Unexpected Moments: Trusting the Process of Self-Directed Learning

We have had our moments with homeschooling. Moments of doubt, moments of fear, and moments where it felt like disaster was just a step away. It was almost inevitable once we decided to do things in a very different way. Will it work? Were my kids learning? Will I stay sane? These were the questions that plagued me.

Trusting the Learning Process

This is our 4th year officially homeschooling. And though we still have our bad times, I have now learned to trust the process.

One thing that helped were those serendipitous, unexpected moments of pure joy. When everything lined up, things just clicked, and my kids had an unexpected breakthrough ‘aha!’ moment. At first I thought these were lucky and random,  or just an added bonus. These days, I think of them as a feature.

Understanding Our Learning Rhythms

You see, after this long, I now know the rhythm of how my kids learn. And though the methods and set ups keep changing, those moments keep on happening.

Whether it’s my minecraft obsessed daughter deciding she wants to recreate the Eiffel Tower in purple and blue, or my son blitzing through a new ‘game’ that teaches low-level computer coding (think one step above writing in binary and hex), I now trust that their own love of learning will keep them moving forward. Possibly even exceeding what I had expected was possible.

Optimising Passion, Scaffolding Weakness

Of course, none of this ‘just happens’. Creating the environment that encourages their own passions and scaffolds them through their weaknesses takes time. He’ll, it even takes planning – something I struggle with on the best of days.

It’s been a slow, iterative process to find what works and what doesn’t – and it can still all change overnight!

But now I know that this too is part of the process. And that feeling of being just a step away from disaster never really goes away. But these days, it’s more of a familiar companion – the friendly monster under the bed, not the flaming daemon from the 9th circle of he’ll I always imagined.

That helps.

Those unexpected moments of pure joy keep me going. I will keep on planning, tweaking, searching and adapting. Because experience has taught be to trust the process, to trust my children, and to trust myself.

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This post is part of the GHF: Gifted Homeschoolers Forum blog hop, “Happiest Homeschooling Moments: Personal Stories, Inspiration and Tips”. Go check out the other great posts!