Why do we expect our kids to be able to effectively operate the most complex piece of equipment identified on earth, the human brain, without at least knowing what parts do what? We spend a lot of time telling kids what to learn, and for some reason forget to teach them how they can learn.
Imagine a 16 year old getting into a car for the first time without knowing which pedal controlled the gas, and which controlled the brakes? That’s essentially what we’re doing to our kids by telling them to learn without telling them which parts of their brain do what.
Last February I was invited to speak about growth mindset at the Canadian Homeschool Conference. I chose to focus my talk on the importance of learning how to learn. Families choose homeschooling for several different reasons. One common reason is that their child learns differently.
The recording from the homeschool conference has now been released, and I have decided to share it for free on Youtube! Watch it below!
There have been several different learning schools that have revolutionized the way kids learn, such as Montessori, Reggio Emilia and the forest schools. The schools were built for kids who learn differently, and are meant to harness the brain’s natural way of learning. The challenge with these schools is that they require smaller class sizes which means that they are expensive. Because of this the government is likely not going to start running them as public education anytime soon. But there is another type of educational idea that has come out of those who learn differently. It’s called unschooling.
Unschooling recognizes that children are their own agents who are not only capable of learning but are also motivated to learn. Children don’t need a teacher, because life and play will teach them all of the lessons they need!
Taking the philosophy of unschooling into account, if we teach children how to work the mechanics of the organ between their ears we can give children their own agency! And maybe they will be able to come up with a better solution to learning than any of us adults have been able to figure out.
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