Monday, August 05, 2013

What is Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning? Blog Hop Series

Welcome to our Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning Blog Hop Series. This week we'll be writing all about how we make learning "whole"-istic and joyful in our home.



Join us:
Monday...What is Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning?
Tuesday...How to plan for Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning
Wednesday...Suggestions from our series of Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning posts.
Thursday...An example of a recent Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning moment from our Joyful Moment Link.
Friday...Wrap-up: How do you keep records of what you have learned?


Never heard of Joyful "Whole"-stic Learning? Well that may be because I made the term up. 

After several years teaching public school and then working as a professor, I found so many times our education system took the child and put him in an unnatural environment (the classroom). This child was then brought information segmented into given disciplines (so that I have heard teachers say, "I teach science not language arts," when asked why the child was not expected to write with any sense of grammar or punctuation. Or a child say, "This is math why do I have to write out how I got my answer.") The dissemination of this information seldom held meaning outside of said unnatural environment and couldn't be practically used in the real world. Commonly the simplest learning moment (watching a bird building a nest out of the window) was shattered, requiring instead a demand for the child to use a worksheet to first color, cut, and then place in order the process of a bird building a nest.



Never have I found a system for anything like that which is currently in place for educating children in the public schools. There are exceptions to this rule, but by and large I have found that teachers that seek out the meaningful whole are just that, an exception to the rule. 

So this brings us to the "whole" part of Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning. The "whole" stands for our concern for our child to learn about something in the its place, in its proper season, in the real world with the idea that we are not the ones handing out knowledge, but encouraging the child to seek knowledge for the joy of seeking knowledge.



And so for the joy part of Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning. The natural joy children have for learning can so easily be squashed. Schooling can be a chore that no one enjoys and find that it is even dreaded. Growing up as a child in public school and then attending many years at university, my joy was squashed many times over. For most of my education, I hated being there and did not know that learning could be joyful.



And finally for the Learning part of Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning. The desire to learn is natural to each and every one of us. Think to a baby, so ready to take that first bound across the carpet. My children would do something we called revving up. The babe would be on all fours and lean forward, then back, then forward and back, over and over again until finally off they went.

The desire to do and figure out how to do it is so natural that it is not taught. But something happens to so many. They lose that natural curiosity. They lose interest in formulating their own questions, in creating their own experiments, in finding their own way, in taking risks and being applauded for the risk right or wrong in the results. This is the act of learning...wanting to seek out knowledge for the mere desire to know.



Now if you are wanting a definition for the dictionary it might look something like this...
Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning-willingly and eagerly formulating questions, creating experiments, and taking risks to acquire knowledge from the source without limitations placed on how, when or where.


Interested? Join us tomorrow for: How to plan for Joyful "Whole"-istic Learning.

See all of the other great blogs participating with their own  series posts here:
Summer Blog Hop

Wishing you homeschool blessings,

10 comments:

verdemama said...

This, I love:
"to learn about something in its place, in its proper season, in the real world with the idea that we are not the ones handing out knowledge, but encouraging the child to seek knowledge for the joy of seeking knowledge."
Cheers!

Bethany said...

Thanks! I love so many of your words too!

Unknown said...

I think this is an excellent description of what so many homeschoolers strive for :)

Earthy Mama said...

I have to say while in high school I said many of times "this is math why do I have to write out my answers?"

Sarah said...

I definitely need to be more joyful in our school and in life.

Beth said...

What a great series. I think even in the homeschool environment we can squash that natural curiosity.

Bethany said...

I agree.

Bethany said...

It definitely isn't always easy, but if that is our goal it becomes more automatic.

Bethany said...

Thanks!

Bethany said...

You are not alone!

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