Students for Life – Learning Beyond School

It was an early morning, that first day of school after summer break. “Do I have to go to school?” the twelve-year old version of me asked my mom. “Yes,” she replied. “But I don’t want to go,” I replied. She said nothing. “I hate school!” I commanded. It wasn’t a yell though. I knew how fast my mom’s hand would fly if I had. Little did I realize how much I’d grow to love learning. So much so that I spent several more years, well beyond high school, seeking a higher education.

You don’t have to like school to love learning. If we open our minds, beyond the confines the walls of a school building, we can learn whenever and wherever we want. A person can use any number of avenues from which to learn. Most secondary schools have caught onto this, as more and more offer online learning.

How about this. When was the last time you learned something new? And I don’t mean in a “school” environment. I mean through watching a YouTube video, or reading a book, magazine, blog post, etc. Did you think of it like school? Depending on what it was, I’d bet not. You were going to school and didn’t realize it.

Why didn’t it feel like school? Often times, we have a preconstructed version in our minds on how school is to be conducted. Whether remote or in-person, we have a stigmatism associated with schooling. And for many, it’s a dreadful feeling.

Schooling can happen whenever and wherever you want.

Before my wife and I decided to homeschool our children, I had a preconceived notion of what it was. I knew that I wanted to homeschool our children. Though I was wrong when it came to how. My mind envisioned homeschooling to be similar to regular school. It would have structured hours, subjects, and grading. Only there were less students, and it took place at home (and only at home).

My mind was too restrictive. I thought that homeschool had to take place between certain hours. It had to be conducted in a certain format. And, as the “teachers,” my wife and I had to deliver the subjects as authoritarians. My mind was restricted by the confines of the ways that I went through the public school system.

Thankfully, for my kids’ sake, it wasn’t up to me. My wife is the one who primarily provides the schooling for them. Therefore, she gets to choose when, what, where, and how to provide it. I often tell her, that her job is harder than mine.

 In order to better understand it, she met with several other homeschool moms. It was impressed upon her that school can be when and where we want it to be. And, it doesn’t have to be facilitated in any specific way.

Have you ever taken your kids on a math field trip? I love math. And I know that math is included in nearly everything we do. It’s in sports, driving, walking, dancing, running, billiards, and so much more. And my wife has used that knowledge to her advantage. She turns a trip to the grocery store into a math class. It’s extremely beneficial to teach and learn outside the confines of a “classroom.”

The world is our classroom.

Have you repaired something around your house? Did you watch a YouTube video to accomplish it? I learned how to replace the headlight in my wife’s SUV, from a YouTube video.

By replacing the headlight, myself, it saved me roughly $300. It took me nearly two hours though, because I had to take off the front-end of the vehicle. The money I saved was well worth my time. It should only take half the time, the next time I have to do it.

And there are many other things I’ve learned from YouTube. Including replacing the pilot light in my furnace.

I’ve also learned from reading books. I love reading. Whether it’s fiction or non-fiction (depending on the subject that is). Reading fiction books, we learn; we’re increasing our vocabulary.

Bookstores, both online and physical, are only as successful as what they sell. And the selling of books is roughly a $1.2 billion industry. That figure, the average of both 2019 and 2020, doesn’t even include magazines or periodically.

What’s your superpower?

My son has been blessed with the superpower of dyslexia. He is strengthened by this ability. It might take him a bit longer to read, but he is stronger for it.

We’re not forced to put him into a “special” class, by the school system. A class to make him feel ashamed of something he can’t control. He’s extraordinarily intelligent. By us encouraging him, and work one-on-one with him, he’s able to flourish.

For those who do want more structure, but don’t care for “school,” there are other options. There are also several sites like Udemy.com, SkillSuccess.com, Degreed.com, Coursera.com, OpenLearn.com, and many others.

I have used all of the sites listed. Some have more options available than others. Personally, I have used Skill Success the longest. Not because it’s better than the others. I’ve used it the longest because I like the offering and the extremely reasonable price for them. I paid $9.99 for each course. And they all have lifetime access. Though they recently switched to a subscription model.

Udemy is working hard to catch up to Skill Success. Many of their courses are well made. But their prices range. Degreed has a lot of information. Unfortunately, the majority of it are links to other sites. Coursera is provided by the same company that provides Udemy.

OpenLearn.com is the newest one I’ve tried out. I haven’t used it long enough to give a good review. What I’ve used thus far is okay. If you like reading that is. The courses I’ve registered for are comprised of all written material. Personally, I prefer the audio and/or video to go along with the reading materials.

Learning is for life.

As a child, I couldn’t stand to go to school. Now, I can’t get enough of it. It’s all about the perspective. If we don’t get hung up on schooling/learning being confined to a classroom, we can embrace learning for life.