What is Delight-Led Learning?

Delight-led Learning takes the approach that a child will learn best when they are ready to learn.  In my opinion, delight-led learning is a mindset more than a process.

Instead of telling a child what they will learn, you follow what they’re interested in learning about.  It is essentially a shift from “doing school” to “always learning”.

When we “do school”, we decide what and when a child will learn something. With a delight-led approach, the majority of the decision and timing for what a child learns follows the child’s interest level.

When children are interested in something, they are much more engaged with what they’re learning.

Pursuing their interests provides a child organic opportunities to apply what they’re learning to their own life.  They retain the information because it is meaningful to them.

All of this sets them up to get the very most out of that experience!

Three Things Delight-Led Learning Is

Delight-Led Learning is Fun!

There is nothing quite as powerful as curiosity and interest when it comes to igniting a passion for learning. Why? Because it’s fun to explore something we haven’t seen before and to discover something new!

With delight-led learning, children are motivated by what they’re interested in.  Learning is the natural outgrowth in that environment, and the process is enjoyable.

When a child has fun learning, he develops a love for it.  And once he has a love for learning, he seeks it out everywhere he goes, all the time.

Taking the time to foster a love for discovery and knowledge acquisition will benefit your child for the rest of his life.

Delight-Led Learning is Effective.

When children are learning something they’re interested in, the retention level is very high.

Research has shown that learning occurs best when children are active, engaged, and building meaningful connections to their lives.

Children can, and do, learn through more traditional educational methods, but how often does it inspire excitement about the material that is being covered?

With most traditional approaches, information originates from an outside source in a top-down approach.  It can be difficult for children to make meaningful connections between what they’re learning about and their everyday life.

Delight-led learning, by contrast, is fun and engaging.

With delight-led learning, the desire to learn originates with the child, making it directly meaningful and applicable in their own life. Because of that meaningful connection and inherent interest, they retain what they’re learning at a much higher level.

Delight-Led Learning is Efficient.

Because delight-led learning capitalizes on a child’s natural desire to learn about a subject, more can be learned in less time.

You’re no longer force feeding a child something that you know is good for them, but that they don’t actually want (like steamed vegetables); instead, they are hungry for what is in front of them and devour it without any nudging from you. It takes a lot less time for a child to eat their favorite meal than to eat one they’re not interested in.

Three Things Delight-Led Learning Is Not

Delight-Led Learning is not Lazy Learning.

One misconception about delight-led learning is that nothing really happens. Sometimes parents wonder, “Is my child learning anything?  It seems like they’re just playing all of the time.”

Delight-led learning is not lazy learning.  In fact, it’s just the opposite!  It is inventive, creative, and inspiring. Delight-led learning is learning at the highest level.

It empowers our children to become life-long learners by teaching them that:

•  Questions are okay (and important!)
•  They are intelligent and capable of finding the answers
•  There are no limits to what they can do, explore, discover and learn in any area of life

Delight-Led Learning is not a Hands-Off Approach.

Delight-led learning is not “do whatever you want”.  

Sometimes parents get confused and think they must abandon all involvement in learning, leaving all responsibility for learning in the hands of the child. The truth is that you as the parent-teacher are still very much involved with delight-led learning.  It’s just that the nature of that involvement changes.

Your role switches from front-end planning to back-end equipping.

Yes, we should give our children lots of unstructured time to play and discover (more on that in the next section).  But even in that, we should be observing the things that grab their attention, and then building on that enthusiasm.  Guide them towards high quality resources and experiences in areas of interest.

Additionally, you can (and should) offer invitations to learn by making things available to them that they may not have considered before.  

Delight-Led Learning is not Stressful.

Sometimes thoughts of “how will I keep up?” serve as a stumbling block for families interested in delight-led learning.  Misconceptions about the practical aspect of this educational style – including “will my child learn enough?” – cause unnecessary fear.

The reality of delight-led learning is that it is more relaxed because you are not creating the learning environment.

The hours you spent planning and grading are repurposed into time focused on supporting and engaging with your child in new ways.

Adding Delight-Led Learning To Your Homeschool

Delight-led learning can be practiced exclusively as a homeschooling approach, or elements of it can be woven in to any homeschool environment, regardless of style. My family has done both in different seasons of our lives, and we have never regretted it.

Interested in adding it your own home? If you are adventurous and have the confidence and patience to jump in and try it, then go for it, mama!

If, however, it seems like too big of a jump from where you are right now, try bringing it in slowly. Maybe leave some free time for your children to play and explore during the afternoon, or open up one day a week in your schedule for your children to pursue whatever draws their interest. Alternatively, you could start leaving your children invitations to learn to spark their curiosity and help them step into self-directed discovery.

Whatever your comfort level is, you’ll soon find that with delight-led learning, your children learn so much more than you expected, and that their everyday experiences become rich with curiosity, discovery, and creativity.