My seventh-grade son Channing is hard to impress. Two full baskets of library books managed it.

A couple of weeks ago, as we began school for the year, we went to the library to look for books about skateboarding, freestyle scootering, and BMX biking. We found a few on the shelves, but the selection was limited. I used the opportunity to show Channing how to search the PrairieCat library catalog and place holds on books from other libraries.

Yesterday, we returned to collect everything we had requested.

There were two full baskets waiting for us.

I knew we had ordered a lot, but I had not expected everything to become available at once. Channing’s eyes grew huge. Rae looked at me sideways and said, “Seriously, Mommy?”

Even the librarian looked impressed, although she maintained her composure and checked out our mountain of books with a smile.

After a heavily loaded trip to the van, we headed home to see what we had found.

Last year, our school days looked very different. Traditional schoolwork struggled to hold Channing’s attention, especially when it came to math and reading. Basic assignments became battles, and I often felt lost. I could not tell whether I was asking too much of him or expecting too little.

I wanted to make sure I was not pushing him beyond what he was capable of doing. I also wanted to challenge him enough to learn, grow, and develop a greater understanding of the world. So I asked his psychiatrist for additional testing to help us understand where his abilities actually were.

After the testing, I sat with the child psychologist for a few extra minutes and asked if we could talk about Channing’s education. Her advice changed the way I thought about teaching him.

She told me that I would have greater success if I connected his education to something that already interested him. She said it was more important for him to learn how to find answers, conduct research, interact with the world around him, and share what he knows than it was for us to spend all our energy forcing him through a particular math worksheet.

For Channing, who is autistic and has ADHD, interest is more than a simple preference. It can determine whether information ever gets his full attention. Autism and ADHD affect how he focuses, regulates himself, transitions between tasks, and retrieves information. When a subject feels disconnected from anything meaningful to him, getting through it can require so much effort that very little learning actually happens.

When the subject matters to him, something changes.

Channing is incredibly interested in skateboarding, freestyle scootering, and BMX biking. On days when he cannot get outside, he enjoys fingerboarding. These activities give him movement, help regulate his nervous system, and hold his attention in a way that few traditional assignments can.

So we are building a unit study around them.

Usually, after Channing watches an educational video, I ask him to explain what it was about. He often looks at me as if to say, “Again? I have to? You just watched it with me. I know that you know what it was about.”

The point is not to find out whether I understood the video. I am asking him to practice recalling information, organizing it in his mind, and explaining it in his own words. These skills support his working memory and strengthen his ability to communicate what he has learned.

Since we began watching videos about skateboarding, his response has changed. He is more excited to tell me what he learned. He remembers more details and explains them more clearly. Because he cares about the subject, he is more willing to retrieve the information and share it.

That tells me we are building the skill we were trying to teach all along.

The books from the library give us another way into the same subjects. I do not put much pressure on him while we look through them. We flip through the pages together, study the photographs, read sections that catch our attention, and notice what makes us curious. Then we return to those subjects when we are ready to explore them more deeply.

We even found easy readers about skateboarding, bike riding, and other sports. Channing can practice reading aloud and improving his fluency with material that gives him a reason to keep going. The reading skills are the same ones he would practice with another book. The subject helps him stay with it long enough to use them.

Learning to find the books was part of his education too. Channing now knows that information does not begin and end with whatever appears on his phone. He can search a library catalog, request books from other libraries, locate published material, and compare information from different sources.

The unit has taken us into nearly every school subject. PBS and other educational videos explain the physics involved in skateboarding, BMX biking, and freestyle scootering. A trick can lead us into force, motion, balance, friction, momentum, and gravity. Ramps give us a practical reason to discuss angles, measurements, height, distance, speed, and timing.

Movies and documentaries teach us about skateboarding history, including the stories of female skateboarders. Their experiences open conversations about culture, opportunity, recognition, and why some people have had to fight harder to be taken seriously in a sport they helped shape.

Skateboard graphics lead naturally into art and design. Equipment raises questions about engineering and safety. Skate park etiquette teaches Channing how to recognize the flow of a park, wait his turn, stay out of landing areas, and communicate with other riders.

Then there is the question of how a community gets a skate park.

Who decides where it goes? Who pays for it? What happens at a city council meeting? How can residents ask their local government for something they believe their community needs? Channing can research whether every community should have a public skate park, form an argument, and learn how people present ideas to local leaders.

One strong interest has taken us into reading, writing, history, physics, math, art, research, government, and social skills.

It has also brought Channing and me closer.

He talks to me about skateboarding, and I understand more of what he is telling me now. Honestly, skateboarding is less boring to me because I finally understand what I am watching. I know more of the language. I recognize more of the skill involved. I can ask better questions.

I am teaching my son through something he loves, and I am learning enough to meet him there.

This approach does not have to involve skateboarding. Almost any strong interest can become an entry point into a much wider education.

A child who loves horses can study anatomy, animal care, genetics, agriculture, transportation, art, literature, and the role horses have played throughout history. Local ordinances could lead to questions about why horses are allowed on some properties and prohibited on others. The child could research the rule and build an argument for changing it, even if the argument does not ultimately succeed.

A child who loves cars can explore engines, combustion, force, motion, fuel, design, manufacturing, and environmental science. Questions about gas prices can lead into economics, geography, natural resources, war, and international relations.

Cooking dinner can teach fractions, measurement, chemistry, budgeting, nutrition, and cultural history. A child who wants to ride a bike until 5 p.m. has a practical reason to learn how to tell time.

For parents who want to try interest-led learning, the first step is to gather widely. Search online. Preview videos. Visit the library. Look through catalogs together. Find documentaries, books, websites, community resources, and people who know something about the subject.

You do not need to design an entire unit before you begin. Pay attention to what your child returns to, which details they remember, and what they want to explain to you. Follow their questions, then look for the reading, math, science, history, art, or life skill underneath them.

I still do much of the research with Channing, but that is part of the lesson. He is watching how I search, evaluate resources, request materials, and follow one question into another. When his next interest appears, he will already know more about how to explore it for himself.

There will still be subjects Channing needs to study that do not connect neatly to skateboarding. He needs a basic understanding of math even when no ramp is involved. Interest-led learning gives him a place to build the skills, confidence, and willingness to learn that he can eventually carry into more difficult subjects.

Knowing how to learn may be one of the most valuable things we can give our children. They need to know how to ask useful questions, where to look for trustworthy information, how to compare sources, and how to explain what they have discovered. They need the confidence to follow a question beyond the first easy answer.

They also deserve the chance to experience themselves as people who are capable of learning.

When Channing talks to me about skateboarding now, I understand enough to ask the next question. Sometimes that question leads us to physics. Sometimes it leads us to history, reading, math, art, or local government. Sometimes it simply gives us something to talk about together.

The skateboard is the way in. Once we are there, the learning can take us almost anywhere.