My youngest woke me up at 3am this morning, and laid in my bed wide awake talking to himself, anxiously awaiting the moment the sun peeked through the blinds at exactly 5:48 so he could tell me: "Mommy the sun is awake, it's daytime now!" I don't know why I told you that except that I needed someone to know how insanely tired I was this morning. 😭

If you're a parent (especially a fellow co-sleeping one), I'm sure you get it. We're all in this together.

Yesterday in the Revolution series, we pivoted from deconstructing school-based thinking to beginning our discussion over the next few days on the actual science and mechanics of learning.

Today's content is going to jump right into this, and I'll be filming a video later today to share some more insights (video will be posted on the Bridge Academy portal along with today's discussion post. If you're not a Bridge Academy family, now is the PERFECT time to get your kids enrolled and learn along with us this month to prepare for the best homeschooling year everrrrrrr).

Let's get right into it. I recommend getting out a notebook and jotting things down. Between the email and video later today, it should provide lots of insight for you into the types of learning experiences you're providing for your child.

A quick note: you're getting a sneak peek here into the content that will be going in to my first book (thanks for being a willing beta tester 😜). The things I'm teaching you in this series are developed by me through my decades of research and experience. Your feedback and conversations help greatly in the continued development of these theories and ideas.

Learning isn't linear, and it isn't all equal. You don't have an "on" and "off" button for learning in your brain. You don't learn all things at the same depth and meaning. WHAT you are learning affects the understanding. WHEN you learn something affects the depth. HOW you learn something affects the comprehension. WHO you learn from affects the clarity. WHY you are learning something affects the meaning. The levels of learning takes all of this into consideration....

In my work and research, I've identified six levels of learning. There's a lot of detail within these levels, but I'll keep it broad for you here to make it easy to take in. Let's start at the bottom.

Level 1: Passive Learning​
Simply put - any learning that you're supposed to absorb without engaging in. This happens in lectures. Reading a textbook you didn't choose. Random note-taking. Watching someone else do something. You're not really participating in the learning. Someone is simply talking at you or showing you something. In this level, the learner is a receiver, not a participant. The goal is efficiency, not understanding. It's designed to get information out as quickly as possible, not necessarily to help someone master it.

You reading this email right now is passive learning. It's the lowest level. That irony is not lost on me.

Level 2: Active Recall​
This is where you have to remember information that was presented to you. Worksheets. Flashcards. Quizzes. Tests. Answering questions on the spot. Remembering a fact for trivia or to solve a problem. It's a step above passive learning because you're recalling information, but in most cases, the context is still largely irrelevant. It's like being really good at crossword puzzles without actually understanding what any of the answers mean. This is where "good students" often emerge because they learn to perform, not necessarily to think.

When I ask you to remember what we talked about in a prior lesson, that's active recall level learning.

Level 3: Conceptual Understanding​
This is where learners begin discussing ideas, participating in small groups, engaging in Socratic seminars, and explaining concepts in their own words. There's more participation and more meaning than simple recall, but it's still largely controlled by the teacher. If the learner doesn't see a reason to care about the topic, this level often falls flat because motivation still hasn't become personal.

Your engagement in our Bridge Facebook discussions is level 3 learning. We're getting there....

Level 4: Applied Learning
​Here is where learning becomes something you do instead of something you remember. Experiments. Projects. Solving real problems. Using your hands. Applying knowledge to something that matters. The learner begins taking ownership because the information is no longer just being recalled - it's being used.

When you engage in the missions each day of this series and actually apply the concepts to your home, you are reaching level 4.

Level 5: Creative & Experiential Learning
​This is where things start to get awesome in our brains. This is open-ended play. Building. Creating. Collaborating. Exploring. The teacher/guide may provide materials or an invitation, but the learner decides where it goes. Creativity expands retention because knowledge is no longer confined to one subject. Learners begin making connections across everything they know, and the learning transfers naturally into other areas of life.

When you begin to experiment with things in your home and learning based on what you've deconstructed through this series, you are engaging in level 5 learning. You're taking control of what the learning affects in your life and making it meaningful. It really takes it's own shape here.

Level 6: Self-Directed Learning
​This is where everything changes. Learning is now completely learner-controlled. This doesn't mean that there aren't teachers, mentors, books, or resources. It means the motivation, the decisions, and the desire belong to the learner. At this level, learning stops being something you do; it becomes part of your identity. You're not just learning about cooking. You are a chef. You're not just learning about art. You're an artist. You're not just learning about dinosaurs. You're a paleontologist.

Side note: Nothing brings me more joy in life than when I hear little kids say with ABSOLUTE CONFIDENCE things like "I'm a paleontologist." 🥹 Yes, yes you absolutely are.

At level six, the learning becomes synonymous with who you are. The retention is so deep, the meaning is so strong, and the motivation is so powerful that you naturally want to share what you've learned with other people. Not because someone assigned it, but because it's become part of you. How much about the topic you actually know compared to others isn't what's relevant here. My 5 year old dino-loving son who asks every stranger he sees if they've heard of a pachycephalosaurus before may not be the world's most renowned dinosaur expert.... but gosh darn it HE IS A PALEONTOLOGIST.

When you confidently say to others that your family homeschools, or follows self-directed learning, or unschools without any fear of other's opinions on the subject, and you joyfully want to share your experience with others, you have reached level 6.

Ok that's enough for today. Take some time to reflect on your homeschool experiences (or your schooled experiences for comparison) and we'll talk more tomorrow. I'll go live later to give you a few more examples and details on these levels of learning.

🫶🏽 Leah