Self-Directed Learning - Discover The Number One Secret of Helping Your Child Become a Self-Directed Learner
Ξ May 22nd, 2008 | → | ∇ Reference and Education: Home-Schooling |
The main goal for every successful education is that of teaching an individual how to master the learning tools so as to learn by himself.
Once a child has discovered how to unleash the power of a self-directed learning process, he will be able to teach himself virtually anything he proposes to learn for the rest of his life.
Nevertheless, not every educational method nowadays has this result. Many teenagers, and even young adults, have not found a way of how to thoroughly enjoy learning and how to pursue their education with zeal.
On the contrary, many of them are bored with their education and have resigned to simply and dutifully comply with the requirements imposed on them by their parents and teachers.
What can we adults do to ignite that learning passion in our children?
I mean, any of us parents would love his or her child to be so enraptured by his learning process that we’d never have to press and push them anymore to accomplish their assignments.
And this is just where the answer is found.
Whose assignments? Who is really deciding what the child is going to learn about?
The secret to self-directed learning in our children is this: Impose requirements on the basic learning skills, language arts and math, and then give them the freedom to choose what area of their interest to use them in.
Yes, teach them how to read and write, and teach them their math. But view them as what they are: The necessary skills they’ll need to learn all the rest by themselves.
Here are some practical ideas of how you can do this:
- Start out your day, when their minds are fresh, with a block of “table time.” This should be a short period of language arts and math according to each child’s learning level.
- Then assign a block of time to read and research, but don’t assign content. Give them the freedom to choose what area of interest they are going to pursue.
- Don’t use textbooks, they are always boring and full of pre-digested content.
- If you want your child to become a self-directed learner, let him search for information and digest it himself. Then encourage him to write his own book about his favorite subject.
After a season of giving them more freedom with the content they are learning about, you will see that your children will start to enjoy learning, because you are allowing them to engage in a subject they are passionate about.