All Education is Self-Education

EP202: What if you could empower your child to take control of their own education journey, transforming your role from instructor to guide? This episode explores this captivating concept by drawing inspiration from Rudolf Steiner’s philosophy, emphasizing that education is fundamentally self-directed. That's the end goal, after all. Listen in for the metaphor of the "four baskets" which illustrates how the responsibility for learning gradually shifts from the parent to the child. Plus, Jean shares three tips for embracing the idea of self-education through the years of our homeschooling journey.

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Chapters

• 0:09 Art of Homeschooling
• 14:42 Embracing Self-Education in Homeschooling

Transcript

Jean: 0:09

You're listening to the Art of Homeschooling podcast, where we help parents cultivate creativity and connection at home. I'm your host, jean Miller, and here on this podcast you'll find stories and inspiration to bring you the confidence you need to make homeschooling work for your family. Let's begin. One of my favorite ideas about teaching and learning comes from Rudolf Steiner, who said all education is self-education. I remember when I first heard this, I actually was baffled, to be honest, because on the one hand, of course, all education is self-education, but on the other hand, isn't education dependent on what the teacher teaches the student? Are you intrigued? Then stay tuned, because that's what we're focusing on in today's episode what it means to homeschool. Using these words as a guiding principle, let's start with the full quote from Rudolf Steiner, the founder of the first Waldorf School back in 1919. Steiner said essentially, there is no education other than self-education. Every education is self-education and as teachers, we can only provide the environment for children's self-education. We have to provide the most favorable conditions where, through our agency, children can educate themselves according to their own destinies. This reminds me a bit of this Montessori approach as well, where the environment is structured in such a way that the child, through their own exploration, makes discoveries and in the process develops a deep ownership of what they learn. It's almost more obvious in a Montessori classroom, I think, because the environment is set up and structured in a really specific way. But this applies to Waldorf education as well, because the environment can be way beyond the materials on the shelves. We can include rhythm in that, the stories we bring, all the activities we bring. So here we go.

Jean: 2:40

The first thing that I want to point out is this does not mean we don't teach anything or that we're completely hands off. We're not talking about unschooling here either. Steiner had lots of ideas for stories. Which stories when we bring which stories to children? And the lively arts like movement, drama, painting, modeling, music all kinds of lively arts that we can engage in with our children to help bring the learning alive. To me this means that as a teacher, we cannot control what is learned. We can only provide the most favorable conditions and allow our children to take it from there. Now. I know this isn't always easy to navigate, so in today's episode I want to share with you three tips that, as a Waldorf-inspired homeschooling parent, can help you embrace this idea that all education is self-education.

Jean: 3:45

First one accept our changing roles. I want to share with you what this looks like in terms of our role as parent and teacher. In my training as a Simplicity Parenting Family Life Coach, I learned about this idea called the four baskets. Picture this the parent and each child has a basket of their own, and in the early years, the parent's basket is mostly full, while the child's is rather empty, because we as the parent have most of the responsibility for caring for and teaching our little ones. But as our children grow, our basket becomes less full. As our child's becomes more full, our role is changing as our children grow, and the end goal, of course, is that their basket is full and that they have ownership of their lives and their learning.

Jean: 4:46

Here's a description of our role in relation to these four baskets. We start off when our children are in their early years. As the sovereign king or queen, the governor, we make most of the decisions for our children. Then, when our children are in the elementary years, from about ages 7 to 14, we're the farmer or gardener, planting seeds, tending the seedlings and then standing back to watch them grow. In the teenage years, from 14 to 21, we're the guide or the, while these descriptions were created in reference to parenting. I think they're also really helpful for us as homeschooling parents and in our role as homeschoolers. Yes, parenting and homeschooling both require us to grow and change, just as our children do. Our job is to recognize and accept our changing roles.

Jean: 5:56

Tip number two encourage autonomy in learning. As homeschoolers, we want to encourage our students to take ownership of their learning. This is a gradual process and it takes place over years time, but one of the best ways to lay a foundation for autonomy in learning is by tailoring the lessons to meet our children right where they are, to meet their individual needs. Each child is different and homeschooling offers us the flexibility to tailor their education to that particular child's strengths, interests and learning style. We're in an ideal position to cultivate a learning environment that encourages self-motivation, exploration, personal growth, rather than a one-size-fits-all curriculum.

Jean: 6:48

One of the ways this plays out is in how we pace our lessons. You may schedule two weeks of lessons on a new math concept, for example, like three-digit by two-digit multiplication, but your child may master that skill more quickly and be ready to move on to something new. Or your child may become fatigued and frustrated after a week of lessons and need to let the learning rest, or your child may need more slow and steady practice to build confidence and competence. We design the lessons and the pace. Our children do the learning. We might also use the idea of the prepared environment to encourage us to actually set up the environment. We can strew games, puzzles, books or craft materials that the child may take up on their own just in the environment, and maybe choose things that are related to the lessons you are guiding. But then that allows children to explore further as they are interested. Children to explore further as they are interested. Developing a sense of rhythm can also help us to craft our daily activities in a way that's nourishing and inviting for learning.

Jean: 8:05

We observe our children and use our intuition about what aspects of a main lesson topic to draw out. What will spark our child's imagination, what will light them up with curiosity? In the younger years and early grades especially, we can see how the stories, for example, come to life in our children's play. The archetypal characters of fairy tales often emerge in dress-up play. Stories of indigenous people emerge in building play shelters or forts out in the yard. And adventure stories or tall tales emerge in turning sticks into spears or swords into axes to chop down tall trees. Then, as our children get older, we can offer them challenges to research a topic of interest related to the main lesson, a topic that they choose. We can help them gather books and materials on this topic and then help them decide how they want to share the learning in writing or as a piece of art, for example? We can provide independent reading materials like historical fiction to extend the learning and then have a conversation about what interested them or what they learned.

Jean: 9:24

Now I know for me, making these transitions in my role as the parent or teacher were not always easy. If we look at the classroom model, most approaches are very teacher-centered, meaning the teacher prepares the lesson, delivers the lesson. But we can, in a homeschool setting, begin to turn more and more over to our children in a healthier way. I think I honestly believe that a homeschool setting is more suited for this than even a classroom, because we can begin to turn more and more responsibility for learning over to our children in small ways as early as grades four or five, depending on the child, rather than waiting until the high school years. We can partner with our children and help them learn research skills for learning something new that they're interested in. We can help them learn time management skills and learn to pace themselves.

Jean: 10:28

What I want you to remember is that learning doesn't really happen unless children are engaged. So I'd just like to invite you to focus more on engagement than on the lessons or the learning. That's one of the things I love so much about the Waldorf approach and the lively arts. The goal is engagement, because when children are engaged they're curious and it's a lot easier for them to discover their interests and explore them, to take in the learning and, after all, we want the learning experiences we plan to spark questions and curiosities in our children that they then follow. We want them to take more and more of the responsibility for their education into their own hands as they grow.

Jean: 11:21

Tip number three foster lifelong learning. I have a whole podcast episode on this. I'll be sure to put it in the show notes. But this idea of self-education promotes curiosity and a love for learning that extends beyond what we might refer to as the formal lessons or formal schooling. Homeschooling provides a unique environment to nurture this mindset from an early age. Children who learn to seek knowledge on their own are much more likely to develop into lifelong learners constantly educating themselves throughout their lives. So the key takeaway that I want you to get from this episode is that the learning journey belongs to our child. It is not ours. We, of course, are on a journey too. We're on our own journey. We're learning how to support our children as they grow in independence. We're learning how our role changes while also growing our own inner life and our own interests, which can be a model for our children.

Jean: 12:33

Now, before wrapping up, I just want to mention a roadblock that I witness often on this learning journey. This happened to me and I see it in so many homeschooling parents, especially after our children turn nine or 10. In those years, kind of between 10 and 14, this can feel a little muddied and it is a big shift for us right to go from being the governor, the king or the queen to being more of a guide and we have time right. But often I found myself there and parents I talk to find themselves when their kids are around 10 or 12 or somewhere in there, where they're still owning so much of the responsibility for the learning. And the truth is, when we continue to hold on to the majority of the responsibility for our child's learning, their path toward independence is hindered. I know that may be tough to hear, but believe me, you can re-enliven your homeschooling better by fostering more independence in your children as they grow than by trying to double down on being a more interesting teacher. Fostering independence is the way to go.

Jean: 13:53

Teaching and learning require a lot of give and take. So if your lessons are feeling flat or I should say when the lessons are feeling flat, because they will from time to time for all of us then ask yourself this question how could you turn a bit more of the responsibility for learning over to your child? Keep it age appropriate and keep it small at first, but this is something to explore as your children grow, because here's the truth we can't do the learning for them. We have to offer up the lessons and then let go of the outcome and observe our children to see how the lessons are landing. So there you have it three tips for embracing the idea that all education is self-education.

Jean: 14:42

Here's a little recap Accept our changing roles, encourage autonomy in learning and foster lifelong learning. Thanks so much for tuning in today. I'll add some additional resources for you over in the show notes for this episode, which you can find at artofhomeschoolingcom slash episode 202. Today's the day to embrace the idea of self-education. After all, we are all students and there is always more to learn. That's all for today, my friend, but here's what I want you to remember Rather than perfection, let's focus on connection. Thanks so much for listening, and I'll see you on the next episode of the Art of Homeschooling podcast.