3 ways we encourage lifelong learning in our children and ourselves
How do we make our kids lifelong learners and love lifelong learning? Spoiler alert: We don’t.
Family homeschool video: Lifelong learning and curiosity in homeschooling
Our kids learn in different ways. They’re not always enthused or fascinated by every single topic, assignment, discussion, or subject we cover in school.
But our kids love to learn.
We love to learn, too. We want our kids to love to learn, and keep that motivation throughout their lives. Ultimately, how they learn is up to them. But here are a few things we do throughout our lives, family, home, and homeschool to do the one thing we can do:
We create and support an environment that is conducive to building a love of lifelong learning.
And underpinning it?
Curiosity.
But not just curiosity.
An understanding that through curiosity, you can make progress on understanding, and from there, get what you need to take action.
Here are three ways we help set up a home environment that supports lifelong learning:
We say, “I don’t know.”
As parents, we’ve never felt a pressure to act like we know everything. Many of our favorite moments with the kids have come from them asking a question that we don’t know the answer to. We embrace not knowing, because when you don’t know something, you realize you have an opportunity to learn about it. When you know you can learn, you know the lifelong learning is in your grasp.
We provide access to resources for finding and growing knowledge.
From visits to the library to using the internet together, we make sure that our kids not only have access to information, but have the awareness that perspective, understanding, and answers are out there, and they can find them.
We talk about what we’re learning
From new skills to new technologies, we parents are always learning too. We have open discussions about what we’re learning, working on, struggling to understand, or getting more perspective on. This tells the kids that it’s okay not to have all the answers, and it’s okay to realize that sometimes learning something is hard.
We show we can find a way to the lifelong learning we want and need—and so can our kids.
