School Isn't the Only Place Learning Happens — Here's the Secret

One quick reminder: My Etsy shop is now open, offering printable resources for families. Right now, there are 4 products listed, but I have many more in the works. Stay tuned. Share with other families you know.

The products include:

• printable pretend play kit,

• social-emotional learning kit,

• patient parenting toolkit, and

• tech mantra for families.

I’m adding two of these resources to the paid subscriber page. If you upgrade to a paid subscription, you get access to two products included in your subscription, along with the full library of resources.

Paid subscribers can find it at the top of the main page, with the header labeled Printables Library.

We’re in the back to school season. Some of us have already been in school for a couple weeks, while others still have the first day looming in the distance. I think this is a good time to remind ourselves that although school is important and our children learn many valuable things there, it’s not the end all of education.

Early on in my kids’ educational journey, I learned this. Unlike me, who mostly enjoyed school and was mostly interested in the things presented to me, my children don’t always have that level of enjoyment. They are aspects of school they enjoy. There are certain subjects they enjoy, but there’s also a lot of it that they just find boring and they don’t see the purpose of learning it.

That being said, because of their dispositions, I’ve tried to open my mind to other ways that they can engage with learning outside of school that maybe are a little bit more intrinsically motivated. School can introduce them to a lot of new ideas and cool concepts. Sometimes they latch onto them. But what I have found to be more true is the interests they latch onto independently are often more productive mechanisms for learning.

One interesting research tidbit that has come out of this approach to learning is this whole concept of kids’ intense interests. I latched onto this idea when my oldest was preschool age because he would go through phases where he was intensely interested in some topic. This fascination would go on for months, sometimes years.