It's September and most of us have school on the brain. University students are back in class but kindergarten to Grade 12 students - more than 500,000 of them - are at loose ends while public schools are closed.
It's hard for parents to be in limbo but, for students, this could be an opportunity to follow their curiosity and focus on learning the things that inspire them outside of the classroom.
Easier said than done?
Here are a few great books to get you started on "unschooling" - that's the art of following your passion and learning from everything you do in daily life.
If you're new to the idea of unschooling, pick up the Unschooling Unmanual by Nanda Van Gestel. This short, chatty book contains a series of essays by different authors explaining why they chose to pursue an alternate education option for their families. Their reasons - and results - are diverse and his book provides an approachable introduction to the topic.
In The Year of Learning Dangerously, American blogger Quinn Cummings chronicles her adventures in homeschooling her bright but gloriously indolent daughter, Alice. Concerned that her daughter isn't thriving in the public system, Quinn bravely leaps into the homeschooling pool and records her funniest, most jaw-dropping and downright ridiculous moments navigating the rocky waters of online learning, charter schools, homeschooling conferences and math-phobias. Cummings comments about her experiences with more and less structured homeschooling programs and comes up with a learning wish list: a utopian vision of education where students could access a variety of topics though different platforms.
Salman Khan is an education crusader on a mission to provide free, high-quality learning to anyone, anywhere, anytime. You may have heard of the Khan Academy, a free, online resource where anyone can access micro-video tutorials on math, science and computing topics. Khan resolved to tutor his niece in math when she was in middle school - the only problem was that they lived in different U.S. cities, hours apart. Khan's solution was to narrate videos where he explained math concepts clearly using step-by-step images: his website has now exploded to include thousands of videos on STEM (science, technology, engineering and mathematics) topics, with test questions to assess mastery and badges to inspire and track lifelong learning. Khan's story is eloquently told in his book The One World Schoolhouse: Education Reimagined.
For an international perspective on the importance of education, try out Greg Mortenson's blockbuster Three Cups of Tea. This emotional memoir describes Mortenson's philanthropic journey of discovery: He finds himself a guest in a tiny Pakistani village after a harrowing mountaineering trip and is struck by the village girls' passionate desire for education. Inspired, he returns home to raise money to build a school: in fact, he goes on to build many schoolhouses in remote villages throughout Pakistan and Afghanistan,.
Regardless of your path to learning, there are some character qualities that lead to success. That's the premise behind Paul Tough's How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity and the Hidden Power of Character. Tough cites research showing that IQ is only one piece of the learning puzzle; the qualities of perseverance, conscientiousness, optimism, curiosity and self-discipline are just as important, if not more. Building these traits is a complex task for parents and society that requires a balancing act between nurturance, exposure to a culture of character and providing ample opportunities to fail and fall and get back up again. This thought-provoking read is well-written and filled with anecdotes to balance the research focus.
Explore your interests and learn about whatever moves you at your local library.
A Good Read is a column by Tri-City librarians that is published on Wednesdays. Maryn Ashdown works at Port Moody Public Library.
