What if there were no books, no curriculum, and no structured learning? What if a child was free to learn only the things that interest them from a young age?
What if there were no books, no curriculum, and no structured learning? What if a child was free to learn only the things that interest them from a young age?
Interest-based learning is certainly nothing new, it involves using a child’s interests as a way to facilitate learning. We gravitated to this approach some 7 years ago as I quickly realised trying to teach a child concepts they are not interested in, or that have no relevance, and do it as a solo parent 24/7, was not going to create the cohesive learning environment I envisioned. Initially, we took a step away from formal lessons and started learning maths concepts in the kitchen, science concepts by breeding and raising chickens, and growing veggie gardens. We learned about aboriginal history and learned to make primitive tools and shelters, we would explore other countries on google earth, and then cook meals from that country. There was no pencil or paper in sight, but the learning was constant, varied, and we did it together. Jaiden was learning a huge amount but this was not exactly “interest based learning”. Whilst he loved it, I was the one suggesting many of the activities to Jaiden, it helped ease the voice I had back then saying “You need to make sure he’s learning enough”.
I was encouraging him to pursue and try certain things, some he loved and exceeded in (like teaching himself Piano) only to stop months later and never pick it up again. While others, like making primitive shelters, tools, and hunting techniques continues to be something he enjoys 7 years after first learning about aboriginal history. In terms of interests, from a young age Jaiden loved cars. He would sit and obsess watching their wheels spinning for hours, this eventually developed into imaginative play which at the time, was a great milestone as Jaiden had recently received his Autism diagnosis, so any step forward was a positive. His imaginative play eventuated into making hotwheels tracks, planning and making elaborate courses with jumps, loops, turns, and then running races recording and graphing the results. Yep, my child who hated writing was doing so voluntarily. At around 8 I introduced him to a car Mechanic Simulator game, he absolutely loved it and it wasn’t long before he could name just about every part on a car and how it works, from the crank, to the rear axles. His hotwheels car collection continued to grow and by 10 he could name a couple of hundred cars by Model and Make. A trip to Bathurst saw him be exposed to motor racing for the first time, seeing his favourite car in the flesh, one he had researched in great depth.
The owner even allowed Jaiden to sit in it, he was too shy to talk, or make eye contact with anybody he met, but I knew he was soaking it all in. Upon our return to Queensland I decided to take a trip to the drags for the first time. As we walked through the gates we met Controlled Insanity Racing who were super friendly and allowed Jaiden to sit in their drag car and ride shotgun in the tow car. He also met he Hoff from Nugget Garage who as luck would have it, allowed Jaiden to film, and crew for his drag car just a few weeks later. Jaiden had a ball but was left feeling more like a supervisor than a crew member, in his words “There was not enough to do, I actually wanna get my hands dirty..” At another weather affected drag trip we met the guys from Shoebox Motorsport as we huddled under a shelter from the rain. As we stood around chatting, Jaiden lovingly polished their car and as we left they gave him a spare conrod from the engine (That jaiden slept with..) and offered an open invitation to come and crew on their car. Several months on, he recently got his chance..Willowbank Raceway | Drag Racing’s Finest became his classroom. His teachers were 5 guys between 18 and 48 from various walks of life, and his lesson was what’s involved in running, tuning, maintaining, and fixing a 3000hp Pro Doorslammer drag car capable of accelerating to nearly 400km/h, all within 400metres.
Just seeing what’s involved in running one of these cars is pretty special, but Jaiden was about to do a whole lot more than just watching. He spent 3 days working his absolute backside off and absorbing every piece of information he was given. He had tasks to do after each run which he took ownership of and performed meticulously. He was then standing there waiting to pass the next required tool to one of the other crew members or get the next part ready. He learned how to adjust and replace the clutches, adjust the wheelie bar, suspension and tire pressures to combat the car bouncing, and was given the task of monitoring weather conditions so the cars tune could be changed accordingly. He then learned what happens when the tune is slightly off, and the driver feathers the throttle. The answer is an explosion, fire, carnage, and a late night rebuilding the entire engine replacing broken parts. He watched the entire process, cleaning parts, and passing tools, someone would holler “3/8’s ratchet with a long extension and a deep ½ inch” Jaiden would leap into action and return with the right tool. Around midnight, after an 18 hour day, the engine was in and Jaiden was ready for bed. He didn’t just go to bed, he first went back to the campsite, set up a huge canvas tent (that specifies 2 people to put up) by himself, in the freezing cold, after midnight. Not only that, he put in all our bedding and put out the table, chairs, and gas cooker ready for my morning coffee. I’d got sidetracked back under the car and expected to arrive to a cranky and tired kid trying to put up a tent in the dark, instead I arrived to a huge smile and a “Ta da, look what I did!” Talk about impressed, I could have cried..
At 6am he was back working on the car in preparation for the first fire up after the engine rebuild.
Unforeseen problems threw things into chaos but after some touch and go moments, the words “send it” were spoken and we got car out for one last run. Not the time we were chasing, but enough to put on a show for the huge crowd. The weekend drew to a close and whilst we sat around relaxing and chatting, Jaiden set about cleaning the entire car, which had not seen a decent clean since he last gave it a clean months ago. He was like the energiser bunny, nothing stopped him as he cleaned the car well into the night despite the apparent exhaustion.. Like most people, when I entered home education I had plenty of fears, many of which were laid to rest over the weekend. A child who was never forced to go to school to interact with his peers, who was too shy to make eye contact with strangers, worked as a part of the team the entire weekend. He took direction, correction, asked plenty of questions, giving his opinions, and even throwing around some appropriate, albeit smartass comebacks.. A child who has ever been forced to live by a routine or schedule was willingly up after a few hours sleep in the freezing cold wrenching on a car for an entire day not for a paycheck, but because he’s passionate about cars and wanted to learn more so he was committed to the task of getting the car down the drag strip.
The little kid who used to hand me his plastic play tools as I lay under the car was out there working on a real life race car, using the same passion and innate curiosity to expand his knowledge further, and continue to grow and evolve as a person some 10 years later. In terms of pivotal moments in Jaidens life, this is up there near the top. The entire experience has sparked something in Jaiden and he’s been busy hatching his own plans, but more on that from him at a later stage.. This experience has got me thinking, what if we could just pursue our childhood interests? Whilst some may pass over time, could others remain and be used as a basis for an education and then a career? Could a space obsessed child focus on this area and become an astronaught, or a Pony obsessed young child become a world class horse trainer, or could a trip to a museum inspire a budding archaeologist or historian, or could a young child obsessed with garbage trucks revolutionalise garbage collection forever or just grow up being the happiest bloody garbo on the planet? Personally, I want nothing more than for Jaiden to grow up pursuing something he’s passionate about, each and every day. Saying thanks does not come close to the gratitude I have for the guys at Shoebox, Pete, Stu and the team took us both in and treated us like family. At the conclusion of the weekend everybody gave Jaiden so much praise, he walked away beaming with pride whilst still planning ways to increase the sales of the merchandise stand he was running and stop the car bouncing off the start line.. He might be alongside you at the start line before you know it Pete…Where this interest will lead Jaiden in the long term remains to be seen, but one thing is for sure, there will continue to be a lot of learning along the way.
