TPP 408: Leslie Martino on Sparking Kids' Learning Through the Joy of Slow

As a parent of a neurodivergent child, you’ve probably had to let go of the traditional timelines we’re often told our kids should follow, especially when it comes to school milestones. And that requires a big adjustment for us as parents!

But what if we all took a step back and focused more on slowing down?

That’s exactly what my guest today, educator and author Leslie Martino, encourages us to do. With over twenty years of experience as a teacher, homeschooler, and adjunct lecturer, Leslie has a deep passion for helping parents and educators embrace a slower, more child-directed approach to learning. She homeschools her four children and also works as an educational consultant and parent coach, and her new book, The Joy of Slow: Restoring Wonder and Balance to Homeschool Learning, is a powerful guide to this philosophy.

In this conversation, we dive into how slowing down in education leads to deeper understanding and makes space for joyful, spontaneous learning. Leslie shares how creating a learning environment that values curiosity and playfulness—not just during structured learning times, but throughout the day—can foster lifelong learners. We also talk about the importance of connection and relationships in both parenting and education, and how that connection is at the heart of nurturing children who love to learn.

Even if you’re not homeschooling, I promise you’ll take away so much from this episode.

About Leslie Martino

Leslie Martino has over twenty years of experience teaching—as an elementary school teacher, a home educator, and an adjunct lecturer for graduate courses focused on the role of the teacher in supporting children’s individual work preferences. She homeschools her four children and works as an educational consultant, writing curricula, training teachers, and coaching parents to approach learning in an interest-based and child-directed way. She is a speaker on topics of education and motherhood and is also a contributing writer for the Wild + Free homeschooling community.

Things you'll learn from this episode

• Why it’s critical that parents create a learning environment that values curiosity
• How slowing down in education leads to deeper understanding and makes room for learning to be a joyful and meaningful process?
• How spontaneity in learning fosters natural responses and engagement, and how to “build in” room for spontaneity in everyday life
• Why playfulness essential in both parenting and education, and ways to ensure education is an exploratory rather than a linear process
• Why connection and relationship is at the heart of effective education and fostering humans who truly become lifelong learners

Resources mentioned

• Leslie Martino’s website
• The Joy of Slow: Restoring Wonder and Balance to Homeschool Learning by Leslie Martino
• Leslie Martino on Instagram
• The Call of the Wild and Free: Reclaiming the Wonder in Your Child's Education, A New Way to Homeschool by Ainsley Arment
• Bored and Brilliant: How Spacing Out Can Unlock Your Most Productive and Creative Self by Manoush Zomorodi
• Angela Sizer and Maren Goerss on Homeschooling & Thinking Differently About Learning (Tilt Parenting Podcast)
• Think Differently About Learning: A Homeschool Where Parents and Children Thrive by Angela Sizer and Maren Goerss
• Becoming a Critical Thinker: A Workbook to Help Students Think Well in an Age of Disinformation by Julie Bogart
• Julie Bogart on Helping Kids Become Critical Thinkers (Tilt Parenting Podcast)
• Drawing on the Right Side of the Brain by Betty Edwards

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