Independent Learners

I always hoped that my children would become independent learners by the time they were in high school. I remember sitting next to students in college who had no idea how to study, never read their textbooks unless forced to do so, and only came to class because they couldn't afford to lose any more "attendance points." These are people who are supposed to be adults! I wanted my children to have a different attitude. At some point, learning should become the responsibility of the student, not the teacher's. Our last year and a half has been unbelievable. Unbelievably wild. Unbelievably difficult. Unbelievably rewarding. And, all in all, unbelievably busy. Somewhere along the way something unexpected happened in our schoolroom - our children became independent learners. While my attention was often diverted elsewhere, the kids learned how to learn. Isn't that amazing? They began to seek out what they wanted to know. They challenged each other with difficult questions and philosophical discussions. They read and read and read some more. And they did it all without my permission or enforcement. I had all sorts of detailed plans for how I was going to teach them this independence. Now, I'm tossing them aside, exchanging them for new plans. I p,an to let them run wild. That's right, you heard me. I'm going to buy them more books, take them news aces, ask them hard questions and give them everything they need to find the answers. Then, I'm going to sit back and see what they learn. I'll be right here. I'm not far away when they need help, but I'm going to let them lead for a while and we'll see where it takes us. LilliAnn wants to write a movie script, so I'll show her how and let her loose. Grayson wants to see how much math he can conquer on Khanacademy.org, so I'm gonna hook him up and see what he does with it. Evie wants to be reading chapter books by the end of the summer, so we'll be choosing lots of books to practice with between here and there. Teaching doesn't always mean lecturing. Sometimes experience really is the best teacher. And I want them to have the very best.