I heard the term “delight directed studies” years ago from Sonja Harris and it stuck with me. For you who already teach this way, please feel free to comment about ideas or topics you have done that have worked for your family. You may teach using all textbooks, which is fantastic! But, I am giving you permission to also add some topics that are not planned. Topics your son/daughter has shown interest in.
This might look like a study of __________ (dinosaurs, the planets and stars, cooking or baking). You can study whatever your daughter/ son has shown an interest in. Things you could do to capture that interest would be to order books online from the library, purchase a science kit, watch a video about the topic, go to a museum, do a unit study, (Homeschool Share) etc. My granddaughter loves cake pops and I am going to go over to her house to make them. We will measure, mix, pour, bake, and decorate cake pops. You see, there is math, science, and art all covered in this one special activity. I think I am just as excited as I know she will be in making them. Look for things that are fun for your child and if you like it, that’s a bonus too!
Step out, don’t be afraid to try. It might be scary to deviate from the curriculum, but trust me, it will be fine. In fact, you might like it so much you find it hard to return to your textbooks. 🙂 One , two, even three units is fine to add to your school year if you have curriculum you are using. I found that by adding something that my boys wanted to learn they were more willing to do the rest of their work to pursue what they were interested in learning.
There can be failure, but don’t give up! Yes, you might prepare all of these great resources and activities and your daughter turns up her nose or your son lets you know he just mentioned it, he didn’t want to study more about it. Go through with the topic of study because s/he might just come back and say they liked it. Yes, I got excited about a topic and thought the boys would like it too, only to discover their interest had fizzled out. Well, you can either finish the study or drop it. It’s up to you. But, I wouldn’t set a precedent that if they complain you stop. (Pick your battles. 🙂 )
Have a great week! ~Lisa~
Schoolmarm Ohio 
In my opinion, if there is no delight in homeschooling, then people are doing it wrong! We absolutely make sure that we structure our time so that in ALL subjects we find joy and excitement. Our motto is go big or go home! For example, we are studying world geography this year. Sure, I could have found a textbook and we could tackled it more traditionally but that isn’t our style. Instead, we are not only learning about typical topics (landscape, weather, religions, population) but we are treating each country like a virtual vacation! We are using Guest Hollow (free) online interactive textbook to learn about various countries. I originally planned for my kids to learn to draw the world by heart but they weren’t digging it. Instead, I switched it to some map drawing using Drawing the World with Art. I wanted them to learn to draw things to scale. I do want them memorizing where countries are and to accomplish this, my kids downloaded Seterra games on their phones and they quiz themselves on the various continents regularly (free as well). And who doesn’t love food! At first we were cooking by country but it would appear that most countries have tons of cross over (for example, meringue is found all over Central America even though this originates in France). We decided we didn’t like this approach and didn’t want to just eat something because it was for that country. If it wasn’t for Covid, we would be dining at authentic restaurants (and we do still get some take out) but since we have to cook it all, we are just trying new foods as the palate entices us. We are pretty adventurous eaters already and America is definitely the melting pot of international cuisine. For us, we just end up making dinner and I normally talk about the origin of the food. This subject could easily transcend across many subjects but my kids don’t like full emersion in their subjects year to year. They much prefer learning things as a buffet and as variety. For example, I could have completed literature with international stories but my kids weren’t interested. I also could have focused on weather and earth science but two of my kids are in biology this year. Because my kids like doing science experiments together, my youngest is using BJU and learning life science this year. I took the BJU textbook and lined the topics up with the biology curriculum so that all of my kids are learning about the same topic at the same time but just learning the topic to a different level of deepness. This way, every week they can do one experiment together. Sometimes the experiment is a little easy for the older two. Sometimes the experiment may be more challenging for the youngest. BUT….they all love hands on activities and in the end, they are definitely learning! There is just so much flexibility and so many options when you consider adding delight to your child’s education!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thank you so much for sharing Daneale. I love you rcomment, :they all love hands on activities and in the end, they are definitely learning! There is just so much flexibility and so many options when you consider adding delight to your child’s education!”
LikeLike