Changing Gears- Go low to go fast!

Are you changing to homeschooling in the middle of the school year? Or maybe your kids are going to school after being homeschooled. Whichever direction you are going in, remember it takes time to make changes. You can’t throw a car in reverse without breaking into a stop and then shifting from D to R. If you drive a stick, you have to do all the clutch stuff too! Learning is the same.

Transition time will not be skipped. It takes as long as it takes to adjust into a new learning space, a new teacher, or curriculum, and even a new lunch menu. Address concerns as they arise but don’t force it. Mrs. Ainsworth, my high school English teacher would always tell the class “Don’t push the river.” She was right.

There is a need to be done first. A drive to be the fastest. This ideology is not conducive to quality learning in my opinion. Sometimes learning happens quickly but often it is trying and evaluating and re-trying that is the hallmark of deep processing. This kind of practice is a best practice for the mind. It forms access points where additional information can be scaffolded on to. This means more connections to and between prior knowledge.

I know I’m a learning nerd. I’m all about connections and scaffolding and prior knowledge. I in favor these things because I see and have gained from what this process is about. It’s about time. Taking the time to change meaningfully and with intent.

The reality is that you can’t push the river. It’s going to go where it goes when it goes. The relief is that a weight is lifted. With the pressure of “do it now” off the schedule, everything can happen in a natural way. Before you know it, you have changed gears and are humming right along.