Essays

Notes on Learning

Mona Haraty

Learning is such an interesting and tricky area to explore. I discovered my passion for it when I became a mom and got to be an observer and explorer of how learning happens, what makes a child want to learn, and how I can support this interesting process. Many of my observations have led me to see the problems with the idea of teaching as a transfer; the idea that you pour clear explanations into a child, cover enough material, and hope that understanding will follow.

In some cases, you might actually get what you hoped for if you define understanding as the child's ability to repeat the stuff back to you. But real understanding is much more than that; it involves explaining it in your own words, applying it to a different situation, and connecting it to what you already know. Understanding is built internally by the learner and it requires thinking. Some of the themes that seem to be repeating in my notes are: how you guide a mind without doing the thinking for it, what actually makes a child want to learn, and why all of this matters more, now that there's a machine happy to do the thinking for us.

These started as things I noticed, mostly while homeschooling my own kids, sometimes while building JoySchooler. Here they are as short essays and sometimes just quick notes that I shared on X and haven't gotten around to expanding them yet.

  1. Our Homeschooling Journey, ContinuedAfter five years, my 11yo chose school for more social time.
  2. The Course That Didn't ExistA 12-lesson Fusion series built around one kid's battlebot.
  3. Exposure Isn't LearningReflection, not exposure, is what turns information into understanding.
  4. Learning in Groups Is OverratedThinking is done by one mind at a time.
  5. Thinking Is Becoming OptionalAI removes the necessity that used to force us to think.
  6. You Can't Install an InterestYou can expose and encourage; you can't manufacture wanting.
  7. When They Challenge MeKids rarely get to watch an adult actually think.
  8. Agree FirstA stuck mind reopens when it feels heard, not when it's challenged.
  9. The Hardest Thing They Ever LearnedA child masters language with no syllabus.
  10. Just Enough HelpThe line between productive struggle and abandonment is thin.
  11. Learning in the BackgroundThe background learning that happens when no one's watching.
  12. The SpoilerTelling a child what they'll learn is telling them the ending.
  13. Caring Comes FirstFeedback does almost nothing until a child cares about the signal.
  14. Teach What We Don't KnowThe open questions teach more than the settled facts.
  15. Grade the Work, Not the ChildFeedback on the work helps more than on the child.
  16. You Are Not the AuthorGenerating work with AI makes you a collaborator, not a creator.
  17. The Courage to Not KnowSchool unintentionally teaches children to hide what they don't understand.
  18. Play the Whole GameLet beginners play a real, simple version of the thing instead of drilling its pieces for years.

These essays are why JoySchooler exists: a Socratic AI guide that asks instead of tells, so children do the thinking that makes learning stick.

Why JoySchooler