Delight-Directed Learning: a Home school Natural for Summer

Many children will do nothing but read books. I had a son who always had a book in front of him. Many children will do volunteer work; they are really into becoming a candy stripe at a hospital, and summer might be their sole occasion to accomplish that. Others really enjoy working with children, so they move from vacation bible school to vacation bible school helping out with different churches. Other kids will do the majority of their projects such as scouting or 4H.

One of the ways you might strongly encourage delight-directed learning is to use summer as a gift-giving opportunity. You can provide your kids certain gifts that will encourage their passions. For my son, this meant investing in Teaching Company classes on economics or American government. For my other son, it meant different things, and for your children, it will mean different things also. Any time you provide gifts that inspire their passions, it can help them to feel like they are getting a break.

Educational activities are another great option to encourage delight-directed learning. Try a few field trips, or connect with an structured group that gets together for sports. Several parents plan units that their kids are capable of doing on their own. I wanted my children to have a health class, yet we couldn not fit it in the school year, so I bought them the book Total Health. They read through the book, a chapter a week, and were able to complete it on their own time—not to mention I did not have to be included at all!

In the middle of everything else, make sure you schedule time for relaxation, where you demand nothing. In the book Margin, the author talks about how significant it can be to have plenty of space. When you take a look at a book, the more white space you can find on the page the easier it is for you to read the book, and the faster you will have the ability to read. The same is true for everyday life—the more unplanned white space on the page of your life, the faster you will have the ability to go and the more effective your life will be. Planning for nothing and planning for rest can really help.

If you plan to do summer school and there is something academic that needs guidance, consider having the non-teaching parent be the one who checks on the work and makes certain that it is completed each day. If your child is operating on their own through a math book or something, perhaps you are not reviewing it day-to-day and the non-teaching parent will only hand your child the test, remove the answer key, and assess the work when they are finished. If you do not have a spouse at home who can do this, you could possibly share this task with a friend. Just make sure you get a break from academic work!