One of Learnwell’s core values is “excellent education,” which is easy to gloss over if your definition of education mirrors the standard reading, writing, math/science and history requirements for your state. However, we see the term “excellent education” as so much more.
Knowing Yourself Is Essential
One of the challenges we hear from parents who are homeschooling or participating in Learnwell’s hybrid school model is that their child is wired differently, so how would they possibly …
- Sit in class and listen for an entire day?
- Get every homework problem finished in the alotted time?
- Be able to use their creativity in ways that are not prescripted in the at-home project or assignment?
- Take ownership of their schoolwork without a fight?
- Stay motivated when they aren’t on a rigid school schedule?
- Accept feedback that isn’t positive but is constructive?
We don’t promise to have all the answers, but we do welcome these kinds of questions. The reality is that as we teach our students at the table on at-home days, we learn how they are wired — the kinds of gifts and strengths God has given them, the challenges they face, the struggles in how they think about themselves or their abilities, and what keeps them from doing their best.
In fact, knowing yourself begins with being seen and known by others.
Knowing yourself begins with being seen and known by others.
Learnwell teachers and staff are in their profession at a small hybrid school because they want to know their students. They enjoy knowing what makes one student motivated over another and learning how to help them do their best.
It’s also part of why our parent-teacher partnership is so strong, whether students attend in person at Learnwell North Georgia or their parents take advantage of the coaching we offer through our anywhere-in-the-world Navigator Program. Parents learn how to see and value their children’s strengths and weaknesses. So what may feel like a challenge to you as a homeschooling parent is actually just information about your child’s wiring, or how he or she is designed by God. Together, parents and teachers are a team of advocates who work to equip students for how God has made them, reminding them all along the way that they’re also seen and known by God.
- We know that some students are wired for more movement. (We’d argue that any child under the age of 9 is likely wired for more movement.)
- We know that other students don’t need to do every problem, but the problems they do complete will be done with great excellence and understanding.
- Still different students are so creative that they seem to veer as far from the assignment as possible because they’re such outside-the-box thinkers.
Part of the encouragement we offer parents is that when they spend time at the table with their child, they will learn so much about how their child learns. And as students get older, they begin to learn how they’re wired and how they learn, too.
As you understand your child’s wiring, you — in partnership with his or her teachers — are able to work with that wiring, not against it. Sometimes, it’s a parent’s wiring that can be the biggest learning curve to success. If you’re a rule follower or a box checker, having a child who isn’t a rule follower or box checker can feel like a battle.
Neither type of wiring is wrong, just different. So we help parents learn not only what fuels their child’s motivation and passion to learn but also how to respond when it’s the opposite of what would fuel their own desire and motivation.
We equip parents through our unique Parent Professional Development opportunities to learn, grow, and share knowledge with other parents. It always amazes our Learnwell team how much creativity, respect, and thoughtfulness is reflected in these PPD opportuniites. In concert with students’ Life Skills & Discipleship, the entire family is empowered to grow and learn together.
Life Skills & Discipleship
One of the strengths of our middle and high school program is the high priority on Life Skills and Discipleship.
Knowing yourself is a huge emphasis of our Life Skills & Discipleship program because the Bible tells us that we are all created in the image of God. So, our discipleship teachers focus on knowing who God is and then encouraging students when they recognize reflections of Him in how a student is wired.
One class of students recently learned about the difference between diffuse modes of thought and focused thinking. Why? It taught them that God designed our brains with such precision that He knew we’d need multiple ways to attack a problem, we would need breaks throughout the learning process, and we were capable of learning and processing information even when we’re at rest.
Not only does this help students learn how they learn, but it helps them learn more about who God is and who He isn’t. He isn’t a God who challenges us without giving us the resources and brain wiring to meet those challenges. He isn’t a God who stares down judging us from heaven.
These types of fallacies are built into a works-based culture, which if you live in the Western hemisphere, you’ve likely grown up believing even if you know your worth isn’t tied to your abilities. So, how we view God matters, and it impacts how we view ourselves.
Growth Mindset Comes from Knowing and Accepting Yourself
One of the terms you’ve probably heard in educational circles is “growth mindset.” It basically is the belief that you can grow, change, learn from mistakes and, over time and with hard work, achieve more than what you could when you started. It incorporates a willingness to try something new because you don’t have to be good at it in the beginning.
In contrast, a fixed mindset is not trying something new for fear of failure, and believing you’ll be “forever bad at” something just because you didn’t succeed or achieve your goal the first or second time you tried.
What happens when a student understands how he or she is wired?
- The student knows that being “good at” something sometimes involves natural talent but, very often, takes consistency, hard work, practice, and yes, even failure — whether or not there’s a natural tendency to do well in it.
- The student recognizes that trying something new is not something to be feared but embraced.
- The student can learn from mistakes and recognize that even when she fails, she is not a failure. She can grow from it and move forward rather than giving up.
Essentially, students learn to accept themselves where they are today with the awareness that it’s not indicative of where they’ll be tomorrow. And that is a skill even adults need to be reminded of, so as parents, it’s a value we can continue to esteem in our own lives and model for our children.
Why Knowing Yourself Helps with Success and Failure
Of course, not every instance of trying something will go well. It probably won’t if it’s new information, a skill you have not yet mastered, or a subject area that isn’t your go-to passion. Learning how you are wired, however, gives a student the confidence to understand that no one on earth is good at everything. We all have times when we will fail or not thrive, and that’s okay.
As students learn how they are uniquely created by God to excel in specific areas, they can hold onto the need to keep using those talents, accept challenge where they need it, and thrive beyond what they can do based simply on their own wiring.
Some students tend to “coast” if they know they’re good at something, but at Learnwell, we encourage them to go deeper into that natural tendency, try something that’s more difficult and accept that there are always new things to learn — even when we’re natually skilled in a specific area.
This is why knowing how you’re wired is such an integral part of an excellent education at Learnwell.
High School Mentoring & Job Shadowing
When a Learnwell student gets to high school, he has learned quite a bit about how he learns best and what types of strategies will work for him to learn new things. So, of course, we want that student to be able to apply what he’s learned about himself. That’s where mentoring and job shadowing comes in.
All high school students participate in job shadowing or interviewing and career mentoring, and in 12th grade, all students will create a business or service that actually operates. What a confidence booster to graduate high school knowing what works for you and what you’re capable of!
Our high school students learn through these hands-on experiences what they are passionate about and how they can contribute to the world around them. They’re then much better positioned to go into post-secondary education or straight to a career, armed with information about who they are, what matters to them, and how they can continue learning.
Are you interested in learning more about how our hybrid school operates? We’d love to meet you! Join us for a school tour or join us for our next parent information night, Discover Learnwell.
If you’d like more information on how we partner with homeschooling families all over the world, we’d love to share about our Navigator Program.