What is interest directed learning and how can you use it to help your homeschoolers grow and develop their special gifts and talents?
Interest-Directed Learning: What Is It?
You hear so much about interest-directed learning these days, don’t you? At our house, we used unit studies based on the interests of our children. I started out on my challenge of following their interests to discover their gifts and talents. Since I was fairly new to homeschooling and still learning how each child is so unique, it took a bit of creative thinking to figure out just exactly what their interests were and how I could capture the ideas and help them grow and develop their special gifts and talents.
I learned to be a better observer of their favorite things to do, their curiosity statements, their tendencies to favor different topics in the library, and so on. Try it out. Make a simple chart of ideas based on things you see in the weeks ahead. Here are a few examples:
Area of interest: Possible life work
Serving others: Pastor, missionary, service organizations, church service
Protecting others: Police work, military service
Building things: Carpenter, builder, architect
Repairing things: Automotive repair, computer repair, appliance repair
Counting things: Statistician, banker, accountant
Entertaining others: Athlete, actor/actress, singer, musician, race car driver
Teaching others: Homeschooling parent, teacher, church service, college professor, archaeologist
Creating things from ideas: Engineer, computer scientist, sculptor, artist, author, chef
Growing things: Farmer, park ranger, forester, nurseryman, botanist
Helping others: Nurse, doctor, lawyer, orthodontist, coach
Following clues, putting puzzles together: Detective, food scientist, astrophysicist
History fanatic: Ambassador, politician, leader, professor
Working with their hands: Electrician, finish carpenter, orthopedic surgeon
Working with animals: Zookeeper, veterinarian, zoologist
Working with a camera: Photographer, biologist, scientist, satellite designer
These are just a few ideas and connections that can be made with some of the interests that children display. Make a file on your phone or keep a small notebook handy so that you can record their interests that just happen to pop up—a mention of wanting to know how a lawn mower works to wishing she knew how to sew. By keeping track of these, you’ve got some concrete things to pursue, and you know what to watch for at the next library or garage sale. Enjoy the off-road explorations. They are learning ALL the time!
Blessings,
Amanda B.