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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I love this! The way you have expressed it so far is just beautiful … I follow blogs to catch gems like this š
Can’t wait to hear everything you have time to write about this exciting way of seeing education. Thanks in advance!
I was just commenting at our last homeschool support group meeting that feel as though I’ve been killing my kids’ love of learning the last year or two, so your series here is timely for me. (I have a 11 yo boy, 7 yo boy, 2 yo girl.) I started out loving all of the articles I read on dd learning, (been hsing for about 4 years now) but I have failed to implement because i am a person who thrives on structure and much of the time it seemed like this way of schooling was just too open for me and my style of teaching. I would LOVE to find a happy medium – not unschooling – but structured studies (math, lang arts,history, bible, geography) with some unstructured times in there for them to persue their passions.
The problems with dd learning (as I have tried to implement it) is:
1)The day gets away from us and then I feel like we need to at least cover the basics (those subjects mentioned above). So my question would be, how do you structure you days/weeks/years to cover the bases, or do you?
2) I never know what to have on hand or how to “light the fire”, how to direct them. So much of the time, if we have free time it’s spent with Legos or Hot Wheels (not that that is all bad as these toys can be used in very creative ways) and NOT on building lapbooks about a subject their interested in. So my 2 questions would be, if you made a list of your top 10-20 dd resources to have on hand what would they be? (REALLY would love to know this!) and, how do you steer your kids toward these things without it seeming like you’re pushing?
My last question is, does this approach work into the middle school and high school years? Or is it mainly for younger kids?
I feel like I sound like a real dummy, these things are probably really obvious to others. I received a pretty lame education K-12 and some of my worst, non-productive years were spent at an “Open Living School” (it was the 70s), and at a very unstructured Montessori school. I got very behind in all subjects, managed to graduate and then spent a good 3 semesters in community college taking remedial classes. I did get a degree but have always felt that my education was lacking. I don’t want this for my kids! But I sure don’t want to kill their love of leaning in the process.
I thank you so much for taking the time to do this series and I will be reading it faithfully as well as the rest of your blog.
Much appreciation,
Michelle
Michelle, I thought those were great questions!
Delight directed sounds so much better to me than unschooling. Lol. How do you do it though? Math, for example, do you use a regular math program? I am weak in math and can’t imagine putting anything together myself. I wouldn’t even attempt it! I also love the idea of chronological history with Bible being taught alongside. I guess I need to know so much more about the details. Lol
My oldest is 4 1/2, and I can see the benefits of delight directed learning. He has a wide vocabulary and knowledge of types of measurement from following his interests. It is also really difficult to get him to sit and do anything he isn’t interested in at this point. He has never been into coloring or crafts and I don’t know that he will ever enjoy it. He can Identify an impressive array of reptiles, fish and other animals and he knows a lot about bodies of water. When he has an interest in something he will really dive in and retain a lot of information. This is the part that interests me about delight directed learning… I just need to know how you accomplish getting all the necessary learning he isn’t interested in accomplished too.
Can’t wait for the rest of this series!
Michelle expressed many of my questions. I do have another one. I’ve tried to do some interest lead learning, and by the time I’ve found resources and gathered things up the spark is gone. How do you do this in a timely manner? I live in a rural area and our libraries are tiny. Often interlibrary loan takes weeks and weeks, and because of budget cuts in California each title loaned has a $3.00 fee. Not a huge amount, but it can add up. Another question – how long do your interest studies last? I’m so excited to read what you share with us. Thanks,Therese
Dear Michelle,
First, you do not sound like a dummy. When I first jumped in to this, I had no clue what I was doing. I found skeleton ideas all around the web, but I wanted the meat! I ended up having to make my own way and discover what worked with my own family.
I will answer question #1 on Thursday and #2 on Friday. I’ll answer your third question right now. š
I’ve had at least four people ask me this question lately! My oldest is only 10 (and technically in 4th grade). I’m not sure what middle and high school will look like for us. If we continue to go with delight directed education, my son will be responsible for working hard for so many hours each day. I haven’t researched how to give credits for certain subjects or how to make a transcript when you use nontraditional means to educate. However, I know it can be done. I have my work cut out for me! š I have at least two years to decide how we will go on. And I guess the short answer to this question is — I don’t know! š
If you stick with me through this week, you’ll see that there is structure (and even discipline and academics) here. The structure I offer my kids, though, is very (VERY) different than what is found in regular schools. š