Interest-Led Learning For Older Learners

Interest-led learning is our favorite way to homeschool. It’s all about focusing our lessons on Emily’s interests, passions, and curiosity. We love exploring and learning new things together; this approach makes it easy. 

It’s easy to think about interest-led learning with younger children. We can quickly come up with a dozen preschool themes from dinosaurs to holidays to entertain and engage our early learners. But what about older learners?

Fortunately, interest-led learning is still possible for older learners. In fact, it’s even better! As kids grow older, we can tailor lessons and curriculum to prepare them for careers they’re interested in and foster a deeper connection with teens by engaging in their interests. 

The Advantages Of Interest-Led Learning

Following an interest-led learning approach is filled with advantages. Interest-led lessons and activities allow kids to practice concepts and skills with activities and projects they’re curious about. For example, sports fans can learn about sports history, engage in math while keeping score, and learn about their favorite athletes. 

Interest-led learning doesn’t mean skipping subjects kids find challenging or never doing math. Instead, it’s all about incorporating the topics and activities they’re passionate about into your homeschool plans. When we use this approach, we get to build a deeper connection with our kids by spending quality time pursuing their interests together. It’s a win-win!

One of the biggest advantages of interest-led learning is that it puts kids in the driver’s seat. This sounds scary at first, but it means your child is invested in her education. Interest-led lessons keep kids engaged, excited about learning, and make it more likely kids will retain what they’ve learned.

When kids are interested in something, they ask questions. Giving kids time to explore, ask lots of questions, investigate different possibilities, and experiment leads to deeper learning. The freedom to choose what they learn about and how makes learning more fun for the whole family!

If kids are excited about learning, they’re less likely to get frustrated or feel pressured by challenging problems. Then learning becomes a daily habit and kids become lifelong learners.

How Interest-Led Learning Evolves As Your Child Matures

Interest-led learning is easy when children are young. Kids can explore and pursue a variety of topics they’re curious about. They can study whatever fascinates them without rubrics and “rules” to follow. As kids mature, interest-led learning changes too. 

Interest-led learning gets more challenging in middle school. Sometimes I have to get creative about it. Emily’s interests are changing and some of her new interests are more challenging for us to pursue. However, interest-led learning is still helpful and worthwhile. While following her interests is a bit harder, this approach is still the best way to encourage engagement and teach new skills. 

As homeschool parents, we’re feeling the pressure to ensure our kids learn certain concepts. We’re entertaining thoughts about high school credits and transcripts. Fortunately, the middle school years present an opportunity to dive into topics our kids are passionate about and pursue deeper learning together.

I’ll admit that it’s harder to have fun with interest-led learning as Emily matures. Cardboard boxes and craft supplies don’t hold her attention or bring out her imagination the same way they did when she was younger. Instead, she’s occupied with complicated LEGO sets, complex science experiment kits, and video games.

Interest-led learning might look different and sometimes it’s a challenge, but it’s still totally worth it for us. Keep reading to get our tips for pursuing an interest-led approach with older learners.

Interest-Led Learning Tips For Older Learners

In my experience, interest-led learning for older learners is less about searching for topics and activities Emily might be interested in learning about and more about her guiding us to activities and subjects she wants to learn more about. I’m loving the transition! 

One of our best tips for pursuing an interest-led learning style with older learners is to let your child lead the way. Interest-led learning during the middle school years means figuring out how to incorporate learning concepts into Emily’s interests. For example, using archery scorekeeping to practice math or learning about famous archers to study history. 

At this point in our homeschooling journey, Emily’s interests aren’t quite so “all over the place” as they were when she was entertained by play dough and crayons. These days I have to work a little harder to spark her curiosity with strewing items. However, we’re having some amazing conversations!

Learning through conversations is happening more and more frequently as Emily matures and I’m loving all the possibilities. Engaging in archery events as a family has brought us all together, pursuing an interest and learning as a family. I’ve so enjoyed watching Emily’s confidence, resilience, and leadership skills grow as we compete together. Engaging in interest-led learning as a family has helped us to create special memories together that we won’t ever forget. 

More Resources For Interest-Led Learning

Are you looking for more ways to pursue interest-led learning in your homeschool? Check out some of our favorite resources to help you get started:

What are some of your favorite tips for homeschooling older learners using an interest-led approach? Share your best ideas in the comments. I can’t wait to read them and try a few!