Autodidact means self taught. An autodidact is a self-directed learner. One of the goals of homeschooling is a child who is an autodidact.
A veteran homeschooler introduced me to the autodidactic theory. I was explaining how when I am curious about a subject, I tend to go into autopilot and I bury myself in the subject matter for anywhere from 24 hours to a month. When I feel satisfied that I have learned all that I can about the subject, I come out of my self-imposed exile, yawn, stretch, and seek the next challenge. “You’re an autodidact”, she exclaimed.
“A what?” I said, and then went home and spent several hours researching and looking up ways to encourage a child to have the autodidact tendencies.
- Unschoolers tend to be autodidacts.
- In her article entitled Ten Tips on Reducing Homeschool Stress, Kathy Wells states that letting children become self-directed learners will reduce parental stress.
- In Why Homeschool,she also states that self-directed learning is a positive result of homeschooling.
- Similarly, Montessori education is geared toward child-directed learning.
While many educators, teachers and parents would protest a child directing their own education, you have to admit that having an autodidact, as a child would make your life a lot easier. Some ways you could direct an autodidacts is to write an outline of things you want the child to learn for the year, and have them to attack each subject as they are led.
Some famous Autodidact/ homeschoolers are:
- Photographer Ansel Adams who educated himself from the age of 12
- Author Mark Twain whose formal education ended at age eleven when his father died
- President Abraham Lincoln who educated himself by reading books
- Quentin Tarantino who dropped out of high school and learned his craft at an Actors’ shelter in Beverly Hills
(This essay is an exercise in vocabulary. I encourage you to pick a new word each day and have your children to write an essay. Choose the number of required words according to grade level, age, or ability. Perhaps you will want to do this exercise yourself)