There is no right or wrong way when it comes to learning. It really all depends on finding the way which suits you best. Some of us, are more visual in our learning, we need to see something in order for us to take it in. Others pick things up really quickly just by being told what it is they need to know or by reading it themselves. Some need silence, whilst others do not.

But the one thing we all have in common, is that we need to have the freedom to discover this. To not be ridiculed because we can not learn the way we are meant to! To be allowed to explore and to actually enjoy the whole learning process.

We are born with a natural desire to learn, to explore, to discover. When we are younger learning is exciting and fun, because we are mostly left to our own devices and we are allowed to follow our own intuition. And that is how we learn to speak and to walk, both of which are no easy feat. Yet how long do we allow them to follow this natural path of learning. Letting them decide along the way what works best for them! Children naturally know how to learn, but when they are forced to, they lose their ability to learn by themselves.

This is why it is so important to allow children to explore and to trust them and their ability to learn. Because they are so capable of learning on their own and f deciding what help they need and when.

It took me a long time to realize that I learn by seeing and doing. I can read something over and over, but unless I can bring it to life, it will not go in. Because of this most of my school years I was left to feel inadequate and just not clever enough, especially compared to those who could soak up all the information and roll it off their tongues naturally.

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Of course my way of learning is very natural to me, but it was not supported in my school. The only way I could study successfully was to make songs up about the various different subjects I was trying to learn. If I had to do a diagram I was okay, as I got to actually bring it to life, which was exactly what I was doing when I sang. My parents however, were not very impressed with me listening to music whilst studying , it was just not the done thing. But Luckily for me, headphones where invented.

Now that I have children of my own, I can see the different ways in which my girls learn and I let them explore and discover what they need to, when they need to. I trust them and their ability to learn. I mean they picked up languages by themselves, the eldest two learn to swim by themselves and to write and start reading by themselves. I am of course there when they need me, but ultimately it all comes from them.

So onto the EcoTrain Question, UNIVERSITY Vs YOUTUBE!

Well both I say, how wonderful that we live in a world where there are so much more options available to people, when it comes to learning. I for one love that I can actually see what people are doing, as I am very visual in my learning. I love watching videos on permaculture, on survival skills, on building Tiny Homes. We have access to so much information because of the internet now! Plus I get to chose what it is that I want to learn. The emphasis being that I chose.

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I do also, love to read books, I love that I can take my pocket guide book for mushrooms out with me when I am foraging. I love that I can read over the words, that have inspired me throughout my life by such wonderful writers as Glennie Kindred and Starhawk. I love that I now have a choice, that learning is not limited to schools. At the end of the day universities are very expensive and usually leave a lot of people in debt, tied into a system where they then need to work relentlessly in order to pay it off.