Surfing Curiosity

Tae Kwon Do is a wonderful art that meets force with force and, for me, made interesting bruises that took on a life of their own. As my belt color changed, I found that trying to force my opponent to change their direction meant pain and a "HA" yell every now and then.
As a home schooling parent, I connected this feeling to how "teaching" could follow a similar strategy. I was blocking any attempt that was not going in my chosen direction instead of looking at what was wanting to happen for learning to occur.  It was the martial art of Aikido that helped me learn how to go with the flow. Using the momentum, and learning how to help redirect a momentum towards the target, is much less painful then trying to force it towards an ambiguous target.
Curiosity is the momentum of learning. It is organic and wild and hungry. It is much easier to move a target then to harness and hogtie the momentum of curiosity. So, I have learned to "surf curiosity" and be on the edge of its powerful surge. Staying on top, most of the time, and letting its momentum take me, and the learners, where I want to go. The ride will be less direct, though it is more fun and more meaningful.