"Children do not need to be made to learn about the world, or shown how. They want to, and they know how." -John Holt
Thus far, Gabriel has never felt much of a need for letters in his life. So much to my amazement, he stopped me this morning to watch him write his "name" on the Magna Doodle. I had no idea what he knew in regards to letters or his name so I was very excited to see him come up with this:
Obviously, not his name but definitely letters! The best part was when he proudly said, "I don't know that 5 year olds can do this!" I was so grateful he would never be compared to a room full of five year olds that could do that and more and make him feel as if he were somehow "less than" for just being who he is. I love this life.
"By nature people are learning animals. Birds fly; fish swim; humans think and learn. Therefore, we do not need to motivate children into learning by wheedling, bribing, or bullying. We do not need to keep picking away at their minds to make sure they are learning. What we need to do - and all we need to do - is to give children as much help and guidance as they need and ask for, listen respectfully when they feel like talking, and then get out of the way. We can trust them to do the rest."
John Holt
"In the end, the secret to learning is so simple: Think only about whatever you love. Follow it, do it, dream about it...and it will hit you: learning was there all the time, happening by itself." -Grace Llewellyn
"What we want to see is the child in pursuit of knowledge, not knowledge in pursuit of the child."
George Bernard Shaw
Real, natural learning is in the living. It's in the observing, the questioning, the examining, the pondering, the analyzing, the watching, the reading, the DO-ing, the living, the breathing, the loving, the JOY. It's in the joy. ~Anne Ohman
"How could youth better learn to live than by at once trying the experiment of living?" -Henry D. Thoreau
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