Our homeschool days incorporate a great deal of room for work that is led by the children’s interests. We dedicate our mornings to Project Time. It’s a time of self-directed learning where the kids are engaged in work that is meaningful to them for reasons that are personal to each child. They, themselves, manage the direction the projects will take and they define what it is they will do each day.
My experience working with children over the years (both mine and others) has taught me that when they are genuinely interested in what they are learning, there is the potential for the depth and breadth of their knowledge to be great. So I try to offer the necessary time, materials, and support so that they can develop these interests further.
This often begins with uninhibited periods for exploration of open-ended materials, or materials that don’t have a predetermined purpose. Materials like wood, Lego, paint, books, or kinetic sand, for example, allow for curiosity and creativity so that the children can direct their own learning or play. These kinds of materials also allow different interests to emerge and to extend. We’ve had interests like birds, electricity, and the mathematical challenge of crafting in miniature all develop from the use of open-ended materials.
More often than not, learning this way requires taking the time to really sit with ideas, sometimes struggling through them too. It’s a way of investigating that goes beyond the surface level. Sometimes that means many months of research, trial and error, repeated activity, or seemingly frivolous acts. A slower pace allows for true inquiry-based learning. It doesn’t fit neatly in a little box and it doesn’t always fit our agenda as parents. However, it is something we value, which is why we dedicate time to it.
I realized that I speak a lot about Project Time through interviews, podcasts, and presentations, but I haven’t ever created a home for some of these resources on this blog. Below is a short video introducing what Project Time is about. There is also a link underneath for the PDF’s mentioned in the video.
Below is a longer Instagram Live interview I did with Tiffany Thenor of WonderHere, about Project Time. It is full of examples and insight into this rich way of learning:
Lastly, here is a link to the book I continually mention as a great Project Time resource:
Please let me know if you have questions or want to talk more about Project Time! It’s a passion of mine and I am always happy to engage.
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