“If I have done anything, even a little, to help small children enjoy honest,
simple pleasures, I have done a bit of good.”
~ Beatrix Potter
A Gentle Education
A Gentle Education for the Early Years
A gentle education does not mean you cannot have plan for your year, or a structure for your day, or even use a curriculum as a guide. You can use these tools in your days learning together as long as it’s balanced with the dedication to providing a slow and steady education in the early years, one that invites more than it inspects, one that is consistent and careful, connecting over comparing. One that allows more and interrupts far less.
A slow, gentle education isn’t rushed and isn’t checks down a list, it’s instilling a love of learning that’s as natural as moving through the day was before formal lessons were ever introduced. Learning didn’t start when lessons began and the joy of learning shouldn’t end when they do. The time for rigor and examination lies just ahead. It is far more fruitful when one wishes to learn and knows how to not only embrace education for oneself but knows how to learn in ways the individual knows and understands he or she does best. And one only learns those things about themselves when time and space is given. A gentle education doesn’t put one behind, in fact, one would debate it puts a child far ahead not just for one season, but for a lifetime.
What is a Gentle Education?
A gentle education begins with a mindset of slow purpose and progress.
Often when we begin a new school year we are looking at what we will accomplish, what the end goals are but the whole mindset of education must shift to a gentle progress every single day as you begin to embrace a gentle education. The mindset must be of more than yesterday, not as much as tomorrow. And repeat again and again.
A gentle education includes a gentle rhythm and not a rigorous routine.
Introducing the child to a gentle predictable rhythm that allows for flexibility and nurture will allow the child to know what to expect but to also embrace the expectation is not on how we serve the clock but on time is a gift to our learning.
A gentle education expands on intuitive learning not a filling one up with endless facts on uninteresting information.
When you approach each learning opportunity trusting the child’s natural instincts to learn well you find yourself stepping back more to allow the child to step forward more. It is a gentle shift from teacher to guide, from educator to educated.
A gentle education invites the whole person to be educated with all senses engaged.
If every sense is engaged the learning becomes part of the whole child. Holistic learning is embracing that the youngest learners need to be fully invested in what is presented to them to be educated.
A gentle education brings a calm peace not a stress that consumes.
If you are dreading the education you are presenting to the child either the education is not suited to the child or it is being presented in a way that does not serve one or both of you. Practice peaceful education invitations over forced learning experiences.
A gentle education is still purposeful, productive, and thorough.
A gentle education still brings a thoroughly educated child.
The child will learn well and learn how to learn well through well guided gentle instruction. The child will not fall behind or be kept from more but will gain a strong foundation that will last a lifetime.
A gentle education is enough.
A gentle education is all the child needs to succeed this year and for a lifetime of learning well.
Which is why I began A Year of Learning to begin with and why I chose to curate gentle resources that offer a full purposeful education while still being gentle and flexible.
