Interest-Led Learning: Letting Kids Take the Lead

I’m going to preface this entire post by saying I am very much a novice at Interest-led learning. I’ve dabbled in it throughout our 8 years of homeschooling, but I’ve never been able to deep dive into this magical idea. Part of my hesitance is that my kids are very much like the husband and me – many interests but no real passion. The kids have never shown great interest in anything specific. The second reason I’m hesitant is that it is difficult to let go of the idea that certain subjects need to be taught with purpose. It’s difficult to fathom that my kids will be well-equipped to successfully adult if I don’t drill the math facts and make them diagram sentences.

So, how do I expect to discuss this?

Introducing My Friend Meagan

I want to tell you about my friend Meagan. She is truly an inspiration when it comes to interest-led learning. About two years ago, she managed to completely let go of traditional curriculum and the expected education to fully embrace child-led learning with her 3 children.

Now first, there are a few things I want to clarify:

Meagan is crazy in tune with her kids. I’ve never met anyone so incredibly connected to their kids. She has supernatural awareness of her children’s emotions, moods, thoughts, and feelings. She basically needs to be in the general vicinity of her kids and know – like “creepy 6th sense” know- something is off. I truly admire her connection to her kids.
Her kids are intensely intelligent. The kind of “gifted” that’s real, not just nod-your-head-because-everyone-thinks-their-child-is-gifted kind.
She has created a culture where screens are used for purposeful activity. So online time can be 5 hours of researching telescopes, but not 5 hours of mindless YouTube watching.

This doesn’t mean us “normal moms” with “normal kids” can’t do interest-led learning, it just means that we may have to work harder.

Vision Boards

To help her children follow their interests, Meagan first helps the kids define their interests through vision boards. The vision boards allow the kids to dream as big as they like and then visualize what those dreams look like. A vision board can also give focus to dreams and show relationships between those dreams. Most importantly, vision boards are visual reminders of the goals and dreams, always keeping them at the forefront of their minds.

Vision boards can grow, change, and evolve as the kids’ interests grow, change, and evolve. They should be prominently visible so kids (and parents) can always be reminded of their focus.

(Mostly) Unlimited Access to Follow Their Passions

Meagan’s kids have pretty much unlimited access to follow their interests in some very important ways. This access is a way to help drive their passions as well as to deep-dive into them.

The first is open access to the library and other means of reading. The kids avidly download books to read. There are no limits to the books they can read. This open-access gives kids ownership of their education to research topics that interest them and dive as deep as they want but doesn’t cost an arm and a leg beyond the device they use and perhaps an Audible account.

The kids also have unlimited access to search through Outschool classes. No, they can not sign up with reckless abandon, but they can search and save classes they’re interested in. Later, Meagan sits with them and they read reviews, discuss, and enroll in classes that are a good fit for them. I’m sure Meagan says no sometimes, but I know they take a lot of classes. These classes allow the kids to follow interests that Meagan may not have experience with or may not be equipped to teach effectively.

Support, support, support

In today’s society, there are endless opportunities for parents to support a child’s interests and Meagan does it quite successfully. She supports their interests by seeking out experiences and opportunities for the kids to really dive deep into a subject. This can be as simple as doing a little research for documentaries, books, articles, etc. or as complicated as finding professionals that can help teach a child.

Of course, children should be encouraged to do their own research too. Encourage them to forge their own path, follow their own rabbit holes, and make use of whatever information they might come across. While a parent’s job is certainly to do some of the work, it’s really more about facilitating and directing, not leading.

Meagan has regular “meetings” with each of her kids to help them flush out the direction of their interests. She lets them talk out their ideas and she guides them in making those ideas realities.

Give Students Ownership

Interest-led learning works because it gives kids ownership over their education. If they own it, they can take credit for their successes. Meagan told me that when kids are truly interested, they will do the work to follow that. Research backs Meagan up. There is so much research that has been done supporting that when a child (or anyone for that matter) is truly interested in learning something they not only learn it, but they learn it quicker, more thoroughly, and they retain it longer.

This lends itself well to learning all of those “important” things like math and writing. Most interests are inter-disciplinary. Those interests put to practical use a variety of different topics including reading, writing, and math. Depending on what the interest is kids can learn history, science, art, and many other subjects.

Give Yourself Grace

If you’re like me, you’re thinking “But my kids’ interest is Minecraft and becoming the next Youtube star.”

Yeah. Mine too.

But guess what… becoming a Youtube star is a fantastic lesson in marketing, public speaking, and understanding algorithms. Kids have to learn to read and write both to play Minecraft and to be successful on Youtube. Minecraft is an opportunity for kids to learn coding, computer science, geometry, and engineering. As your child gains fame and fortune they will learn about money, advertising, and (hopefully) taxable income. Honestly, you could expand this in so many ways.

The most important part of interest-led learning is that it is the ultimate in fostering a love of learning. And ultimately, isn’t that our goal?

An Example Worth Following

I’m going to return to Meagan one more time. I think following Meagan’s journey is inspirational. It’s certainly one I aspire to. In an interview done recently, Meagan and her kids were spotlighted. You can see that interview here.

You can see some of her children’s successes by following their journeys. Meagan’s oldest is an aspiring photographer, among other talents. He learned web design so he can promote his photography on Bobverse.com. He also built his sister a website where she sells handspun yarn and crocheted goods: Ewenique Astrid. I am continually amazed by her kids and following their websites and social media pages are excellent ways to be inspired and see the potential our own kids could achieve.

Share on Facebook