How you learn

I know I say this somewhat frequently, but if you want to really think about education and learning, you need to be in the process of learning new things yourself. If you are not learning anything new (and frankly, that's just bad for your brain), then the rosy hue of amnesia will settle in, not unlike how parents eventually forget how exhausting and difficult having a newborn can be and really only remember the good parts. We tend to remember the good things about school, blocking out the more difficult things, lending our school memories a somewhat idealistic hue. (This, of course, is not the case if there was nothing good about school for you. In that case, there is nothing to idealize.) We also forget exactly how difficult and vulnerable learning something new can be. 

Along with reminding us of the challenges of learning, when we attempt new things, we might discover that we don't learn in ways we thought we did or ways that are common in a traditional school setting. By experiencing this, it allows us, especially as we think about teaching our own children, to consider a far greater variety of learning methods than we might other think about. 

For example, it's no secret around here that I love learning new things and engage in that learning fairly frequently. Over the years, I have discovered certain patterns that my learning takes. Here are the typical steps:

1. Find something that catches my interest enough that I want to learn more about it.

2. Do a book search on Amazon (because it is a really awesome book catalog even if I am trying not to actually purchase books off of it), find titles I'm interested in and put them on hold at the library.

3. Read all the books. Often these books will contain terms or ideas that are new and that I don't yet fully understand. I've learned to let that go and just keep reading. It kind of feels like drinking from a fire hose at this point. 

4. Discuss new information with anyone who will listen to me.

5. Become sated with the topic and move onto something else temporarily. In the meantime, all of that new information is still rolling about my brain, making connections without me being fully aware of it.

6. Renew my interest in the topic, find and check out more books. Sometimes these will be a couple of the same books I checked out the first time, but realized I didn't really understand.

7. Read the new books, this time understanding far more than I did the first time around.

If the new thing I'm learning involves doing something, the cycle stays essentially the same, except after number 3, I would try doing the thing myself. Depending on how that went, I would then go in search of videos to watch, then continue on with the cycle. 

I know that I learn best by reading about something first as well as by getting a pretty extensive general overview. I don't like not understanding where information is going. I need the big picture first so I have a framework to slot things into. I also won't learn as well or as deeply if I do not have breaks between information binges and if I don't have someone to discuss it with. It's ideal if that someone already knows about it, but I can manage even if they don't. J. is always a willing ear, or sometimes I will just corral a child or two and talk with them. Such as when I lured B. and his girlfriend up to my studio this past Sunday and showed them all the fleece-related things. They were very gracious. Some of my real life friends who read this will be nodding their heads because some of them now know far more about looms than they thought they wanted to. 

Some of my children are very similar in their learning approaches, but not all. Some don't want to know the big picture first, it's too overwhelming, others need to physically try things before they actually know anything, some focus on one thing at a time others like lots of things going at once. Some learn best through reading, others by listening, and still others through watching. There is no one right way. People are different and people's brains are different. Even something as simple as background noise. I really don't like to have any, though if I am engrossed in something enough I can tune out just about anything. Others of my children do better with some noise going on. Movement is another area of difference. I can sit for a long time and actually prefer it if I can have a fairly significant block of time to work on something. Others of my children really do need to move. A lot. They do not do their best work sitting at a table and certainly not sitting still. 

Here's my challenge for you. Do you know how you learn best? It's an interesting question if you haven't really spent much time thinking about it. Do you know how your children learn best? Here's where that deschooling piece of yesterday comes in. There are certain ways children are taught in traditional schools because they are convenient to manage a classroom of ~30 children. Sometimes I think people mistake convenience for the only way to learn, or at least the only way that somehow counts. 

So think about it... and go learn something new.