When I begin sharing about using delight-directed learning, especially how we homeschool this way all of the time, a few people begin getting a little nervous. For some reason, many homeschool moms are married to their curriculum choices. I understand this because curriculum can be expensive. And some of you are just planners by nature. And planners must plan. I’m not much of a planner, but I know plenty who are, and so I get this.
However, even those of you who love your curriculum choices and love your planners, can introduce your kids to delight-directed learning in an organized, but simple way. You can even plan it!
One day a week is all it takes.
There are few boxed homeschool curriculum options out there that won’t allow for a 4-day week. I encourage you as you begin planning for the coming school year to do just that — create a 4-day homeschool schedule with that curriculum. Then set aside one day a week for delight-directed learning.
On your one day a week, you can do lots of great things:
- Create a fun school jar and choose one activity each week by brainstorming topics of interest with your kids
- Ask your kids what they would like to learn about an then do a unit study once a week
- Use your current curriculum as a jumping off point for exploring the subject deeper than your curriculum allows
- Follow a rabbit trail that is sparked from either your current curriculum or another topic that came up during the week
- Use the book basket technique and fill those baskets with books on a topic your kids are excited to learn more about
- Plan a new project the entire family can work on one day a week
- Use Fridays to take field trips based on what your kids have been learning all week
- Set aside time to learn about the history of fun and meaningful holidays
I will warn you to be careful — once you begin adding delight-directed learning to your homeschool, you just may want to do it all the time!
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I would also love to invite you the community inspired by this series, as we strive to inspire, encourage and empower our readers in everything homeschooling.