How does self-directed education work?
How do kids learn by playing?
What do kids DO at WonderWild?
If you’re new to self-directed learning, it can be hard to imagine exactly how it works. Let’s take a look!
What is self-directed education?
Self-directed education (SDE) is a learning model where the kids take the active role in setting their own goals, managing their time, and making decisions about what activities to pursue. It’s an approach built on choice, autonomy, trust, and the belief that learning is happening all the time.
Some SDE programs are full-time schools. Since WonderWild is a two-day program, it fits comfortably next to your existing homeschooling, whether you’re unschooling or following a more formal homeschool plan.
What do kids do all day?
In a self-directed learning environment like WonderWild, the list of what kids might do is almost endless!
They read books, play board games, have conversations, make plans, start projects, cook, watch presentations, play instruments, build towers, research topics, dance, study, go for walks, paint, build contraptions, write poems, go on magical adventures, listen to music, explore “loose parts“, puzzle over math problems, do science experiments, tell stories, dig for treasure, make potions, track the weather, do magic tricks, share jokes, start debates, play cards, investigate mysteries, and more!
We think a learning space should be lively, bustling, and buzzing with exciting work. Kids follow their own whims, or they team up with friends to collaborate on shared ideas, or they discover an activity our staff has prepared. Our spaces, tools, and materials are always optional, always available, and always changing! WonderWild is a whole world of learning possibilities!
What does it actually look like in practice?
It’s hard to describe a day of self-directed learning because it’s different for every child or group of children, and it can change so much from day-to-day. Here are two hypothetical snapshots of what a day might look like for a child at WonderWild.
One child loves animals, and when he arrives he finds an activity set up for him about the life cycle of frogs. He’s a beginning reader, so a staff member engages him in a board game where his frog token “eats” flies with sight words. Afterwards, he wonders if he could make a frog habitat and heads out to the mud kitchen to try it. He’s also been working with another child on a long-term cooking project. They started with a cookie recipe, then they’ve been modifying the recipe each time and recording the differences in the results. Later, he settles into the Hideaway with a couple of big picture nature encyclopedias. Near the end of the day a grownup helps him create a write-up about the frog habitat and make of list of supplies he needs for improvements.
Another child likes to start off the day playing Minecraft for awhile. She also has an on-going project where she tries to draw “impossible buildings” based on optical illusions. In the Focus Room she finds an activity about whether silly things like an elephant could fit inside buildings of certain sizes. It walks her through how to figure out the area of a shape. The other kids like her drawings, and they often ask her to draw something for them. Inspired by a biography she read, she’s been writing her life stories on notecards and adding them to a timeline alongside historical events. She brings comic books from home to read, and in the afternoons she’s been leading a group of kids in choreographing live-action comic-style action scenes.
How do you know they’re learning?
Learning naturally happens all the time. In a rich, supportive environment it would be impossible for kids NOT to learn!
According to the available research, self-directed education and unstructured play leads to many positive results.
The cognitive benefits include increased language skills, improved critical thinking and problem-solving skills, deeper skills mastery, and improved executive function.
Additionally, there’s a massive benefit to children’s relationship to learning. SDE learners are curious, willing to try new things, enjoy learning, deeply engage with their own learning, and build strong life-long learning habits.
And then there’s the benefits to children’s social and emotional wellbeing. Resilience, persistence, confidence, independence, initiative, personal responsibility, collaboration skills, and communication skills are all fostered by SDE environments.
But WHAT are they learning?
It’s not always possible to know exactly what’s going on in a child’s mind. One child building a city out of blocks might be picking up geometry principles, another might be focused on the physics of weight distribution, and yet another might be imagining the social stories of their city’s inhabitants.
In an SDE environment, learning isn’t linear. It’s guided by curiosity and fascination, not outlines and objectives. Progress isn’t measured by whether the child achieves metrics in a certain order. Rather, it’s measured by the child’s satisfaction and engagement with their chosen pursuits.
However, at WonderWild we know that parents are curious about what their children are learning. We keep you in the loop with a portfolio of your child’s activities and projects. We help you see the connections between what they’re doing and the academic knowledge that is naturally arising. You’ll be able to see how their learning grows and deepens over time.
Want to know more?
What other questions do you have about self-directed learning or about how it all works at WonderWild? Contact us anytime with any questions or thoughts.
If you’re excited for your child to get started learning with us, see our enrollment process here.
And if you want to know everything about SDE, The Alliance for Self-Directed Education has a great resource directory of books, videos, podcasts, and articles for you to explore.