About – Dayla Learning

About Dayla Learning

Learn about the founder and philosophy behind Dayla Learning

Hi! I’m Michelle, and I founded this site after finding my worlds colliding. I’ve been an educator for over a decade, starting as a writing center consultant while I was an undergraduate studying English and creative writing. I ended up completing a PhD in rhetoric and composition and teaching college-level writing while researching feminism, pop culture, and the history of writing instruction.

I hadn’t put much thought into homeschooling as a concept, and I certainly hadn’t put any thought into it as a path for my own household. Then my daughter, a “twice exceptional” child (meaning she has been diagnosed with both giftedness and a condition that makes learning challenging) made me start thinking outside the box. My desire to meet her educational needs opened up a whole new world, and suddenly my years of training in educational approaches and classroom practices were getting called upon in new ways as I embarked on homeschooling a “spirited” child.

The more I learned about homeschooling (especially the contemporary spike in secular, eclectic, academic homeschooling), the more invested I became.

This site is a space for exploration of that homeschooling journey through the lens of my educational passion and expertise: the humanities.

I hope whatever has brought you here–curiosity about homeschooling, a search for curriculum and materials to use in your own teaching, a love for the humanities–you find something useful and thought-provoking.

Photo by Lucas Sankey on Unsplash

SaveSave

"Practicing an art, no matter how well or badly, is a way to make your soul grow, for heaven's sake. Sing in the shower. Dance to the radio. Tell stories. Write a poem to a friend, even a lousy poem. Do it as well as you possible can. You will get an enormous reward. You will have created something."

- Kurt Vonnegut Jr., A Man Without a Country

Teaching Philosophy

I’ve been an educator my entire adult life (and even a little before that — I started tutoring in high school), and helping other people find their own voices and confidence in their writing and communication skills is my leading passion in life.

Over the years, I’ve developed a teaching philosophy that’s been informed by the learners I’ve met and the experiences we’ve had together as well as ongoing training in my discipline of rhetoric and composition.

Here’s what I believe about learning:

Learners deserve trust and respect. Sharing your work — especially writing — with someone else takes vulnerability, and I don’t take that honor lightly.
Education is a collaborative experience. Teachers and learners work together to create educational environments, and it is my job to listen and respond as much as it is to talk and guide.
Goals can be met in more than one way. Rigidity is rarely the best path for meaningful learning, and my flexibility shows up in meeting learners where they are and being willing to follow them when they take an unexpected path.

Here’s what I believe about writing:

Writing is recursive. There is no one set “writing process” that works for every writer or for every piece of writing. We have to build a toolbox of skills that we can call upon throughout our lives.
Writing is a skill everyone can build. Some people may have a natural inclination toward it, but humans are communicators, and we can all build our communication skills with practice.
Writing is easier when you have something to say. Writing should be contextualized, and the more authentic and meaningful the audience, the better the educational experience.