We keep a lot of lists here at Selfie School. Reading lists, Weekly Action Lists, Accomplishment Lists....but the BIG one..the list of all lists, is The Learning List. The Learning List is an idea sparked by a recent read of Hacking Your Education by Dale Stephens. Calling it a list is probably unfair to it's potential..it's actually more of an amoeba, I suppose, but "The Learning Amoeba" just didn't sound...well..yeah..you get me. The Learning List is an ever-growing, ever-changing list of everything the learner ever thought, hoped, or dreamed of learning. A comprehensive list of all of the knowledge that a learner wishes to accumulate with no time limits, no borders or boundaries. It grows through play, exposure and experience.
With all of the possibilites for that list flowing forth from the universe...my almost five year old's list contains the following words....
"BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT"
This is a true test of my deep belief in self led learning. His list feeds right into the belief that left to their own devices, an unschooled child will play video games ALL DAY...until his head explodes.
He PLAYED, by God! He played with the depth of play with which world changers play. He had wooden toys for goodness sake, and lots of exposure to nature. He scooped acorns from bucket to bucket and his toys spoke Spanish to each other in random conversations. He expressed himself with complete sentences near his first birthday and he uses words in context after one exposure! How could his only hope and dream, from all the universe is spilling forth, be to BUILD THE END OF MINECRAFT????
I must honestly admit, the first week or so, I refused to put it on the list. I made many grand suggestions for his list, but he insisted..this was his one true goal in learning;The driving force of his almost five year old existance. So I reached a crossroads...either this self led learning thing works, or it doesn't:; And my belief that it works governs most every decision of my day. So I chose to act on my deep convictions and I made the "list".
Here is what happened....
He is learning how to communicate with his sister better to obtain her assistance with the XBOX. He is learning to share and how to manage his time. He is learning how to use Google and YouTube (with supervision, of course) to gather information. And most importantly to Mom, he is learning that in order to help yourself achieve your goals....even if those goals are to build the end of Minecraft...it's important to LEARN TO READ.
I STILL BELIEVE!
