I have long believed and taught that the beginning of any great education is falling deeply in love with learning.

The other side of this same coin is that great teaching – whether in public, private or home school –  is a matter of truly inspiring students to love what they learn and learn what they love.

Over the years, I have noticed that these ideas tend to resonate strongly with most parents and teachers—it makes sense to them that students who deeply love learning and are inspired by teachers and home school parents to study hard and increasingly expand their areas of interest will study and learn more than those who simply go through the motions or try to impress others.

Interestingly, however, many adults who find these ideas convincing and even obvious when applied to children and youth struggle to relate the same principles to themselves. Perhaps their experience in school is too fresh or too deeply engrained, or maybe they simply don’t see the relevance of adult education right now.

Whatever the reason, while many adults have caught the vision of feeling truly inspired to get a much greater education themselves, there are a number of others who seem content to just focus on the education of their children.

“My schooling is done,” they say, “now it’s their turn.”

But the truly wise, as Socrates taught long ago, know how much they still need to learn. We all fit in this category, whether we admit it or not.

I, for one, recently learned that while children and youth must fall in love with learning, for adults the key is to become truly “Lost in Learning.”

This is the title of a book by Eva Koleva Timothy, and it is an instant classic. Furthermore, it is a double-classic, both in its prose and its art.