Mid-winter is the best time to start on your goals. Braving the last of the winter will put you in good stead for harnessing the positivity of the Spring.
"Maybe pausing gently and having some discussion or antidotes with children might be okay." - absolutely! Questioning is a proven strategy in the early years... so interesting to hear the responses! I truly think this is the sweet spot where the universe shines through and blows our minds!
Gosh, I will never forget the first time I heard Passio’s work. Nothing ever made more sense to me in my entire life. All the pieces came together and fit perfectly into all my life learnings. Nothing ever made more sense to me than in that day. Every single lesson, hunch, or thought about life that I ever had all came together in that particular moment. I listened incessantly to his work until around podcast 187, listening over and over and over. I’m eternally grateful for his presentations, but I know it is my duty to share this knowledge. You are doing that and I am grateful for your efforts as well! :)
Okay, so I think what you say for 2-7 year olds is easily justified. Many parents (not all) are on board with the benefits to childhood development through whimsical play over exposure to rigous content as an educational head start program.
I see why waiting to be concerned for a child until they’re 14 if they don’t take to reading and writing, because here they are developing their direction in life. They may begin to realize cause and effect that in order to achieve success in an area of interest, they need to read about it. I can see exploration through internships working really well.
The only caveat to waiting until 14 is that the child isn’t in the mainstream obviously, because they would just be on their phones all day, eating garbage for food. So, this might work if the child is receiving adequate nourishment all along.
There was a time during my daughter’s elementary school years, she attended a lovely Waldorf school, where the emphasis is on Steiner development stages, rituals connected to nature/seasons and the use of natural material. Maybe Waldorf schools would close to this.
Oh wow, your daughter is blessed! I should probably do a personal show or two to share my story and experiences. I put off reading about Steiner until after my teaching stint... I wanted to compare to my experiences. I think Steiner is probably the greatest mind of the last couple of hundred years. I think Waldorf concept is probably the best.. Montessori is right up there too... I think a deep respect for young children is what they have in common. My personal view is about the teacher learning from the young child... they corroborated any concept from Passio that I was struggling with. I started his podcast not long after starting to work in ECE. I would say that I am a Steiner fan-boy :D
From Mark Passio’s work, I understand the subconscious recognizes symbols, which is so fascinating to me.
I’m wondering how to maximize these teachings, because the emphasis on keeping the information is so prevalent.
From your work, I’ve learned that Steiner is not a fan of direct explicit instruction. Maybe pausing gently and having some discussion or antidotes with children might be okay.
For the upper grades, a whole course could be created with analysis, which would be fun.
Good morning! Thank you Gino. What do you think is the best way for children to get the moral lessons from these stories? A teacher, knowing the laws of the universe helps. What else do you think is needed to teach children these important lessons? In your opinion…
Ineka, I am seriously humbled by your question! I think the teacher who "gets it" is most important. They are treating the children with reverence and they will get the answers they need, over time. I think of the young children as walking symbols. I think that a more formal education (in the third stage: 14-21 years old) will be easier to learn with fairy tales in the early years as "symbolic affirmations". Steiner said that teachers only need to begin to be concerned with a child who is not interested in learning to read and write at AGE 14!!! For me, this is so difficult to process. I do know that 2-7 year olds should just play, play in nature, be allowed to defend themselves, be supported when they defend themselves, and have fairy tales in their lives. I want to explore ritual, cycles and seasons... which I think is more of a community thing that the kids can connect with. What do you think? Let me know... I appreciate the challenge of getting this right! Much love from Gino :)
I think you are on point Ineka and you being a teacher who understands Natural Law is just so special and unique... more world-changing than podcasts or bro-chats! For the upper grades I think you are right! And the 2-7 year olds are the enigmas! So challenging... They just absorb the actions of the adults right? Somehow, those actions contribute to their thoughts later in life. I really think that not much needs to be done beyond allowing play and self-defense. Of course the time needs to be spent by adults... to create the bond. Once the bond is created, I think grown-ups can teach any way, any how! I think it is such a magic playful time that I wish would entice grown-ups into magic and play! What do you think? Did I answer the question? Might have been a bit vague...
No, not vague at all. You make a lot of sense. Yes, absorbing the actions of the adults - okay! I can see that. That actually makes things a lot easier. Haha!! The difficult thing as a teacher, knowing NL, is that I can’t really teach it. The system of public education is so locked down. There are many obstacles in place that prevents me from teaching it. I can share what those obstacles are. It’s quite interesting and it took me a long time to realize that. It’s all quite clear to me now, how this system is set up. I guess the foundation is that bond, which typically has to happen in the home. So, where do we start Gino??!!! Haha!!
Yes, community based celebrations and rituals in accordance to nature/seasons is really nice. If it’s part of the child’s everyday, it becomes second nature. When my daughter attended Waldorf, the students were schooled in a big old house. They took off their shoes before entering the classroom, they brought their bikes to school and as a class would travel to a farm to plant in a garden. They jumped in puddles and mud and sang outside in all weather (proppely dressed). They learned through verses, dictation and drawing. String instruments were mandatory at 3rd grade, which was taught by a skilled violinist everyday.
We eventually had to pull my daughter out due to the distance the school was from our home. She tried public school for a year and there were many pluses and minuses. Academically, she was behind mostly in mathematics, but she had a very good attitude in wanting to learn. She worked very hard to catch up and did.
My point here is that the lessons we’re speaking of can be community based, but in order for them to take hold in the child, it needs to be in the majority of their day and not an “after school program” for example.
"Maybe pausing gently and having some discussion or antidotes with children might be okay." - absolutely! Questioning is a proven strategy in the early years... so interesting to hear the responses! I truly think this is the sweet spot where the universe shines through and blows our minds!
Gosh, I will never forget the first time I heard Passio’s work. Nothing ever made more sense to me in my entire life. All the pieces came together and fit perfectly into all my life learnings. Nothing ever made more sense to me than in that day. Every single lesson, hunch, or thought about life that I ever had all came together in that particular moment. I listened incessantly to his work until around podcast 187, listening over and over and over. I’m eternally grateful for his presentations, but I know it is my duty to share this knowledge. You are doing that and I am grateful for your efforts as well! :)
Okay, so I think what you say for 2-7 year olds is easily justified. Many parents (not all) are on board with the benefits to childhood development through whimsical play over exposure to rigous content as an educational head start program.
I see why waiting to be concerned for a child until they’re 14 if they don’t take to reading and writing, because here they are developing their direction in life. They may begin to realize cause and effect that in order to achieve success in an area of interest, they need to read about it. I can see exploration through internships working really well.
The only caveat to waiting until 14 is that the child isn’t in the mainstream obviously, because they would just be on their phones all day, eating garbage for food. So, this might work if the child is receiving adequate nourishment all along.
There was a time during my daughter’s elementary school years, she attended a lovely Waldorf school, where the emphasis is on Steiner development stages, rituals connected to nature/seasons and the use of natural material. Maybe Waldorf schools would close to this.
Oh wow, your daughter is blessed! I should probably do a personal show or two to share my story and experiences. I put off reading about Steiner until after my teaching stint... I wanted to compare to my experiences. I think Steiner is probably the greatest mind of the last couple of hundred years. I think Waldorf concept is probably the best.. Montessori is right up there too... I think a deep respect for young children is what they have in common. My personal view is about the teacher learning from the young child... they corroborated any concept from Passio that I was struggling with. I started his podcast not long after starting to work in ECE. I would say that I am a Steiner fan-boy :D
From Mark Passio’s work, I understand the subconscious recognizes symbols, which is so fascinating to me.
I’m wondering how to maximize these teachings, because the emphasis on keeping the information is so prevalent.
From your work, I’ve learned that Steiner is not a fan of direct explicit instruction. Maybe pausing gently and having some discussion or antidotes with children might be okay.
For the upper grades, a whole course could be created with analysis, which would be fun.
What are your thoughts? Thank you!
Good morning! Thank you Gino. What do you think is the best way for children to get the moral lessons from these stories? A teacher, knowing the laws of the universe helps. What else do you think is needed to teach children these important lessons? In your opinion…
Ineka, I am seriously humbled by your question! I think the teacher who "gets it" is most important. They are treating the children with reverence and they will get the answers they need, over time. I think of the young children as walking symbols. I think that a more formal education (in the third stage: 14-21 years old) will be easier to learn with fairy tales in the early years as "symbolic affirmations". Steiner said that teachers only need to begin to be concerned with a child who is not interested in learning to read and write at AGE 14!!! For me, this is so difficult to process. I do know that 2-7 year olds should just play, play in nature, be allowed to defend themselves, be supported when they defend themselves, and have fairy tales in their lives. I want to explore ritual, cycles and seasons... which I think is more of a community thing that the kids can connect with. What do you think? Let me know... I appreciate the challenge of getting this right! Much love from Gino :)
I think you are on point Ineka and you being a teacher who understands Natural Law is just so special and unique... more world-changing than podcasts or bro-chats! For the upper grades I think you are right! And the 2-7 year olds are the enigmas! So challenging... They just absorb the actions of the adults right? Somehow, those actions contribute to their thoughts later in life. I really think that not much needs to be done beyond allowing play and self-defense. Of course the time needs to be spent by adults... to create the bond. Once the bond is created, I think grown-ups can teach any way, any how! I think it is such a magic playful time that I wish would entice grown-ups into magic and play! What do you think? Did I answer the question? Might have been a bit vague...
No, not vague at all. You make a lot of sense. Yes, absorbing the actions of the adults - okay! I can see that. That actually makes things a lot easier. Haha!! The difficult thing as a teacher, knowing NL, is that I can’t really teach it. The system of public education is so locked down. There are many obstacles in place that prevents me from teaching it. I can share what those obstacles are. It’s quite interesting and it took me a long time to realize that. It’s all quite clear to me now, how this system is set up. I guess the foundation is that bond, which typically has to happen in the home. So, where do we start Gino??!!! Haha!!
Yes, community based celebrations and rituals in accordance to nature/seasons is really nice. If it’s part of the child’s everyday, it becomes second nature. When my daughter attended Waldorf, the students were schooled in a big old house. They took off their shoes before entering the classroom, they brought their bikes to school and as a class would travel to a farm to plant in a garden. They jumped in puddles and mud and sang outside in all weather (proppely dressed). They learned through verses, dictation and drawing. String instruments were mandatory at 3rd grade, which was taught by a skilled violinist everyday.
We eventually had to pull my daughter out due to the distance the school was from our home. She tried public school for a year and there were many pluses and minuses. Academically, she was behind mostly in mathematics, but she had a very good attitude in wanting to learn. She worked very hard to catch up and did.
My point here is that the lessons we’re speaking of can be community based, but in order for them to take hold in the child, it needs to be in the majority of their day and not an “after school program” for example.