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Questions from the Heart - A Challenge To Us All
Questions
from the Heart - A Challenge To Us
All
Part 4:
The Compassionate
Circle
Ask
questions from your heart and you will
be answered by the heart.
Omaha
Proverb
The Questioning Heart
Like me I am sure there have been
times when you have held back from
asking the question you know you
should ask because the answer would
not be the one you would want to
hear.
They are the answers that come from
deep within us, the answers we know we
ignore at our peril - the answers
from the heart.
Within education systems worldwide
the question being asked by more and
more disaffected teachers is:
"Am I (the system) failing the
children in my care?"
Circles
Of Compassion
For those committed
to homeschooling I
imagine the temptation is to nod
smugly, draw your cloak about
yourselves and walk the other way.
Please resist the temptation, rather,
consider the words of Einstein:
"A human being is a
part of a whole, called by us the
Universe, a part limited in time and
space. He experiences himself, his
thoughts and feelings, as something
separated from the rest - a kind of
optical delusion of his consciousness.
This delusion is a kind of prison for
us, restricting us to our personal
desires and to affection for a few
persons nearest us. Our task must be
to free ourselves from this prison by
widening our circles of compassion to
embrace all living creatures and the
whole of nature in its
beauty."
If a genuine desire for change exists
within our schools then the
homeschooling community has an
opportunity to influence that change.
It may at present appear a
remote possibility but a
possibility it remains, and not as
remote as many may think.
Can
Schools Be Unschooled?
The
Family Unschoolers Network defines
the purpose of unschooling as
being:
" . . . to keep
alive the spark of curiosity and the
natural love of learning with which
all children are born. We want our
children to accept learning as a
natural part of living, and an ongoing
process that continues throughout
life. We want their learning to remain
an integrated process in which all
subjects are interrelated. We also
want to allow them the time to pursue
a subject as fully as they want,
rather than imposing artificial time
constraints on them. We believe these
aspects of learning are limited by the
traditional implementation of a
curriculum, and we choose to
homeschool as a way to circumvent
those limitations."
This is a statement that resonates in
the hearts of many teachers, but it
does seem to leave schools firmly out
of the equation. Or does it?
Let me pose a question. Has anyone
heard of Wales?
The
Learning Country
Wales is the smallest and least known
of the four countries that comprise
the United Kingdom. You are more
likely to have heard of Wales because
of Catherine Zeta Jones, Sir Anthony
Hopkins and Sir Tom Jones than for any
other reason. But
here, in this small prinicpality, a
bold educational experiment is taking
place.
Jane Davidson, the Minister for
Education, has decided to steer a
radical course. From 2008 children
aged 3 to 5 will no longer be
compelled to follow a set curriculum
instead the guiding principle will be
'play based learning'. The initial
response from the education community
was positive, but once the euphoria
had dissipated people began to ask,
"What is the
curriculum going to look
like?"
The minister is clearly determined to
implement and extend these changes to
embrace all year groups.
Enthusiasm is
in danger of being replaced
by panic.
The question being asked is,
"Where can we find a
model we can adapt?"
It would be tragic if this initiative
failed through lack of knowledge.
Our
early years math program 'Ensure
Your Child Succeeds At Math' has been developed as a child-centred multi-sensory
alternative to traditional approaches to math teaching.
"Until he
extends his circle of compassion to
include all living things, man will
not himself find peace."
Albert
Schweitzer
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Next:
Completing
The Circle
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