My favorite education author

This weekend we completely cleaned out, decluttered, and reorganized our office, with the help of some new shelves from IKEA. It is a relief to have this finished!

In the process, I came across the books I have mentioned before that I had lost for some time: those of John Holt, "Learning all the Time," "How Children Learn," and "How Children Fail."

He is without mistake my favorite author on the education of children. Without even knowing it, his approach hits on a core understanding of the whole human person, how the Creator Himself designed us with a desire for knowledge and an amazing ability to use the resources around us to learn.

I want to share briefly (and I will try to be brief) a few excerpts from the first part of "Learning all the Time" that I have enjoyed this morning. If they appeal to you, by all means, order the book! I'll venture to say you won't regret it.

In John Holt's words:
"[This] book will be a demonstration that children, without being coerced or manipulated, or being put in exotic, specially prepared environments, or having their thinking planned or ordered for them, can, will, and do pick up from the world around them important information about what we call the Basics. It will also demonstrate that "ordinary" people, without special training and often without large amounts of schooling themselves, can give their children whatever slight assistance may be needed to help them in their exploration of the world, and that to do this task requires no more than a little tact, patience, attention, and readily available information."

And on the following page, "This is not a book about 'How to Help Your Child Succeed in School.' It is a book about children learning By learning I mean making more sense of the world around them. (let me try this again) Learning, to me, means making more sense of the world around us, and being able to do more things in it. Success in school means remembering the answers to teacher's questions, getting clever about guessing what answers they will ask, and about how to fool them when you don't know the answers. In this book I will for the most part be discussing...things we might do to make various aspects of the world more accessible, interesting, and transparent to children."

The first chapter, which I am currently re-reading, and enjoying just as much if not more than the first time I read it 5 years ago, is on Reading and Trust, Discovering Letters, Exploring words, and true reading readiness. It is filled with Holt's own interesting observations and experiences as a well-known and largely respected educator of his time (this book was written in the 80's).

O, how it lays my mind at ease and puts me in the proper mindset to approach my children with an attitude that far better supports THEM, as PERSONS, searching for confidence and support as they embark into the wonderful world of print.

Rest assured, I am not turning this blog into an education-philosophy blog. But this is a part of who I am, a part deeply intertwined in my faith, by which I have found gives breath and life to the truth of the human person as taught by the Church. By approaching the education of my children in this way, with this basis, I am testifying to the Love of Christ in them because I am understanding, respecting, and appreciating each one's unique and amazing ability TO LEARN without ME (or anyone for that matter) being one who teaches them to split back answers without truly understanding, without truly learning. Every day, my husband and I pray that we will educate our children in such a way that gives Glory to the Lord, and best prepares them for the unique vocation He has for each of them. And this is the path we're being led on. This is where Christ is leading us. Us. Our unique family. And so we leap forward in confidence, looking always to Christ as we go along, and being open to how He leads us.

More ready than I thought....

I showed her how to thread the machine, and how to stitch in a straight line. She practiced on some scraps. I walked away from the machine, and her confidence grew even more. I popped in when she needed me, and helped when I was asked (not very often). I love witnessing my children learning! They delight in it! They devour it! All I had to do was believe in her (instead of saying, "no, you can't...you're not old enough"). All that said, I must point out that I did consider her emotional maturity (and ability to follow rules for the proper use of materials and machines). Upon seeing how she took to the practice cloths so naturally and carefully, attentive to all the safety guidelines I had laid out, I could see she was ready for a project. Hence, I proceeded to give her permission for such. She can't wait to make another...and wants to work on a project with me. If that's not motivation for me to keep up with this sewing thing, I don't know what is!

All by herself, with my only guidance being to sew inside out, leaving an opening for stuffing, and giving her the materials, she made this adorable pillow. She even finished it off herself with a steady hand-stitch.

Then, my little successful seamstress, whose love language I am convinced is "gift-giving," so proud of her creation, immediately thought of someone special to give it to: our 13 year old cousin who is staying with us from out of state. Her little heart filled to the brim with generosity, knowing she worked so hard to create something, immediately thought not of herself, but of someone else she thought would enjoy it more than she would (and she would have enjoyed it for herself). I am so proud of it. I don't want to squash any of her naturally generous tendencies. However, I just might suggest she make a few more pillows because they are just too cute to resist! And so is she.