A Love for Learning, the Key to Freedom

As a homeschool mom if I had for once thought that everything my children needed to know and learn I had to know well myself there was no way I would’ve been able to take on this task. It is an idea that is too overwhelmingly daunting. Our first objective in educating our children wasn’t to teach them everything, or that they would learn everything, but to whet their appetite for learning. To open up within them a love for learning that they may become lifelong learners. What I have come to realize over the years is that in cultivating this love for learning, and in teaching them HOW to learn, I was handing my children the keys to a life of freedom. They were no longer limited to what someone else would or could teach them, but were able to seek out the understanding themselves, and in that search it would and should include seeking out others to help expand their knowledge and understanding. But ultimately they were personally responsible for their own education, and the expansion of their knowledge. I often remind my children of the story of Frederick Douglass, who is proposed to have often said that “knowledge is the pathway from slavery to freedom." This sort of freedom is not limited to color or race. Give your children the keys to freedom. Give them a love for learning by first having a love for learning yourself, by reading to them, and exposing them to the vast beautiful world God has made all around them. It doesn’t require much. What are the things you enjoy knowing about, or desire to learn more about? Take your children along on that journey with you! What are the things your child is interested in but you know nothing about? Take that journey with them and explore the topic. You don’t have to know everything, just curiosity, and a desire to grow and learn. It’s worth the effort in order to hand your child the key that is able to open the door to endless possibilities. Enjoy the expedition!