child directed learning

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How I Removed an Engine from a Car

Callum arrives home from town. He stops by my bedroom to say hello. I glance up from my computer and say, “Callum! You could have changed your clothes before going out!” Callum grins. His long shorts are streaked with grease. His fingers are black. He has a smudge on his face. “What will people think?” I am smiling. I don’t…
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Giving Up My Perfect Start-of-the-Year Plans

On the other side of the world from us, homeschoolers are ‘going back to school’. Catalogues have been browsed, curricula, resources and books have been bought, plans have been drawn up, and hope and excitement are in the air. When I was a fairly new homeschooling mother, I had similar feelings of excitement and anticipation at the start of the…
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When a Child Has Only One Interest.

“It’s all very well, letting children follow their own interests, but my daughter only wants to do one thing. She’s not interested in science or maths or writing… All she wants to do is cook and how’s that going to satisfy the educational authorities?” a hypothetical mother asks.  What would I do if one of my girls only wanted to…
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Making Children Learn What They Don’t Want to Know

We can’t force knowledge into children if they aren’t interested, though it might appear we can. For, of course, children learn things they don’t want to learn all the time. Anyone who’s been to school is very aware of this. Bribes, punishments and even shame are used to ensure children learn things they’re not interested in. But is this kind…
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Did I Doubt? I’m Not Telling!

A few weeks ago, I had a photography adventure in the bush with my girls. We had a wonderful afternoon strolling along the bush track with our cameras, and when we returned, I pondered: Should I plan a special lesson about how cameras work, or how the eye works, or the history of cameras or how light works or…? No! That would…
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Resisting the Temptation to Interfere

Or trusting children to learn in their own time  I have been rather busy recently, my eyes glued to the computer screen, my mind miles away.  “Please can we use the scrapbooking paper, Mum?”  “Yes, you may.”  “Please can I borrow your stapler, Mum?”  “Huh? Oh yes, it’s on my desk.”  For a couple of hours I was vaguely aware…
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Yikes! Do They Know About Filtration?

I was chatting to a friend on the phone the other morning. She was telling me about a dialogue her daughter is writing as an English exercise. “One of the speakers is a professor and he is talking about filtration. We did that in chemistry the other day.” Filtration? I began to wonder: do any of my children know about…
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A Jane Austen Education

I was on my way to bed when I noticed the older girls’ bedroom light was still on. As I stood outside the door I could hear Imogen’s voice. It sounded like she was reading out loud. Pushing open the door, I saw both girls sprawled on their beds. Charlotte was listening enthralled as Imogen read from the book Pride…
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