What Delight-Directed Learning looks like in our home{school}.

When I first learned about the “Delight-Directed” approach, I was confused.


I was wondering things like:  Isn’t ‘Delight Directed’ just another fancy way to describe much of what Charlotte Mason talks about? (Sort of, yes.)  Or is it more like Unschooling?  Is it just following every whim of the child?  Is there any sort of ‘curriculum’ or plan?  If I’m Delight-Directed can I even have a plan?  If not… How would I be sure to provide my child with a full, rich, ‘smorgasbord’ of learning”  I mean, if I’m simply following the criss-cross journey of my child’s ever-changing personal interests – how would that ever work?  

I LOVED the idea of being ‘Delight-Directed’ and nurturing my child’s natural interests and passions but I had no idea what this would look like on a daily basis.   For the longest time, I thought it meant that if my son loved Lego, every SINGLE project he did would have to be something Lego-ish…  or if my daughter was into horses, we would study horses and write about horses and read about horses and draw horses and so on.  This could be okay for a couple weeks, but then what?  It didn’t make sense to me in the bigger picture.

Over the past couple years our family has naturally grown to be quite Delight-Directed in the way we live and homeschool.  I’ve learned that the whole idea of this Delight-Directed Learning is truly not complicated at all.  It is actually one of the most organic, easy ways to live and learn.

And you know what?

I find many homeschoolers are already embracing Delight-Directed Learning, in at least some ways, before we ever hear the term.

Can I share an example from this week of how being Delight-Directed affects our homeschool?

I had a living book I’d found at the library called, The Buffalo Are Back scheduled in our Morning Basket. I actually thought it would be a Nature Study read.  As with so many of our picture book read-alouds, I figured we would read it, enjoy it, move on.

Well, it ended up being a FANTASTIC living book about the American Prairies and how settlement affected the ecosystem.  (Honestly, if you can get your hands on this book, grab it!).

The kids were fascinated by the book as was I.  All of a sudden so much of what we read in the Little House series made more sense (like the infestation of locusts that ate all the wheat).  Light bulbs were going on all over the place!  Right away we started looking at photos of the prairie grasses, Buffalo herds, and videos of the Tallgrass Prairie Preserves.

I happened to have a book about Prairie animals, so we read that.  Then I printed out a map of the Biomes of North America, and we worked on that yesterday and completed it today.

So, what was going to be a simple 10 minute read-aloud, turned into probably about 3 hours of discussion and mapping.  But it was delightful, fun, and beneficial for all of us.

I LOVE seeing those connections made when children remember things they have previously read and learned and tie it into what they are currently learning!  So rich!  How could I pass up that opportunity!?

Sure, I dropped some other stuff we were planning to do, as I often do to accommodate Delight-Directed experiences when they come up.   But I never, ever regret it… and that’s why I schedule (mostly) in pencil.  *wink*

I’ve learned that flexibility is a huge factor to joy in the homeschool.  Delight-Directed Learning gives our family the freedom to go on journeys far better than anything I could have scheduled or planned.  It’s as if the paths find us instead of the other way around… but I have to let go of my own plans and schedule before the journeys can begin.  And that was a learning curve, for sure.

Another example of how delight has directed our homeschool happened this fall.  We were in the process of reading about early settlement in America.  We were fascinated by the stories of Jamestown, Pocahontas, the various Native tribes… but we started wondering about our own Country, Canada!

What was happening up here while Powhatan was alive near Jamestown?

I felt led to do a mind map with the kids on a huge piece of paper.  This is basically just us brainstorming as many questions as we could think of about early CANADIAN settlement.  It sparked tons of interest.

So, while we continued with American history for the next few days, I checked out tons of living books about early Canada from the library and started thinking about how we could approach it.  We found an amazing book about Champlain  and began to read it along with New France together.  (I already owned the New France title, which is often the way!)

That weekend, we had the opportunity to visit a nearby Longhouse Native Village (this place is seriously SO cool!).  So, we made a day of our visit and explored everything about how the Native Americans in our region lived 500 years ago.  What a feast for the senses on a gorgeous Autumn day!

In the gift shop, I spotted two living books about the topic:  Life in a Longhouse Village and Native Homes, I felt really strongly that I should buy them, so I did.  (Can I just say this is probably the first time EVER that I’ve bought books in a museum gift shop!!! ha!)  Well, we implemented the Life in a Longhouse Village book into the entire next week of homeschool.  The kids LOVED that book and we learned so much more about the Longhouse Villages.  It really came alive, especially since we had just seen one!

We then started reading Indian Captive by Lois Lenski to go along with our study of Native Americans in Northern USA/Southern Ontario.  We also already owned this book, I just pulled it off the shelf!   That book became a favorite read-aloud as well!

So, you see, one morning of wondering and me seeing a spark of interest in the children led to us completely altering about 3-4 weeks of our homeschool learning.  We completely paused the history we were covering to focus on New France and early Canadian settlement.  And it was SO rich because the children were delighted (see, there’s that Delight-Directed thing!) to learn more.

I have found a recipe that helps me joyfully implement Delight-Directed Learning into our homeschool:

1. Pray about and create a well-thought-out plan (full of the ‘feast of ideas’ that Charlotte Mason talks about).  You can click here to see our plan for 2016.

2. Implement this plan with passion and excitement (for us this is mainly reading wonderful living books) but with an open heart and flexible spirit!

3. Pray, watch, wait, and see – where is the spark?  What lights up the conversation?  What living book completely captivates your family and begs for you to learn more?  Where is the Holy Spirit leading you?

4.  If you feel led to go in a particular direction (this could be for a few minutes, an hour, or a few months!), then pray about it and follow that leading!

5. Be amazed and ‘delighted’ as you experience the joy and freedom of Delight-Directed Learning together.

Being Delight-Directed doesn’t mean you have no plan.

Or that your homeschool is random and all over the place.

Delight-Directed for us has meant quite the opposite, actually.  

Embracing the freedom of following our delights has been one of the greatest and most beautiful adventures I could have ever imagined.  I’m not ‘teaching’ my children.  Not really.  We are just on a wonderful journey together – learning, growing, and waiting to see where God takes us next!

For us, Delight-Directed Learning looks like…

Blessings to you as you delight in the world around you!