Boldschoolers: Recent Episodes
Laura Wilde, PhD.
Whether your kids are in public school, private school or homeschooled, when it's all said and done, we want them to know HOW to learn, how to motivate themselves with work that matters and have an understanding of what they need to do for optimal performance in whatever they choose to do. These things require an understanding of learning and an understanding of flow.
Laura is a 30+ year educator with a PhD in intrinsic motivation and a fanatical interest in flow science. She has spent her career working in public and private schools, as well as with homeschooling families. She's a mother of three and has a passion for mentoring parents that want to educate their kids differently. Laura works as a high flow coach, conducts research in schools and creates online courses to help people build lives where they feel their best and perform their best.
This show not only teaches you how learning works so that your children can learn to learn, but the show has an underlying focus on raising your awareness, so you can better navigate and communicate with your children as they learn to meet their own learning needs. Welcome to Boldschoolers!
In this podcast we discuss taking ownership of your education and using SDL to chase curiosities.
Grab resources here: https://www.boldschoolers.com/toolkit
Video: https://www.boldschoolers.com/blog/SDL
In this episode, we discuss how to help your child through frustration by building awareness to be able to select the right tool at the right time.
We discuss upstream methods to build knowledge in order to prevent downstream frustrations when homeschooling.
In this episode, we talk about increasing daily connection to fill your homeschooling day with positivity and optimism.
Giving away choice when homeschooling can lead to cooperation and ownership over learning.
In this video we'll look at the different types of motivation and build awareness as to when we experience them and when we use them.
This magical state of flow is not only a major key to learning, but also to overall happiness. In today's episode we'll look at where our children spend the bulk of their time.
Learning HOW to learn is perhaps the most important focus we can have when homeschooling.
In this episode we'll discuss optimal learning, my own story of my three kids, and perhaps the most important questions to ask when you're homeschooling.
In this episode we'll look at how we can help children become aware of the little voice in their heads and shift that voice towards positivity.
You'll learn:
--How to begin to raise awareness of self-talk
--How to use a reference point to influence self-talk
--How to talk to your child about the little voice in your head
Help your child self-direct learning by learning how to chase curiosities.
You'll learn:
--A sample daily and weekly rhythm
--How to identify curiosities
--How to select curiosities
--How to develop an ability to focus
--How to determine if a curiosity can lead to a passion
Homeschooling families can follow children's curiosities and interests to create a highly motivating learning environment.
Learn how your child can maintain focused attention through a daily homeschooling rhythm.
https://www.boldschoolers.com/blog/how-to-create-an-easy-rhythm-to-the-school-day
Learn to start and end your homeschooling day with a brief, focused and intentional meeting.
https://www.boldschoolers.com/blog/scrum
Focusing on processes, rather than content can help us know that our children are learning the right things for future success.
Homeschooling tips on following curiosities and goal setting, including how to boost intrinsic motivation.
Working with kids can sometimes feel like a series of bribes and threats. In this episode you'll learn how you might create a more positively motivating experience for everyone involved.
You'll learn:
How to identify interests and curiosities
How the brain filters information
How to create daily goals that build upon your child's interests
Homeschooling families can create an environment of positivity by framing throughout the day and helping children see alternative perspectives and opportunities for value.
Thoughts & Reflections Consider jotting down a few notes, perhaps in a journal or notebook.
- The next time you feel a somewhat significant negative emotion, try asking yourself, “Is it true?” This may be challenging in the heat of emotion, but once you’re able to take a breath, see what you might uncover with that question.
- Incorporate a gratefulness practice. This might be a short 5-minute practice you do with your child each day or perhaps it's a simple phrase of appreciation that you remind yourself of when life gets challenging. Some examples might be: "Lucky, I'm loved/rich/healthy/strong, etc." Pick something that resonates with you.
- Start to identify the frames you put around the activities in your life that you get to do versus the activities that you have to do. What frames do you offer up for your children to experience?
- Can you identify any activities or events that your child enjoys that you don’t particularly take pleasure in? Consider making time and space for those experiences.
- Incorporate at least one environmental enhancer this week and note the result. You might suggest reading by flashlight under the kitchen table or taking a brain break up in the backyard tree. You might bake a special snack together or wear hats during writing time. The ideas are endless.
- Try highlighting one of your fails of the week to your child. It might be a poor decision or something you tried and just aren’t good at yet...a place where you're developing your skills perhaps. Whatever it is, talk about it with a light, open and honest conversational tone.
- Think about an activity that might celebrate current learning. Maybe it’s a themed party in the backyard with friends or family or maybe it’s a special field trip. How might you celebrate and cement learning in small and/or big ways?
Feel free to review last week's recording on environments of optimism.
https://www.boldschoolers.com/blog/positive-frames
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Click this link for the free ebook, Milestone or Meltdown?
At this time, I’m going to explore the idea of offering new content on a bi-weekly schedule. I’m finding that I’m spending so much time creating new content each week that I’m not having the time to create new products that will ideally provide even more value for you long term. My idea is to put out a vlog/blog/podcast/YouTube video every other week alternating with application and reflection ideas for that week’s content. You’ll still hear from me every week and it will build in some reflection time to let thoughts percolate and also time to try out new ideas, as well.
Kids learning at outside of school may wonder if they are actually learning the things they need to know. In this episode, we'll discuss how to know when to level-up learning.
Including keeping confidence up by:
- Getting the Challenge/Skill level right
- Setting clear goals
- Giving effective feedback
In last week’s post, we discussed finding the Challenge/Skill Balance and building paper-thin progressions into daily clear goals for your child. Let’s spend a moment understanding these ideas, which might be a completely new way of thinking or perhaps some new language about how your child learns new things. Find the post, How do I know if my child is learning? HERE.
When learning new things, we want children to be working on things that aren’t too easy and aren’t too hard. The Challenge/Skill Balance is the sweet spot you’re aiming for and typically it’s just barely above your child’s current competency level.
Examples:
Mathematics
- Your child has mastered single-digit addition and is wanting to move to double-digits. You’ve explored the concept using real-world examples and now your child wants to try manipulating some actual numbers. In this instance, you might choose to start with addition facts that your child is most comfortable with and can recall quickly. Maybe smaller numbers are easier for your child or maybe your child wants to use manipulatives in some way to support the process. You’ll start small and build in probable wins to start. You may choose to be nearby for your child to lean into. You may choose to walk through several problems together (i.e. modeling) before slowly pulling back. This example uses paper-thin progressions that very slowly add complexity and balances out the challenge and the skill level so work is not too hard/easy.
What is a new challenge that your child is interested in pursuing?
Do you have a good idea of where to start and how you might build understanding from that starting place?
- Your child has started to notice patterns in the world: repeating shapes in the bathroom tiles and the patterns within pine cones and flowers in the yard.
Where might you find real world examples of a concept you are working on understanding? Start to highlight such examples through conversation, games or in other novel ways.
To introduce the idea that patterns follow rules, you might introduce simple function machines. You might start very simply and take turns trying to figure out each other’s pattern rules. See an example below.
Leave the box in the middle blank and your child can try to figure out the pattern between the numbers on the left and on the right. A paper-thin progression would entail using slightly more complex functions within the box and then perhaps even moving to two or more function boxes or finding patterns both vertically and horizontally. In the example below, there is also a pattern of +3 moving vertically down the column of numbers.
3 5
6 (+2) 8
9 11
12 14
Writing
- When learning about setting, you might begin to describe the places you experience around your house and then your neighborhood and then perhaps traveling to interesting settings in your larger community. You might discuss broad characteristics of setting, down to the smallest details. The large branches of the backyard mulberry tree reaching upwards as, the smaller branches droop with the weight of the ripe fruit, the juicy footprints left on the kitchen floor as the boy runs through the house after playing outside, the smell of fruit in the air and stains on his hands, etc. You get the picture. You might layer an understanding of a place across several weeks and start to move from simple identification and description to written expression of setting, refining descriptive language and word choice as proficiency develops. At some point your child may even start to think about how authors use setting as another character in a story, using examples from great writers.
In this example, paper-thin progressions start with what your child is already familiar with and slowly layer more and more detail atop that knowledge. A paper-thin progression may include starting with a verbal discussion and then moving to written language and then to more and more complex usage and application of an idea.
Watch for signs of boredom or anxiety when your child is learning. These are signs that learning may be too easy or too hard. If a child is shutting down, wandering off, full of distraction or complaint, you might also consider breaking learning down into smaller pieces if too hard or adding complexity if too easy.
In this episode, we’ll learn that motivation isn’t something you wait for, but rather something you build.
You’ll learn:
- How to use identity to propel kids forward
- How to celebrate mistakes and failure
- How to use feedback successfully with your kids
- How to leverage experts and mentors
In this episode, we discuss the Flow Learning Cycle and discuss the importance of flow and recovery in releasing stress, anxiety and keeping burnout away. You’ll learn about the play/work dilemma and why it’s not really a dilemma at all.
Including:
- How to use the four stages of the flow, learning cycle
- How to develop perseverance
- Boosting motivation and competence from small win to small win.
Our kids want to play and often adults want them to work. In this episode, Play vs. Work, we'll discuss the value of play and how "work" can be experienced as play. We'll also have a brief discussion on video gaming and why it's attractive to many kids.
In this week's episode, I thought it would be useful to answer some of the questions that I get from the families that I work with and my subscribers. You can feel free to ask me anything and I'll give you a few thoughts to consider. I may change my mind as I learn and grow, but these are my thoughts off the top of my head today.
Today, we are chatting about:
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Self-directed learning
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Video games: https://www.boldschoolers.com/gaming
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Independent and responsible students
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Attention
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Comparing to others
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Parent burnout
The ability to focus intently for any period of time is a rare and valuable skill. Developing such a focus into a practice of deep work is one of the greatest skills you can help your child master.
In this episode, we'll discuss how the brain learns in different ways and how you can help your child develop a superpower.
- Focus Mode
- Diffuse Mode
- The Pomodoro Method
When homeschooling there’s often a pull to replicate traditional schooling at home, even if we consciously want to educate differently. Being aware of that pull can help us to make choices that are more aligned with our own personal values.
In this episode, we’ll examine the use of workbooks to meet educational goals, including:
- When to question using them
- Times to use workbooks
- How to use them effectively
- Other alternatives
Are we asking the wrong questions? A new perspective to invigorate your homeschooling experience.
- There’s a lot of noise out there about choosing the “right” curriculum for your child, but the questions quietly whispering underneath all that noise may be what’s most important.
In this episode, we’ll introduce the following ideas:
- Why discussions about curriculum may not be the most beneficial to your child’s success.
- The value of extreme focus.
- The value of playful engagement and full immersion.
- The meaning of the Japanese word kokoro and how it applies to learning.
- The foundational blueprint behind the Boldschoolers logo.
Hello Beautiful Homeschoolers! In this brief welcome, I'll share a little bit about who I am and my intention of what I would like to share with you on this podcast on learning to learn.
In these episodes you'll meet many of the homeschooling children I talk with every week. What are their concerns? What are their hopes and ambitions? What isn't working for them and how might we address the needs so that we continue to get closer to optimal learning. You'll hear real-life wins and challenges and understand learning from a whole different point of view. Kids' opinions matter and you'll get to hear them here.
Welcome to the Boldschoolers Be Bold Blog!