The Willed Curriculum, Unschooling, and Self-Direction: What Do Love, Trust, Respect, Care, and Compassion Have To Do With Learning?

How do we learn best? The willed curriculum is not an unusual event but is something that we experience on a daily basis. It is not a deviation from many everyday routines but, in fact, it is a process that happens many, many times a day, day in and day out, to all of us. It is not something unusual or strange, but if we pay attention to how we live our lives we will quickly realize that we are making use of the willed curriculum already, and often with powerful and dramatic learning results. In this sense, the willed curriculum is not a call for something new but a call to be more mindful and make more use of something we are already using. We know that interest and internal motivation are critical for deep learning. Loving what we are learning, interest, and internal motivation are at the very core of the willed curriculum.