Life Learners - taking education into our own hands

"Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire."
- W.B. Yeats

What is LifeLearners?

From homeschooling families who want to do more with home education, to public-school parents who simply want to help their child enjoy the learning process -- Life Learners will be an online resource for parents who want their child to enjoy learning. It is a commitment to valuing the learning process over the outcome, the experience over the result.

What resources will LifeLearners.org provide?

This website will offer education ideas, support in building a strong relationship with your child, sample lessons and educational tools, books and online resources for parents, and online forums for both parents and students to connect and share ideas.

Why is this important?

Children in public schools are assigned work and assessed as though they are identical to thousands of other students; while no attention is given to personal learning preferences, abilities, interests, or applicability to the contents or direction of their individual lives. These young people are desperate for an experience of learning that is genuine, self-motivated, and enjoyable.

What will my donation do?

Your donation will help support living, travel, research, and data collection expenses as I create, publish, and make available the website. I also hope to create a short film about the values and ideas of Life Learners, and donations will help fund this project as well.

All who pledge will be credited and thanked on the website, (unless you request otherwise). Donors of over $100 will be credited in a special section with the ability to be linked to a personal or business website.

We hope to raise enough funding so that the website can grow and help all parents facilitate joyful learning experiences for their children.

Thank you for supporting the potential of learning!

How else can I help?

The greatest help of all is in spreading the word! You can send this web link in an email to friends, teachers, and anyone you feel might want to help.
You can also copy the widget (the fundraiser box above) onto any web page -- Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, or your personal site.
Thank you so much for your help and support!

Core Concepts of LifeLearners:

1) Valuing Process Learning over Outcome Learning

Tests, scores, the entire grading system - it all looks at the outcome of a lesson, versus the process and experience of learning the lesson. Outcome Learning looks for answers, whereas Process Learning encourages questions - the success of learning is measured by how many questions the learner is asking, and how many questions they are trying to answer for themselves, through their own self-motivation.

2) The Teacher/Parent is a Facilitator, the Student is a Learner and Self-Teacher

We need to rename and redefine our roles. Ultimately, we teach ourselves. And that is what we are trying to facilitate in each young person - to become a self-teacher.

3) Learning is ALWAYS happening

The classroom is Life. There are constant opportunities for education - they are not defined by books or rooms or teachers.

4) Parent and child are both teachers, both students

Together they co-create education, and mutually facilitate learning for one another.