Learning can be so much more fun when you learn with someone. Learning something with your spouse can be even better.

W- and I enjoy learning things together. Last summer, we taught ourselves woodworking. We checked books out from the library, spent hours at Home Depot looking at tools and picking out lumber, figured out how to get 16′ planks home without renting a truck or becoming a traffic hazard, and built deck chairs that actually fit us. Having a second pair of hands to hold something in place, having a second pair of eyes to check before you work – that saves a lot of time. W- also helped motivate me past the necessary-but-slightly-annoying parts, such as remeasuring the chair slats so that they fit properly. I probably would never have tried it without him, and now the chairs sit on our deck and provide an ongoing trigger for happy memories.

We’ve been teaching ourselves Dutch in preparation for our trip to the Netherlands for my sister’s wedding. W- made flashcards and has been helping me learn. Even with our limited vocabulary, we’ve quickly developed in-jokes, like the delight with which we encounter the flashcard for “spek” (bacon) or “gebakken ei” (fried egg), and how I mock-shudder at “krentenbrood” (I’m not fond of currants or anything raisin-like).

We’ve also been working our way through a Latin textbook as part of an Internet-based study group. We’re learning Latin together because we’re curious about a proper classical education. If kids of bygone eras could be well-versed in Latin, Greek, and French, why couldn’t we get the hang of it too? I’m inspired by books like The Well-Trained Mind: A Guide to Classical Education at Home. While the rest of the world wrings their hands over the state of education, W- and I want to do something. This is not a bad place to start.

Cooking provides many opportunities for learning. We’ve been moving further down the supermarket food chain:

How do we make time for this? Avoiding financial pressure helps. A frugal lifestyle means that neither of us needs to work a second job, or gets stressed out about work. We spend most of our discretionary time at home because we enjoy doing so. A nearby library provides almost all the books we want, and Internet booksellers fulfill the rest of our learning needs. Internet videos, audio recordings, and websites also give us plenty of resources.

Learning pays off in many ways. If we model this kind of curiosity and life-long learning for J-, she might be inspired to explore her own interests. It’s like the way I learned a lot from watching my mom teach herself about business and education and watching my dad learn about planes and photography. Who knows what J- and other kids will be able to do if they learn that learning is fun?

2011-04-24 Sun 09:07