You may work hard on lesson plans and pick out the perfect curriculum, but your child may have other plans. Maybe they are not as interested in the particular book you chose. Maybe the teaching style of the curriculum doesn’t match the learning style of your student.

That’s when following your child’s interest comes in to play. If they are interested they will learn. And there are so many things to learn, that you can’t cover every topic. How do you decide which ones are important?

Some people believe a child should be in charge of their own education. Some believe they need to work daily on schooling. Some just want to teach the basics (whatever that means). I believe that children should be allowed to follow their interests, but sometimes they need some assistance, like a little nudge in the right direction. And sometimes they just need a big push!

Here is a story about how my oldest son needed a big push to get rolling, but soon became like an unstoppable avalanche rolling down a hill.

He was about about 14 years old and in 4-H. There was a legislative breakfast coming up and he did not want to go. It only happens every two years and teens get an opportunity to go to the state capital with a 4-H leader, stay overnight and have breakfast with a local legislator.

He dug in his heels, but I pushed harder, and he finally gave in and went. When he came home he was so happy and thankful that I had given him a push. He also admitted that every time I pushed him into something, was always thankful in the end.

The legislator that he met with was the Speaker of the House and he learned a lot by talking with him. One thing he learned was that he had a restaurant at the County Fairgrounds. It was basically a large indoor food booth that was only in operation during fair week. Every year he had to hire people to staff it and he asked my son to work for him the upcoming summer. He didn’t need a push this time, he was excited for this opportunity.

He worked hard and was exhausted by the end of the week, but had learned about a great new opportunity. The legislator asked him to be a page for him during the upcoming legislative session. It was a paid position and he could stay the week with the legislator in the house he rented near the state capitol. That was lucky because most teens needed to provide their own housing. Again, no push necessary.

I got several phone calls a day while he was there and he excitedly told me all about it. I got to hear way more about the legislative topics than I ever wanted to know. He was learning a lot about how our government works and about state history. He had a blast.

While he was there he had an interest in some of the furniture in the capitol building, especially some antique wooden chairs. He came home and had a desire to try refinishing wood furniture. Not something I ever would have expected him to get out of being a page, but it was a chance to learn something new so I was on board. He talked to a local thrift store and they donated a wooden table to him to try refinishing. He got it about halfway sanded and realized it was not his cup of tea. He gave up on the project, but learned from it. I don’t see it as a failure, I see it as a life lesson and they don’t always turn out as planned.

He decided he’d rather spend his time being a leader. With the support of the legislator, he became an ambassador for our county 4-H and was a camp counselor. He learned many leadership skills and had a love for community. He was always doing a lot of community service and volunteered over 1000 hours at the local food bank.

Without his knowledge, I entered him in a contest that focused on community service. A local dentist in town had a essay contest and I turned in an essay that he had written for something else that explained some of the volunteer work he had done. He won the contest and was surprised one day at the food bank when the news station showed up with the dentist and he was given a brand new laptop computer. I have never seen him so surprised.

All of these opportunities happened because I gave him a push and made him go to one event. If I didn’t make him go, he would have spent that weekend playing video games and would have missed out on all of this.

While I believe 4-H is an excellent program, it doesn’t work well with roadschooling. Your challenge is to find your own thing. What opportunities do you have to expose your child to something new. You won’t know ahead of time if it will turn out like the breakfast and spark an interest, or if it will turn out like the table. Each child will follow their own interests, but they need that initial exposure. So go out and find something new, you never know where it will lead you.