We've been homeschooling our three children for nearly 12 years now, an adventure that's opened my eyes to the value and enjoyment of lifelong learning, since I never would have learned the things I've learned if I hadn't been teaching my children at home.  I wouldn't have remembered anything about algebra (and almost didn't!), or enjoyed revisiting a variety of literature and art, or discovered a whole load of new subjects that weren't around when I was a kid: computer sciences, robotics, or bioengineering, for example.  Our children, now teenagers, continue to learn informally,as a result of their own curiosity and interest in the world around them;  through volunteer programs and apprenticeships in their specific career interests;  and online with Florida Virtual School, a blend of traditional teaching via non-traditional means.

Personally, I've found that I really enjoy and benefit from learning through hands on projects, via films and documentaries and unusual treatments of topics.   There's a wonderful book called "Categories on the Beauty of Physics" that I'm reviewing for our LIFE Lines newsletter.  It takes topics like acceleration, heat, momentum and renders them fully accessible through art and relevance to everyday life. There are so many ways to make complex subjects accessible now, that it's often just a matter of finding the right teaching or learning tool, the right turn of phrase, the right image or comparison. Knowledge is no longer out of reach; sometimes we just need help reaching.

To that end, we've purposely avoided segregating our forum into the standard learning choices: Public ed, private ed, or home ed, or dividing it up among teachers, administrators, students, or families.  Presumably, we're all here for the same thing: whether we teach, or we learn, we need to know where to find information, how to understand it, how to impart it, how to make the most of it, for ourselves or others.

So tell us: How do you learn? Share your stories here, your ideas, your difficulties or your successes.  Ask questions, share answers, connect and learn from one another.   There's no time like the present to make a gift of knowledge!

Terri Williingham
Learning is for Everyone, Inc.

so I am not expert but my children (3, 6, 8, and 9) learn best by reading and doing hands on type things.

In the beginning we used workbooks and a lot of school at home type things but in the end my children learn best by following their own interests and doing projects and experiments.

I cannot think of a great homeschool example except my 8yo daughter wanted to make pudding and all we had was skim milk and powdered milk. The package says to use 2% or whole milk as skim won't set or will be runny. Well she made a box with skim and a box with powdered and we had pudding soup for a snack! LOL! It was tasty but not thick. I helped her google skim milk and powdered milk and we learned that powdered milk often contains enzymes in it that keep it fresh that make it so you can't use it for pudding or even for homemade bread (won't rise- interferes with yeast).

I thought about just telling her not to waste pudding and to wait until we went to the store to buy whole milk (we ran out) but the best way to learn it by doing!

Sincerely,
Debra

*First time reader, first time replier!

Repetition. My son is definitely an audio learner. One of the reasons why we homeschool him is because we would have never made it through the worksheets and reading. About three years ago, we started getting tapes/cds from the teaching company and if you could wear out a cd, he would have worn out several. He's a history fanatic and listens to the lectures over, and over, and over. We recently got him the History of Western Civilization and he must be on his 10th or 12th time listening to it. He does it with "pleasure" books too such as Harry Potter or The Lord of the Rings. He listens while he plays computer/video games. He would listen while jumping on the trampoline but I won't let him play the cd player that loud for him to hear.

Movies or videos don't cut it. Before I found the cds, I would read to him and he would constantly interrupt me to tell me what he would do or to act out a scene. He still does it with the cds. Do you know how annoying it is to be listening to a lecture and have him start and stop it so he can run and get a map or go outside real quick to do something?  It's also really hard to get mad at him for not doing some algebra when he's listening to the history lectures. If only I could find a way for him to listen to algebra.

If you think about it, little kids learn through repetition all the time. Remember how often you answered the same questions over and over when they were little? I'm just glad that I had the flexibility to let him repeat in a way that was meaningful for him.