Why Family Learning?

Written from the perspective of my daughter

Children can learn most things on their own. In our home, the bulk of our education came from independent learning activities. I taught myself how to read music, how to do most math, grammar, history and science. Rather than giving me all the “fish” I needed, my mother taught me how to fish, or learn on my own. My mother’s efforts to help me become a self-motivated, independent learner from an early age provided me with enumerable, far-reaching benefits.

So, if independent learning is so critical, why am I writing a blog on the importance of learning together as a family? Learning with my mother, as a family & in co-ops was also invaluable.  Those group learning experiences helped create:

• A Love of Learning: My mother loved learning and it was contagious. Seeing her get excited about discovering new things made me more excited to learn. She prepared engaging activities (usually for co-ops) that made subjects come alive and helped me to see how the topic was relevant, fun & interesting. Other moms in our co-op similarly helped me love Shakespeare, Spanish and many other subjects.

• Connection: Enjoying any time together as a family helps strengthen relationships. However, there is something uniquely powerful that occurs when you are learning and working together. Discussing literature, making music, performing science experiments, playing games as we practiced math or Spanish, running around for PE, creating art and going on field trips are some of my most cherished memories. During those activities, I experienced many “aha” moments that turned a “light bulb” on for me. Being able to share those experiences with family & friends creates a special bond. I became a lot closer to my mother and siblings because we learned together.

• Tools for Learning: If you want a child to fish on their own, you often need to teach them how. My mother took the time to ensure that I had the tools I needed to learn without her. She taught me how to read and love literature. She taught me some important fundamentals of math that provided a critical foundation for future learning. Some children will pick up tools on their own (my older sister taught herself to read), but if your child does not, someone needs to help them get those tools so they can become independent learners.

• Framework: Children are often introduced to random bits of information they must make sense of and fit together. Discussing what your child is learning helps them to process and make sense of the world around them. It helps them create a “framework” that can speed learning as they begin to see patterns and similarities between new information and things they already know. As we learned growing up, my mother helped me understand the big picture. She helped me to draw connections between different topics and understand how they related. She helped me to analyze and think about what I believed to be right and wrong.

• Mentorship: We often learned with not just our family, but other families as well. While I developed relationships with other children, the relationships I developed with their mothers had an even greater impact on me. As a child, I could see some of the unique gifts and talents the mothers we homeschooled with had. They became important mentors for me in my life. When I was tempted to make a poor choice, not only did I consider my own mother, but also those other mothers. The interest they showed in my life gave me more confidence in myself. They often made me feel like I was someone important and the things I was doing were remarkable. On several occasions as an adult when I encountered situations that I did not know how to navigate, I thought back to some of those mothers and their talents. Years later, their example provided me with inspiration about how to solve problems. Still to this day when I am town, I love to see them.

Allow your child to learn on their own, but do not miss out on the benefits of learning with family and friends.