Education is important. The thing is, a lot of people have a lot of different views about just what that entails. Some people want to get through the absolute minimum required amount of institutional learning. Others want their children in the most prestigious establishments, from preschool all the way through ivy league universities. But the wisest individuals, in search of the most valuable education, know that it is not found solely within the walls of an establishment. Taking every opportunity that life offers to teach you something new is the best way to learn the most about the world around you and about yourself as well.
Home learning from the very beginning
Society has created a system of education that most people tend to follow, at least to an extent. Schooling in an institution begins around the age of five or six. There are the elementary years during which we learn the basics, middle school for learning these basic concepts more in depth, and high school to begin to understand one’s strengths and interests. From there, many people go on to college for various levels of degrees in the professions that they have chosen. But so much more goes on than just those basic steps.
For starters, the human brain is like a sponge during our youngest years. The fastest rates of development occur in the few years after birth, meaning that young children are observing everything, figuring out what to do with all of the new information they are presented with daily. This is why it is so crucial to have family involved in a child’s development from the very beginning. Getting a solid start on early education will help to get the child on the right track toward quality education and well adapted learning skills throughout later years. But home learning does not have to end there. After taking the typical education steps, many adults turn to online lectures or courses to further their learning opportunities.
Home learning courses for continued education
Whether or not you completed the level of schooling you always imagined you would, there are opportunities to take more classes through home learning. Many adults choose to study at home with the aid of online learning sites and courses. And it doesn’t matter what your motivation is. There are numerous online students who are returning for more education for a variety of reasons. Some are professional learners and some are personal learners.
- Professional learners
About 36% of adults are professional learners. This means that they have pursued additional training in order to improve the skill set they possess for their job. Professional learners are often attempting to move themselves toward further advancements in their careers. - Personal learners
Perhaps surprisingly, the majority of adults, at 74%, are personal learners. This means that they have taken part in any one of several possible activities, such as reading or going to meetings or events, in order to learn more about something that they find to be interesting.
While there are a variety of ways to go about learning outside of an institution, probably the most popular avenue is taking online courses. About 68% of students who take classes online do so because it is the ideal way to balance family and personal life with work and studies.
Learning for lifelong success
People choose to continue their education for multiple reasons. About 87% of personal learners continued their education in order to feel more well rounded and capable. Around 64% wanted to learn a skill that would let them help others better, 36% wanted to take a hobby of theirs and transform it into something that would bring in money, and 33% continued their learning in order to be able to help out and keep up with the homework that their children or grandchildren were working on. There are always reasons to keep learning. And one of the most important things to remember is that those lessons from which we are able to learn do not always come in the form of a classroom lesson or even an online lecture. Life gives us new lessons each and every day, if we are paying attention. It is up to us to be the successful students we are all capable of being.
