In homes where there is more of a school at home approach there might be a set schedule where schoolwork takes place, usually in the mornings, and then a specific time each day when all the household chores are done. In an interest-led learning environment, that gets a little tricky. You want to be available…
Category: Parents
Homeschooling with a Sick Child: My Interview with Kimberly Ehlers
What happens when your child is sick? If it’s a serious illness, do you start to panic and think that they’ll get too far “behind?” Do you focus on the limitations rather than on what everyone in the family could be learning from that illness? About a year ago, I had the wonderful pleasure to…
Nuturing Relationships: The Essential Ingredient in Home Education
Someone asked on Twitter the other day what was the most essential tool I use in educating my kids at home. Several things came to mind: the library, the internet, free community events, games, cool iPhone apps, science kits and DVDs. But the more I thought about it, the more I realized that all those…
How Interest-Led Learning is like Master Chef
I’m not a big cook. I like cooking and trying out new recipes, but I wouldn’t say I have a passion for making food. But I really like to watch cooking shows….a lot. In fact, I think I like to watch people cooking more than I like cooking myself! One of my favorite cooking shows…
My Year Without Goals
Last year I sat down with my notebook and took several hours to plot out my goals for the coming year. I wrote down some big goals in major areas of my life, broke them down into sub-goals, and then made monthly goals. I was so proud of myself and felt that it was…
A Simple Everyday Dreams List
Travel around Europe for a year. Sell a screenplay. Learn a new language. Write a novel. Those are some big dreams I have. Dreams that will take a lot of hard work and dedication. Big dreams are nice to have. They’re fun. It makes you feel good thinking about them. But the problem with big…
A Short Guide to Effortless Learning
I’ve recently finished reading Leo Babauta’s The Effortless Life (not an affiliate link). For those of you who haven’t heard of Leo, he writes on his blog Zen Habits about living a simple, mindful life and by creating positive habits by taking small steps one at a time. The Effortless Life speaks about having a…
How Children Can Invite Opportunities into Their Lives
In my last post, The Secrets of Expertise, I discussed Malcolm Gladwell’s book Outliers: The Story of Success. In that book, he points to two main reasons why many people have become super successful – putting in an enormous amount of practice in their area of expertise- 10,000 hours- and being born into extraordinary circumstance….
The Secrets of Expertise
I’m really excited to watch the Olympics on TV this summer. I’m always so amazed at how incredibly talented the athletes are, especially the athletes that are still so young. It’s impressive the amount of time and dedication they put into becoming an expert at something. To be an expert at something requires an amazing…
An Inteview with an Interest-Led Learning Dad
I knew before my kids were born that I didn’t want them to attend school. While I was pregnant I worked in a public school, and I had been reading books by John Holt and John Taylor Gatto. I could see with the 12 and 13 year-olds I worked with that when their interest was…