8 Tips for Helping Kids Explore Their Interests (When You Don’t Have a Clue)
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It’s not unusual for a homeschooled kid to have interests in areas about which their parent has no clue, skill, or talent. That’s no excuse for not nurturing their gifts or helping kids explore their interests.
Particularly as kids hit the middle and high school years, it’s important to provide opportunities for them to develop their natural talents and gifts. You never know what may lead to a future career. However, even if a kid’s interests don’t lead to their life’s calling, it could become an enjoyable hobby in adulthood.
Helping kids explore their interests doesn’t have to be an insurmountable hurdle.
Tips for Helping Kids Explore Their Interests
Sign Up for Classes
There are almost always opportunities for outside classes, whether it be through a homeschool co-op, connections within your local homeschool group, or classes available to the community at large. So far, we’ve done or will be doing:
- art classes – drawing and watercolor
- music classes and private lessons
- gymnastics
- cake decorating
- ballroom dancing
Find a Mentor
If there aren’t specific classes, you may be able to find a mentor for your student. If your child is interested in photography, find out if anyone you know is a photographer. Even someone who considers himself just a hobbyist probably has information and tips to share. If you have a budding musician, is there a grandparent who can show him the basics? (Or, in our case, two very talented grandparents?) Seriously, who’s helping you homeschool?
I loved the time my son spent with his best friend’s dad at the forge learning basic blacksmithing skills. That’s cool stuff – and something I’d have never been able to teach him. As a matter of fact, I had no clue that anything like that was even available locally.
Helping kids explore their interests might mean thinking outside the box … and we homeschooling moms know how to think outside the box!
Look for Online Sources
I know that YouTube should be used with great caution, but there is a lot of good information out there. My teenage son has used YouTube for guitar and drum tutorials. My daughter has used it to learn sign language, to improve her knitting, and to learn how to make sushi rolls.
There are tons of art and music tutorials online. There are also a growing number of sources for one-on-one tutoring in courses like foreign languages and writing available through Zoom and similar services. It goes without saying to use caution there and thoroughly check out the tutor and his or her credentials, right? Once you’ve taken care of that part, helping kids explore their interests via outsourcing can be a terrific method for learning new things!
Helping kids explore their interests via outsourcing can be a terrific method for learning new things!
Read a Book
I know it sounds pretty old-fashioned, but if you can’t Google it, there are these really old-school sources of information called books. Sometimes they even have pictures – no videos, though. They’re at this place called a “library.” It’s sort of like a big, walk-in internet.
Oh, wait. I’m talking to a homeschool audience. Y’all know all about libraries. Take back your overdue books and pay your fines while you’re there.
Most of what I learned when I was spending more time drawing came from some good library books on sketching.
Watch a Video
While you’re at the library, check out their collection of DVDs. They’re a great source of information, as well. (Here are some library tips for homeschooling families.)
Provide the Tools
It often amazes me what kids can learn on their own, given the right tools and some free time. As much as possible, make sure they have access to the tools needed to follow their interests – art supplies, yarn and knitting needles, a camera (it doesn’t have to be anything expensive for dabbling), or musical equipment. I know the musical equipment can get expensive, but my son’s first electric guitar was a $20 garage sale find.
“It often amazes me what kids can learn on their own, given the right tools and some free time.”
Learn Alongside Them
A terrific method for helping kids explore their interests is, if possible, learning alongside your kids. Take a class together. Read a book. Watch a video. Experiment. You’ll both learn something and have some great bonding time in the process.
Let Them Tinker
I recently took the hard drive out of an old desktop so we could take it and have it recycled. (I learned how to remove the hard drive by watching a YouTube video.) Josh asked me yesterday if I’d taken the rest of the parts to be recycled yet because he wanted to tinker with them. I haven’t and I’m excited that he wants to mess around with it. We’ve done that with non-working VCRs before, too. We just replaced a TV because the picture was going out. I’m hoping he’ll want to tinker with that, too.
I’m the hands-on learner type, so I’m all for my kids experimenting with things they can’t hurt to figure out how they work.
I’m sure I’ve missed a few obvious suggestions. What would you add to the list for helping kids explore their interests when you know nothing about what they want to learn?
Kris Bales is a newly-retired homeschool mom and the quirky, Christ-following, painfully honest founder (and former owner) of Weird, Unsocialized Homeschoolers. She has a pretty serious addiction to sweet tea and Words with Friends. Kris and her husband of over 30 years are parents to three amazing homeschool grads. They share their home with three dogs, two cats, a ball python, a bearded dragon, and seven birds.
Those are really good ideas. It’s difficult for all of us to stretch out of our comfort zones, so finding other resources is key.
I wholeheartedly agree with you. As a former eclectic, newly unschooling family, we’re always looking for ways to explore interests. Our oldest daughter is taking a flash animation course at the local art school, is teaching herself guitar from (like your family) YouTube, and is taking a homeschool photography course, in which she emails her assignments to a photography teacher who grades them. My oldest son at home is teaching himself origami from YouTube and is signing up for a homeschool Minecraft class. My 12 yr. old daughter is teaching herself theatrical makeup (using my little ones as guinea pigs) through YouTube and is constantly trying out new recipes because she loves to cook. We’re also going to buy a sewing machine so my girls and I can learn to make clothing. Learning can be so fun!
What a fabulous post, with great ideas! I think the fact that as a homeschooling mum we have the opportunity to learn a whole heap of fun hobbies ourselves (that we wouldn’t have previously shown any interest in but our children are excited about) is one of the great things about homeschooling. There are so many people that have a wealth of knowledge and talent that we are often never aware of, particularly older folk. My father’s 89 year old next door neighbour is simply amazing – an incredible artist, musician, baker, self taught jack of all trades, WW2 veteran with a host of amazing war stories. It’s a matter of starting conversations and getting to know people like your neighbours, who often have a plethora of talents you would never discover if you don’t take the time to get to know them.
Great post! Homeschooling our only has been a continuous “learn alongside” journey. Currently, my daughter and I are using YouTube to learn how to play the ukulele. I have even discovered that I do pretty alright in arts and crafts. I’m not sure who is benefiting from homeschooling more – my daughter or me?
I feel the same way. I’ve learned at least as much as the kids have.