Studyvibe Homeschooling Series - Essential elements of inspired learning

​inspiration
/ɪnspɪˈreɪʃ(ə)n/
the process of being mentally stimulated to do or feel something, especially to do something creative.

​If you are trying to develop a dynamic learning programme for your children at home, then you might like to consider the notion of what I call the 'learning trinity' - three essential elements that help inspire and engage children in the learning process - the HEAD, HEART and HAND.
Let's take the definition of inspiration above  - each of these three elements are inherent in it…..

                   the process of being mentally (Head) stimulated to do (Hand) or feel (Heart) something.

What you are aiming to do in your homeschooling programme then,  is to create activities and experiences that bring all three components together synergistically so that your child / children can experience what I like to call the SWEET SPOT of  inspired learning.
 
How great would it be if for much of the time your children are enthusiastic and excited about their learning (heart), focussed on asking questions and solving problems  (head) and highly motivated and creative (hand).

​Each of these three elements requires a separate blog post as there are so many elements within each but for now I would like to describe a few ways you can promote each element in your home learning programme:

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HEAD
If you want to develop your child's cognitive abilities there are a number of things you can do. Some are a more formal process others can be done incidentally during the day or when the opportunity arises (serendipity).  You don't need to do all of these things at once and they don't have to be an onerous task.  They can be done any time of the day not juts in 'formal' learnimg situations.

1. Try to find out your child's preferred learning style.  This is the way that they learn best. They might like to talk things through rather than write them. If your child is very active they could be what is called a kinaesthetic learner so have them moving while they are learning (e.g. doing sums while you play catchy with a ball).  A blog post on this is coming soon.
2. Ask your child LOTS and LOTS of questions. This helps them think about what they are learning and helps develop their critical and creative thinking. Use the Knowledge Compass to get you started.
3. Get your child to journal or reflect on what they have done during the day. This also helps with long term memory.
4. Explore Art Costa's Habits of Mind and try and incorporate one or more of them into your child's daily routines
5. When exploring a topic use deBono's SIX THINKING HATS

There are many more ideas and resources you can explore but these will get you started.

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HEART
There are many ways that we can support the emotional development of children. The following ideas and strategies can help:

1. Creating a place and space of calm. According to Maslow's Hierarchy of Needs  Love and Belonging and Esteem are essential for anyone to grow to their full potential.  As much as possible create a calm, relaxed place for your child's learning away from distractions.
2. Empowering children to deal with stress and anxiety with a repertoire of tools and strategies.  that help them verbalise how they are feeling. 
3. Helping your child develop a Growth Mindset where they reframe their view of the world into one of possibilities rather than limitations.
4. Engaging in practice such as Yoga, Deep Breathing, and Meditation

• Providing children with opportunities to practice empathy.  Use strategies such as OPV (Other People’s Viewpoint) and SWOT Analysis (Strengths, Weaknesses, Opportunities and Threats)
• Helping children verbalise how they are feeling. Use tools like emotion wordlists, word clouds, and feelings ratings.

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HAND

This dimension focuses on behaviours that can help your child(ren)'s  management of themselves in terms of being organised, managing time, setting goals and establishing routines.. The more independent and autonomous you child the more resilient they can become. So: 

1. Help your child to set daily goals for their learning (it could be as simple as doing 10 sums, writing a journal entry, reading 10 pages of a novel, doing 30 minutes of exercise or similar). Don't make it onerous.
2. Use a timetable or schedule to ensure all subjects are covered either daily or weekly
3. Use something liked the Pomodoro Technique to manage timed activities during the day. This technique is really useful to build up resilience. Begin with doing something for 5 minutes for a few days, then build to ten, fifteen etc. This is especially useful for reluctant readers.
4. ​Help you child organise their equipment and resources and keep their learning place tidy.​

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Each of these domain will be explored in greater depths over the coming weeks but the links provided in each section will also provide extra resources for those things you are interested in.

​If you want more ideas around study you can visit the Studyvibe and Research Safari websites.

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