The Brave Learner, by Julie Bogart
My 5-year-old is due to start kindergarten this fall, and I’m entirely unsure whether we’ll opt for the public school or homeschool route. All I know is that I keep hearing more about the pitfalls of public school and the benefits of homeschool, but I also worry I can’t hack the homeschool-mom life!
While The Brave Learner is applicable whether you homeschool or do public school, I chose this book for book club to see if it would help me come to a decision. Unfortunately, I still feel a bit stuck between both options, but I did learn a lot about educating my children either way, so it was still a good pick!
Today’s blog post covers three of my top takeaways from the book.
Everything Counts as Learning
“An enchanted education is one where we make use of kindling to spark interest in learning about any topic under the sun.”
Far and away, my biggest takeaway from this book was the reminder that we (and especially our children) are always learning something. It’s not always explicitly the core subjects like math, English, and history, but that doesn’t make it any less interesting or useful. In fact, we (and our children) are likely to learn even more when it’s something that actually interests us.
Whether we enjoy painting, 20th century airplanes, video games, or ice skating, we can go deeper in our learning the more time we spend on the subject. Not only that, but we can also trace lines back to core subjects. Take the ice skating idea, for instance:
You could teach mathematical principles that are necessary for landing a triple axle.
You could look into the history of ice skating — where did it originate? who are important people in the world of ice skating?
You could dip into science and talk about solids and liquids and what temperature the room has to be or what other principles are at work in order for the ice to stay frozen.
You could read biographies of famous ice skaters.
You could write about what you feel when you ice skate.
If you love ice skating, wouldn’t all those things be so interesting to learn? And then because you’re interested, you can retain the information much better.
When I think about my own schooling experience, there’s honestly not much I remember despite 16 years of formal schooling. And the things I do remember are the things I was particularly interested in at the time. Sure, there are bits and pieces of random information I could still recall, but the most meaningful things I learned are the things I still use in some way or another today.
How could education change if we used the things our kids were already interested in to lead us back to those core subjects (plus a whole lot of other things, like strategy, cooking, values, emotional intelligence, housework, etc.)? How much more enjoyable would learning be if kids weren’t forced to learn certain things at certain times? Of course some structure is helpful, and especially when it comes to public education, there have to be systems in place. But that’s one thing that makes homeschool appealing — you follow a system that works for your individual family.
Bonus Takeaway: Read, Read, and Read Some More!
As far as the How for learning all these diverse subjects or even how to be exposed to new subjects? Reading of course!
Reading exposes kids to different people, different writing styles, different hobbies, different vocabulary, and even different worlds! Kids (and adults) can learn so much just by reading and being read to.
Think Like an Expert
“Why are we front-loading children with information in a world where a phone in our pocket holds the answer to any question a person could ask? . . . Today’s students need to be able to think and interpret, not just recite. That thinking ought to follow the pattern of the field.”
The above quote was like a mic drop for me — it’s so true! Why on earth do we need to spend tedious hours learning material that can be quickly looked up on our phones or computers? If the information isn’t sticking anyway (do you also feel like you don’t remember much from your years of schooling?), why “learn” something that can just be looked up?
Of course, different information will appeal to different people, so some people will LOVE learning the tedious or more complex parts of history, science, and math. Personally, I’m a complete grammar nerd and I loved learning all the tiny rules of English all through school. The author and I are not saying we throw it all out! Just that it makes more sense to lean into the natural curiosities than to force things that can be looked up later.
And more than that, we should be teaching children to think like a historian or linguist or scientist. HOW would an expert in the subject approach the subject? What questions might they ask? What connections might they form? Instead of having a cookie cutter plan for how to teach children XYZ, let’s allow for more creativity and curiosity.
Connection Matters Most
“Enjoying each other lays the foundation for learning. It’s the essential ingredient, in fact.”
A big reason I’d love to homeschool is because I want to build very strong family ties. I want to work together daily, travel together frequently, and support each other always. However, I was surprised to find the author saying that connection is the most important part of the learning process. I thought it would just be a good biproduct!
But think about it — love and a feeling of well-being are so much more important than any scholastic thing a child could learn! So even if no “learning” took place that day, did you strengthen your family connections? Go ahead and count your day successful!
Children who feel loved and cared for are much more likely to be willing to learn anyway. Imagine that you’re trying to teach multiplication to your child and you’re getting frustrated with the process so you start yelling. Does the child learn? Nope, he’s more likely to shut down.
What if instead, you realized your child was getting overwhelmed and you decided to take the day off and get donuts instead. So the multiplication still doesn’t get learned that day, but the child was definitely reminded of how loved he is, and that small piece gets added to the parent-child connection puzzle that will last for years to come. Maybe you’ll try multiplication again tomorrow, but you took care of what really matters today.
So to help a child be willing to learn, connect with them! And then make that a priority throughout every day, week, and year. The learning will come when the child is ready, and the connection will be there for him all along the way.
As someone who went to public school her whole life, I found that this book gave me such good insight into alternative ways of teaching and learning. It honestly made me so excited about the idea of teaching my children this way! Of course I still have some holdups that make me unsure about homeschooling, but whether I choose homeschool or public school, I will frequently turn to this book as a resource for expanding my children’s education!
Check out my chat with Jessica Jackson of @ThrivingInMotherhood.Podcast about some of her top takeaways from this book!
And then join in on the rest of the book choices this year! :)