love and learning

What is Delight Directed Learning?

The name gives us a good hint
- Letting kids follow their interests and learn what they’re delighted/ interested in
Many call it the most natural way of learning
- As adults, we are free to pursue learning whatever sparks our interest
Is it the same as Unschooling?
- Not quite
- Delight Directed homeschools typically use more formal lessons
- Most Delight Directed homes teach core subjects with formal lessons and curriculum as well
- Still can use the unschooling concept of strewing to spark ideas and introduce new concepts
- Very relaxed and follows children’s interests, generally a bit more structured and may follow more of a schedule than Unschooling
What does Delight Directed learning look like?
- Working with the child’s unique learning needs, learning language, and style
- Children applying interests to real-life and learning real-life research skills
- Choosing a subject they want to learn about and doing a deep dive
- May include- books, documentaries, podcasts, field-trip, crafts, curriculum, visiting with experts on the subject, research, art, and more
- Often begins as a spark of interest from something else covered in school or discovered in life
  - Begins spontaneous and then may progress into something more structured
- May last only a day or may last months!
How does Delight Directed Learning work with Fun-Schooling?
Fun-Schooling is the perfect combination with the Delight Directed (DD) approach!
Students can easily study anything they want with our journals
- Single-subject journals give students a guided deep-dive into dozens of topics
- Or students can choose a core journal and library books, documentaries, podcasts, interviews with experts, hands-on projects, etc. to study anything they can.
Aligns with the idea Delight Directed learning teaches of following the natural learning process
- As adults, we decide what we want to, or need to know, and dive in!
- A relaxed, fun, and encouraging learning process like DD focuses on
Students can cover all the main subjects like math, language arts, history, science, social studies in alignment with their interests.
Sets students up to dive deep into the skills, knowledge, and tools they will need to have for their future callings and careers

Be sure to join the main Fun-Schooling Moms group on Facebook, and then click below to watch a video on Fun-Schooling journals that are Delight Directed-Friendly!

Shot from Olive Branch Farm, courtesy of Toni Jackson-Lawrence

I try to infuse beauty and creativity into the simple things of life wherever I am, when we have little or much. It’s all about seeing the ordinary and everyday things as opportunities for wonder, spice, faith and shared delight.

In 2010, a realtor came to look at the house we are moving from, she said we need paint over all the murals because people want ordinary houses to imagine their own ordinary lives in.

Some people are talented with paints and pencils, others craft with words, still others are creative in providing memorable experiences. Truly, anyone can make the ordinary extraordinary–because what makes life beautiful are the people, the shared moments and smiles, baby giggles, the love and learning, the music, making and experimenting, time in worship, perhaps some furry cuddles, investing time in doing things together…and maybe a sweet treat or two!

Join us for about 5 minutes with the Brown family on a rainy day over a decade ago. The same things that made life feel magical back then still create the same wonder today!