How to Create a Lifestyle of Learning

photo courtesy of http://goldengrasses.blogspot.com/

Homeschooling is consuming. It takes our time, energy, resources, and money. It is also rewarding and challenging, causing us to grow beyond ourselves, learn subject areas we never would have considered and develop heart relationships with our kids. As a homeschooling family we’ve done amazing things together and separately with a larger than normal family living on one income.

We firmly believe that study is a form of worship and this informs how we live and what we do. We don’t limit learning to desk work or negate the fact that field trips, good books, friendships and travel are just as much a part of education, and therefore worship, as phonics and mathematics. Sight-seeing through Europe and observing octopi in tide pools on Malibu Beach might seem like more obvious worship than studying grammar or math, but in our economy it all adds up to living a life of study, learning as life, study as worship.*

How do you create a lifestyle of learning?

1. Define what you believe about education. What you believe informs and fuels your actions. My husband and I believe that study is a form of worship (in the Talmud, the synonym for “education” is “heavenly work”). We believe that education is about far more than simply “preparing” our kids for life. We believe that educating our kids is life. It permeates what we do. We educate by marinating our kids in an environment of learning, rather picking and choosing subjects from a buffet.

2. Create a literature rich environment. Provide a plethora of quality books, CD’s, DVD’s, magazines in your home, of all “levels.” We have a broad age and interest range in our home, from 8 years old to 48, with 4 females and 3 males. You can imagine the diversity in our home regarding tastes in music, fashion, books, vocations and hobbies. A family is like a stew. You add diverse tastes and textures, let it simmer a bit, and an amazing synergy takes place. My 20 year old has a passion for alternative Christian music. My husband is a scientist, my 24 year has a zeal for new languages and cultures, my 8 year old loves all things little and furry. You get the idea. We all bring something unique to the mix, and as a result, the entire community becomes more informed, more challenged and more enriched by participating.

3. Work Together.We garden. We prepare the soil, plant the seeds and starts, weed, harvest. My husband and I train the kids. When the situation calls for us to delegate a taks, they know how to do it because they have worked alongside of us doing it already. I don’t tell them to weed the garden until we’ve weeded the garden together extensively, sometimes over several years and they are clear about what “weeding the garden” means. The concept of manual labor as beneath those who are educated is a very Greek concept. The ancient Hebrews believed ora et labora (to pray is to work)

4. Research activities and events. I look at local events calendars & magazines, read bulletin boards, check out “happenings” at the library, follow through on links to opportunities and events. You would be amazed at the opportunities and activities that abound, the generosity available to those who ask.

5. Get out of your comfort zone. When God prompts, follow the lead. Pray, trust and obey. For me, one word: Grammar. Grammar is way out of my comfort zone. At least it was 4 years ago.At this point, however, grammar is becoming a fascinating game. O.k. another word, letting your kids get on a plane to go very, very far away, alone. Life as education is fascinating, but not always comfortable.

6. Be willing to travel. My family and I have traveled for hours to talk with people, go to lectures, visit historical sites, etc. We’ve lived in remote locations for the last 16 years but we are often ready and willing to make the drive. Seek wisdom, gain understanding. It’s not always dropped in your lap.

7. Be willing to sacrifice time and money. Doing one thing takes time and energy from something else. Paying for the gas to drive 8 hours (round trip) to see the Dead Sea Scrolls means not having $80 to do something else.

8. Be open to adventure. God’s ways are not our ways. Once you head off the beaten path, the adventure begins. The road less traveled means fewer rest stops, more potholes and a bit of the wild side thrown in.

9. Be willing to try crazy things. Rock walling, allowing your kid to go drive, fly, canoe without you, teaching a class, going out of your way to talk with an expert in a field. Define crazy. It won’t look like sitting in front of the telly.

10. Be willing to fail.One word: Goats. We had them. They died. But not before they destroyed several hundreds of dollars worth of fruit and fir trees. Not before we’d spent a small fortune on equipment. We had high hopes and it didn’t pan out. That is the way of things. Try, take notes, move on. (fwiw: I have GREAT advice for anyone wanting to get goats.

11. Share the wealth. You are both a younger and an older woman (or man) to someone. You don’t have to be an expert to have valuable information and resources to share. Find ways to share the learning that you have. The world need what you have to offer. Find mentors that will guide your learning. You need what others have to offer.

12. Praise God. It’s all about worship, right? He’s given us the amazing adventure of parenting, homeschooling, the resources to learn and grow, living in a free and fabulous country, right now. He has given us good things. Embrace the learning, rejoice in the Journey, study to show yourself approved!

* For more information on the topic of study as worship check out Our Father Abraham: Jewish Roots of the Christian Faith by M. Wilson and Study as Worshipby Benedict Viviano.

Saturday Special is written by homeschooler, Lisa