Many Paths

This week we met with all our Home Learning Community families to reflect on their year’s learning. I am always struck by how thoughtful and deliberate each family’s learning journey is, and also how different they all are from one another. We have families that radically homeschool, introduce no curriculum, and completely follow their children’s current passions and interests. We have families that purchase boxed curricula and follow it through to the end. And we have everything in between.

The glory of homeschooling is that each family can follow the path that works for them, and within each family, each child can follow a different path from their siblings. Conventional education, with its grade level expectations and standardized tests, has become a one-size-fits-all endeavor. People aren’t like that! I love talking to our families and appreciating the diversity of educational philosophies, different learning styles, and diverging educational methods they use to address the individual needs of their families and children.

· Kaitlyn just needs to be outside, so everything she does is nature-based: an observation journal for writing, botany and biology for science, and measurement of her garden for math.

· Joseph lives for Minecraft: red-stone teaches him electronic circuitry, he writes directions for building his city, and he takes classes on history through Minecraft.

· Grace must be active: she shouts times tables as she jumps on the trampoline, learns about the circulatory system by taking her pulse after running, and writes workouts for her friends

· Alex is passionate about film-making: he writes scripts, studies the science of light, and learns history through film

What does your child love?

What does your child need?

What is the best method for your child to learn?

We all want the same things for our kids: to be happy, to be educated, to be successful in the life they choose. We are all on a learning journey, and there are so many paths to follow!