Delight Directed Trial

 We've been delving into delight directed learning for a couple weeks now, and I am still a bit uncertain about if it is what we want to do.

I took my nine year old to the library.  I gave her free reign to pick whatever she desired.  We ended up with a few Magic Tree House books, a couple American Girl books, and a ton of books about cats.  

And... I'm okay with that.  She is following a very normal little girl interest in kitties.  She was even attempting to do some cat tricks with our cat last night.  

There have been some issues.  My girl likes more structure.  So, I have to find a way to give her that.   She was skipping pages in her Thinking Tree journal because she didn't know what to put there.  She likes learning about her choice, but wants some of it scheduled for her. So, I have to schedule it. That is a bit tough because She isn't simple reading for 15 minutes and writing or drawing about what she read.  I have to schedule the reading and the videos to supplement. 

I was very tempted to go back to what we had been doing.  VERY TEMPTED. 

But, I want to give delight directed learning a fair shake.  I know this could be great.  So, I am going to schedule a little more and give it some more time.  This is still just a trial.  I want to see if this is a good way for my daughter to learn.  If not, I'll reevaluate. 

Mostly, I want my daughter to have a different sort of education.  I don't want her to feel that her ADHD is going to hold her back.  I don't want her to feel as her father and older sister did, inferior because she learns differently. I want her loving learning.  I don't want her to hate school as I see with her sister.  I want her to be passionate about life and following her interests.

So, if she learns math by using a computer curriculum full of games, then so be it.  If she loves art and learns through drawing and coloring, then I will use that.  If she loves reading and stories, then I will use that.  I want her to be free of labels and self-doubt, at least as much as possible.  I want to create for her a world where learning is a good thing, and she is confident in her abilities.

That doesn't mean there won't be things that are difficult.  There will be.  I  certain.  Persevering through difficulties teaches many lessons.  

So, we will give delight directed learning more time.