learn kids because I don't think people will believe my crazy claims; I don't want anyone else to feel like I'm having an I'm-better-than-you moment (because I'm not); and I don't want another mom to feel as if she's failed (because she hasn't).
I believe there are a dozen reasons why my boys find learning delightful, but two outweigh the rest. The first is that they are curious. The second is that I encourage them to spend time satisfying their interests. My boys delight in their studies because they are studying their delights.
Four or five years ago a homeschooling friend and I were chatting about Elijah and his current self-started study of eagles. She smiled and replied, "Following his interests? Oh, you must be delight directed."
I squirmed and squeaked and squealed inside. What? A homeschooling philosophy that matches mine? I've never heard of it!
So I scurried home and googled "delight-directed" and landed a few short articles. I read them and re-read them. I started planning less and allowing my son to lead more. When I saw how much he absorbed while chasing his curiosities, I started planning even less and allowing him to lead even more.
Delight directed homeschooling, for us, has included two main components:
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child-led ~ The topics studied, the activities completed, the projects created — are determined by the interests of my children. Each day my boys have required chunks of time to research, create, play, read, wonder, write, find, design, listen, discover, draw, discuss, build, and explore.
- parent facilitated ~ I see my role as stirrer of curiosity, supplier of rich resources, and giver of large doses of inspiration. I study my students (their questions, talents, interests, and passions) so I know what to provide and when to provide it.
For the remainder of this week, I'm going to discuss delight directed education. Friday's post will be a Q & A. Please post any questions you have for me in the comments section, and I will try to address them in the final post.
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Colleen, it sounds like you have a sweet, bright boy on your hands : )
Therese, That sounds a lot like us up until last year when we moved from a rural area. Sometimes I felt like I was waiting for the Pony Express to bring us our requested books!
Ami, thanks SO much for this series and for answering questions so graciously. I WILL be following your blog as I just need to hear all you have to say here a bit more often that I do now.
Christa, you gave me something to think about today! You presented a fresh and interesting perspective – I will have to chew on that! : )
Thank you for your blog! This is my third year homeschooling. I’ve always been on the less-is-more, but just recently been really very interested in what you call the delight-driven. I’ve been trying it more. So my question for Friday would be this:
During your large chunk of time that you give to the child to learn do you have any parameters on what they can or cannot spend their time doing? My young children are super into cars and plastic animals and playing these large, open-ended worlds with drama and so on. Do I allow that during the free chunk of time or do I direct them towards something more “productive”. What if the girls only want to play Barbies?
PS. I have a one year old named Simon (the only Simon in our community) and to see your five year old named Simon is a very odd thing for me. š
I love this!
We’re not solely delight directed but I do love to take time out to study things the kids have questions or interests in. I do think it’s important for our kids to learn to follow through on their questions and interests, research them, find answers, practice them – don’t you?
I’m going to enjoy reading through your series!
I’ve been looking more into delight-directed learning. Thanks for this information! I’ve been trying to demand less of my children’s time in the last few weeks and simply pay attention to what they choose to do. I’ve noticed things like building a tree swing, crocheting, asking for me to read to them, etc. I’m loving what I’m seeing. Learning what you are interested in just makes sense! That’s what I like to do, why wouldn’t my children?!