Learning for Life: How to become a life-long learner

I want to be a life-long learner. I've purposely set about learning for life. Brain studies show that you have to keep your mind active and challenged or it will grow stagnant and your likelihood for Alzheimer's disease will increase.

How can you become a life-long learner? When you homeschool it is a very natural progression from schooling the children to schooling with the children. The joy in learning together with my kids beats any other learning environment I have known.

Here are some tips for life learning:

Pay attention to those things you wonder about. You know when you are looking at the sunset and think what makes it turn that beautiful red and blend into the melonny orange. Pay attention and don't shrug it off. Google makes it entirely too easy. There is just no reason to ignore those questions. If you are like me, you may need to write it down so you can find out later-I won't remember otherwise.

Become a master at what you like to do. What are you interested in? Are there classes on it or people that you know that are knowledgeable about it? What about communities or clubs that you can join? Visit your library and read about it. It is an excellent resource for learning.

 
Invest in the necessary tools or equipment. Say you want to learn more about woodworking. It will only prohibit and frustrate you to try to carry on certain tasks without the proper tools. So invest (slowly perhaps) in the things you need to study it closely.

Look for opportunities to apply what you've learned and take trips. There is no better place to learn about something than right in the field. If you have an interest in birds, go out to local parks and start watching. If you are interested in artifacts, join a dig or go to a museum.

Take pictures and notes and make drawings. I do all of them. It helps me retain what I've learned in a way that is enjoyable and easily accessible. Keep nature notebooks, science journals, commonplace notebooks, maps, scrapbooks, time lines, etc.

There is lots of enjoyment to be found out there for the taking in learning. A whole life of it!

Wishing you homeschool and life-learning blessings,