Over the years as a newer homeschooling mom, I had heard periodically about this "delight directed learning" style of homeschool education...and my curiosity was constantly perked. In particular, I found that the sources which generally advocated for such learning were interesting people, typically out-of-the-box thinkers, and those I've found myself identifying with for our own homeschooling family.
Delight directed learning involves following the natural, God-given gifts, talents, and curiosities of individual children and families, exploring the world around us and making almost anything and everything into a learning experience. This makes much intuitive sense to a mom like me and so I've become increasingly open to the idea of adding more and more "delightful" learning to our homeschooling experience.
Choosing a homeschooling style isn't so tricky when we're aware of the many options, but the catch is to experiment prayerfully and ask God to guide our hearts into alignment with His will. God has unique plans for each of our unique children in life and He is quite the creative God with infinite possibilities to use His creation for His glory. If only we would all be brave enough to search outside of the molds of society and step into His individualized plans for each one of us. How much time we could save following man...if we would wholeheartedly follow HIM!
"And he said to them, 'Follow me.'"
Matthew 4:19
Though our family remains eclectic in our homeschooling approach and we choose to follow curriculum for core subjects, we also intentionally seek to allow the delights of our hearts to lead us into learning of all kinds according to God's best design. We strive to remain flexible learners, navigating life together, and we're intent on prioritizing matters of the heart. We're following God and His Word most earnestly of all and we're confident He will forge the right paths for each of us as we do. His plans are always best and sometimes rather surprising...
And so, with the coming school year and each day between here and there and well after, I'm eager to encourage my family members (big and small) to seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, knowing that all we need will be added to us when we do (Matthew 6:33), knowing that God will give us the desires of our heart and lead us into His will for our part in {His story} through whatever means He deems best. Here's to a year filled with delight directed learning!
"Delight yourself in the Lord, and he will give you the desires of your heart.
Commit your way to the Lord; trust in him, and he will act.
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
He will bring forth your righteousness as the light, and your justice as the noonday."
Psalm 37:4-6