An Introduction to My Thoughts on Education…

Jan 19

As a professional educator.

“The need for imagination, a sense of truth, a feeling of responsibility, these are the three forces which are the very nerves of pedagogy (Steiner, 1919).” These words, spoken by Rudolf Steiner, are printed on my Sprouting Seeds Language Arts business cards. Why did I build my own language arts curriculum and start Sprouting Seeds? Because I didn’t want to teach language arts in any way that I have seen it taught before.

I don’t use worksheets, I don’t copy and paste homework writing prompts, and I don’t recycle pre-written lessons. In each of my classes I read out loud with my students, I tell them stories, we read and memorize poetry, and they create artwork in response to our texts. In my classes, we imagine. We unravel truth from the morals of classic literature. And my students have the responsibility to create and submit work that they are proud of.

John Dewey, one of America’s most prominent philosophers, psychologists and educational reformers, would say that any successful teacher must have “...a natural love for working with young children, a natural propensity to inquire about subjects, methods and other social issues related to the profession, and a desire to share this acquired knowledge with others (Talebi, 2015).” A love of working with kids, forever being curious and sharing my knowledge with others - this is what professional teaching requires.

As a home educator.

However, I am not just a professional teacher. I am also a teacher in my home. I currently have five children, three of whom I am homeschooling. I homeschool the oldest three children in second grade, first grade and preschool. In this line of teaching I sometimes fall very short. I get short tempered, frustrated and burnt out. John Dewey spoke about this when he said, “It is essential… that the classroom teacher has the mental propensity to overcome the demands and stressors placed on her because the students can sense when their teacher is not genuinely invested in promoting their learning (Talebi, 2015).” Our kids can sense when we are not genuine. Ouch.

Rudolf Steiner, 19th and 20th century philosopher, social reformer, and creator of the Waldorf pedagogy, further spoke about this concept when he said, “Subconsciously - even unconsciously - children have a delicate and intimate capacity for perceiving what is expressed in every movement and act of those around them… we are very mistaken to believe that the child sees only the outer activity (Stiener, 1924/1968).” Yikes. I know that many times I do not model “movement(s) or act(s)” that are edifying to my children, but that, instead, I succumb to the “demands and stressors” of my job as a home educator. And I don’t think I am the only one.

A home educator does not get a break from their students. Homeschooling parents are the teachers of every grade in their own “schools” as well as the cooks, janitors, maintenance people, IT support, administration, and human resources. Not to mention that their “schools” are open 24 hours a day. But with homeschooling quickly becoming the fastest growing education form in America (NHERI, 2024), this problem isn’t going anywhere. What pedagogical ideas can help these burnt out parents?

I think if we pivot our focus to three things, we may find it easier to breathe most days, and more so, we may even find more joy in our roles as educators. These things are: inner work, imagination and experiential, open- ended, autonomous learning.

I believe that imagination is the life blood of education, that experiential, open-ended, autonomous learning follows closely in suit, but that the teacher's own inner work is what holds it all together. I will begin first with experiential learning. This concept can relieve an immeasurable amount of stress when applied correctly.

Regarding experiential, open-ended, autonomous learning.

A true experiential environment involves hands-on work, inquisitive reflection, discussion and summarization. However, this alone is not enough. I further believe that each student should have autonomy over their own homework and what they take away from each lesson and that each assignment is open-ended for them to respond in a way that speaks to them. For example, let’s look at the assignment for children to learn about and identify various types of tree leaves and trees, a basic botany lesson for 1st - 3rd grade students. I will list three different ways to approach this lesson:

The traditional, workbook led assignment: Look at various leaves and trees in a textbook or workbook. Label several images, draw lines from the correct names to an image and color various leaves and identify them. Maybe touch and sort real leaves in a classroom setting.
The hands-on and child-led/unschooling assignment: all the students explore outside, picking up various leaves, talking about and identifying several of them, and concluding the lesson while appreciating time in nature. Deeper instruction is pursued as it is brought up by the child and taught for as long as the child's interest is held. (This can be a great form of education when access to lots of information is constantly available. However, unschooling/child-learning can fall short when the child isn't constantly in an extremely learning rich environment.)
The experiential, open-ended, autonomous approach: all the students explore outside, collect various types of leaves, and then gather around to discuss them and identify them, appreciating each feature and detail of the leaves. The teacher asks for piles to be made of each type of leaf - the oak leaves, the maple leaves, the sugar gum leaves, the cottonwood leaves, etc. The types of each tree is also noted and discussed. Journals are then taken out as the children are directed to choose 3 different leaves or trees and to display some related facts of their choosing that they learned during the lesson. They will respond to the lesson in their main lesson books - unlined notebooks which have been their companion for the entire school year (these replace the existence of textbooks in the child's life and allows the entire school year’s worth of information to be compiled by the student themself and it takes on a unique and beautiful life of its own.) One student may artistically draw three different trees and leaves, focusing on each detail, another student might draw scientific looking diagrams and tracings of several leaves, and another student might create a comic book style storyline incorporating facts from the entire lesson. The key here is autonomy. The finished pages are then given a thorough review by the teacher, and the students are not given any grade except asked if they are proud of their work. If the work is gravely subpar I here may be a discussion on the reason. But, long term students in this class know that they are working for themselves only, and have the autonomy and responsibility to satisfy themselves with their work. Finally, any curiosity regarding the lesson is further explored by the teacher with any interested students. This entire lesson takes place outside.

Option one can be helpful when it is all that is accessible. But it can also lead to stressful, forced work, where the teacher gets frustrated when the pupils are daydreaming or doodling on the sides of the notebook because this work holds no obvious relevance, interest or hands-on experience for them. Furthermore, this option can foster a “fill-in-the-blank” type of learning where the students simply do the work required to finish their page, looking to be done as soon as possible. It often does not require deep engagement with the lesson material, but teaches students how to learn just enough to answer the questions. Workbooks also leave little to no room for students to respond to the lesson in their own, autonomous way.

Option two is excellent, but can often falter into being too play-based, and it can lose an adequate focus on the content material. This type of lesson may not create a lasting impression of the content material, but will most likely be much more enjoyable to the students. For those students more deeply interested, the ability to divulge their curiosity is priceless because it fosters a love for learning simply for learning's sake, and not for any grade or worksheet to be done.

Option three creates a beautiful lesson for the children to experience with all of their senses, and for them to take away from the lesson what interests them most (by what they put in their main lesson books). I believe that (along with imagination, which I will mention next) experiential learning, coupled with autonomous, open ended, responsive work, is the apex of a quality education. These ideas can be applied to every subject matter to varying degrees. When a student realizes that they are learning for their own sake and that they have the control to make their lesson their own and take from it what they please, they are learning to make their own decisions and to make themselves proud and no one else. Lessons like these will create adults who can think and act for themselves and who can respect themselves enough to live a life they are proud of. Peter Gray, a psychologist, professor of neuroscience, and a major advocate for child-led learning, stated in an interview the ideal education would be :… when children are making their own choices about what it is that they're doing and learning…”(Gray ,2024). When this happens, then a child’s education is not defined by receiving grades or completing worksheets, but instead they choose to define their education. And, according to Peter Gray, this is exactly the kind of trust we need to place in our kids for them to become the responsible, autonomous adults we hope for them to be.

As a teacher who has been using this method of teaching in Sprouting Seeds Language Arts, and with my own children, I have never encountered a student who was proud of submitting lazy work. In fact, when subpar work has been submitted, many times the students go back and fix it on their own accord. This is autonomous learning at work.

Regarding imagination.

While many homeschoolers and private schools are moving toward a learning model like option three above, so many are still missing imagination. An example of adding imagination to the above lesson would look like this: as the children wrap up their day, the teacher gathers everyone close and tells them a story about a seed, buried under the ground. This seed was so afraid to sprout and experience the outside world, that he said he never would. He thought he would stay hidden forever, held captive by the fear of the unknown. However, with the encouragement of his already sprouted friends, he overcame his fears, burst through the ground, and grew and grew into the tall wonderful tree that towers over the children today. He now enjoys the change that each season brings him, and the children who sit under him, and he learned that facing his fears was the best way through them. As the story concludes, the children are given an imaginative, and dare I say magical, lens with which to see the world. The non-human, living things around us are given voices that the kids can relate to and they may remember forever.

Regarding inner work.

Now that I have discussed the essentials of experiential, open-ended , autonomous learning and imagination, let's not forget the last, but arguably most important, point - the inner work of the teacher. John Dewey stated that “no amount of learning or even of acquired pedagogical skill makes up for the deficiency” of the inner character needed to be an impactful teacher (Talebi, 2015). Stiener would also add that it is inner work that aligns a teacher with the peace and devotion necessary to be a teacher in the midst of stressful work (Steiner, 1968/1924). Inner work is the deepest, most prominent responsibility of the teacher, it is the fuel to the fire of their occupation and calling.

But what is inner work? After years and years of seeking, this is a question I still struggle to answer. But what I have found is this: Inner work is carving out several, faithful moments of silence and reflection each day. It is the quiet contemplation of our students/children and who they are inwardly and outwardly. It is noticing how we can best meet them, teach them and respect them for who they are. It is quiet, reflective meditation regarding our own performance as a teacher/parent, and a consistent review and check in with how our own hearts and minds are doing. We can be perfect teachers on the outside, but inward frustration, bitterness, anger, disappointment and judgment will sabotage our best efforts, and our kids will feel it. Therefore, I believe it is our greatest responsibility to make sure we are growing inwardly, as a person and in our hearts. We should all have a journal and little meditation book, a spiritual growth book, a reflective/self help book, etc. with which to grow and nurture ourselves. When we grow and heal ourselves, we will bring that energy into the spaces we share with our children, and only then will our impact in their lives truly be everything it can be. ]

Closing thoughts.

As a mom who feels so entirely overwhelmed at times, I know that all of these things need to be better woven into my life as a home educator and professional teacher. But, most specifically, my plan, this year, is to focus on my inner work and growth. I have chosen a few books with which to start the year, and the names are listed below. I have committed to reading a few pages each day, journaling my thoughts, and reflecting on my days and lessons with my kids. The review of my time with them helps fuel me to find better solutions for the reoccurring, difficult situations, and my daily reflections also encourage me to stick to the things that are working. I am looking forward to how my relationship with myself and my kids will continue to change this year. And I will continue to share my ideas and experiences here.

Thank you for being here. If anything I've mentioned above has interested you, or if you have experience you'd like to share, please leave a comment below.

Books I am reading now:

The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

The Four Agreements by Don Miguel Ruiz

Books on my back burner, but which were helpful with this post:

The Roots of Education by Rudolf Steiner

Free to Play by Peter Gray

The Self Driven Child by Willaim Stixrud and Ned Johnson

References

National Homeschool Education Research Institute. (2024) Homeschooling: The research. https://nheri.org/research-facts-on-homeschooling/#:~:text=There%20were%20about%202.5%20million,%2C%20and%20the%20United%20Kingdom).

Talebi, K. (2015). John Dewey - philosopher and educational reformer. European Journal of Education Studies, 1(1), 2-12.

https://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED564712.pdf

Steiner, R. (1919) Lecture IX. The Study of man. The Rudolf Steiner Archive.