Re-learning how to learn

There are very few humans out there who are lucky enough to have their sense of wonder, curiosity, and discovery remain intact, undisrupted by well-meaning adults on the lookout for every tiny teachable moment. For the rest of us, re-learning how to learn is among the fundamental skills of lifelong learning.

There are so many ways to learn. Each one of us will find various sources of learning and knowledge acquisition throughout our life. Sometimes, we don't even realize when it's happening. We learn through our passions, interests, relationships, mistakes, and triumphs. We learn when we need to. We do not learn - except when we're made to - to please others and complete their checklists. We learn because something inside us motivates us to.

As grown-ups committed to learning new ways of supporting young people that center our relationships with them first, we can honor our needs to learn and develop as well as theirs. We can see their drive to play and relate to friends as methods of learning. We can accept that learning happens well beyond the classroom container. At any age, when it's time to leave classroom learning behind, we need an adjustment period to remember how to learn for nobody else's approval. This adjustment phase is often seen as a de-programming period and many refer to it as "deschooling."

This is the time to wonder, what if we never took authentic learning away from our kids? What would life look like? What would learning look like?

Learning is a hands-on, naturally-occurring, interest-driven experience. Not something you find on a worksheet. It requires a slower pace, careful attention, and a quiet allowance. You may find patience that doesn't serve an academic programming year.

Sometimes we learn through teachers, and sometimes we don't. Sometimes we learn by watching and sometimes we learn by doing. All learning experiences are valid. There is no one right way for all. Recognizing the authentic learning moments in our own lives will help us see them in our kids' lives too. Typically, the first step in deschooling requires this deep recognition, a lot of awareness, a ton of time, and loads of trust. I can help guide you through this transition phase - acute at first and ongoing forever after.

Maybe for now though, we put away the standardization, the invented metrics, and the curriculum requirements, and just slow down to watch the snow melt?

Photo: Annie Friday