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The name "Patchwork" comes from the idea that we wanted to pull together all of the best pieces of various philosophies rather than dogmatically choosing only one. This allows us to evolve to meet the needs of the children, the community, and the times. However, although we do use bits and pieces of many approaches, we rely heavily on principles that we have gleaned from Democratic Education, Reggio Emilia, and Humane Education.
One thing at the heart of all three philosophies is community. Thus, we have designed a school that is built upon relationships with other people, animals and the earth. Within this context, we create an environment that emphasizes freedom, responsibility and compassion.
Our goal for the children, and also ourselves, is to preserve every person's right to self-actualization. It is helpful to define this as finding a life of self-direction, meaning and joy. Ultimately, self-actualization then empowers us to be agents for change in the world.
Democratic Education
Democratic Education is the term used to describe an approach to education where every individual is actively engaged in the learning process. Rather than passively receiving information, children and teachers in democratic schools act as co-constructors of knowledge, working together to build an understanding of the world, fueled by their interests. As evidenced by the alternative approach to conflict resolution, wherein children take responsibility for themselves and other members of the community, there is a strong emphasis on self-regulation and the importance of owning one's experience of the world. Additionally, there is an understanding in democratic education that emotional and social health are of utmost importance. We cannot attend to children's minds unless we first attend to their hearts. From DemocraticEducation.com: "Democratic Education is an education grounded in meaning, relevancy, joy, community, love and human rights." For more information, please visit the Institute for Democratic Education (IDEA).
Reggio Emilia
Reggio Emilia is an approach to education which began post-WWII in Reggio Emilia, Italy, when a group of mothers decided they wanted an education for their children that would allow the children to think for themselves. What emerged from their efforts has become an inspiration to early-childhood educators around the world, including those of us here at The Patchwork School.
In Reggio Emilia, an image of the child as a competent and capable contributor to the community is held by all. Children are viewed as having many "languages" in which they communicate their understanding of their world, so there is great emphasis on symbolic representation in the learning process. Curriculum in Reggio Emilia, just as in Democratic Education, is emergent, meaning that it arises from the interests of the members of the community. There is a strong belief in the power of group-learning for children, as well as the wisdom of co-teaching, where teachers always have one or more peers with which to share ideas and questions about the children's interests and process. Check out our Emergent Curriculum page for more details.
Humane Education
Humane Education is an approach to education that is primarily concerned with each person's awareness of humanity and our collective impact on the world. We exist in relationship to each other, to animals and to the world, so we nurture kindness and compassion in our children and ourselves. From the Institute for Humane Education:
Humane education includes 4 elements:
- Providing accurate information about the issues of our time so that people have the information they need to understand the consequences of their decisions as citizens.
- Fostering curiosity, creativity and critical thinking so people can evaluate information and solve problems.
- Instilling reverence, respect and responsibility so people have the motivation to face challenges and to act with integrity.
- Offering positive choices that benefit oneself, other people, the animals, and the Earth, and tools for problem solving so that people are empowered to create a more humane world.
Community
When we founded Patchwork, we were intentional about our desire to create real and meaningful community for the families who choose our school. It seems obvious that schools should be places that bring people together because this is where we see each other each day, where we hear about each other's lives and where we care for each other. We have watched Patchwork grow into a hub where people gather to talk about important matters, feel supported in their growth as parents and individuals, ask hard questions and be heard.
We also serve as a living resource for the larger community in Boulder County. Through various projects such as our raised garden beds built with the help of Project YES volunteers and Transition Louisville, our Halloween Parade for the elderly residents at The Stratford and our Step Stool Project for local businesses, we work to build real community while advocating for children's rights to be seen and heard.
As we ventured out with the Elementary children on our Field Work Days it is apparent that we are not the only ones who want children to be visible in the community. We received a hearty welcome from several members of the community, including the friendly people at In Season Local Market who let our children help put food onto the shelves of their soon-to-open store. We also collaborated several times with teachers and students at Louisville Middle School, who recently invited us to a retelling of the Declaration of Independence, specially written by 8th graders for a younger audience.
Compassion
Much has been written about the importance of being kind to each other and we see the heart of compassion as just that: kindness. We encourage children, through modeling and scaffolding, to consider each other's point of view or do what is known as "perspective sharing". Through the practice of listening to each other and being heard, we watch as children become more and more skilled at caring communication, laying the groundwork for a life of compassionate interaction with others.
We also want children to have real experiences that provide opportunities to feel compassion for animals and other living things. In addition to having the children help us plant and care for our garden, we also adopted our rabbit Poppy Seed who lives at school during the week and goes home with a different family each weekend. Poppy is a wonderful pet and a living, breathing practice in compassion. See Michele and Elizabeth's talk What Does A Rabbit Have to Do with Social Justice? for more information.
Freedom
When we use the term "freedom", we are referring to the right that every person has to think, act and feel the way they prefer. We are not saying that a person, at every stage of life, should always be allowed to do exactly what they want, but rather that freedom should be preserved in accordance with a person's development. A 3 year old, for example, should not have freedom of choice regarding whether he or she sits in a car seat because that is not a freedom they would handle appropriately at their current stage of development. However, the same 3 year old could handle (with relative ease) the freedom to choose what to do with an unscheduled block of time. They might draw, play with trains, talk to a friend, read a book or sit quietly, each of which could be exactly what that individual child needed in that moment.
Why is freedom important? Because without it we are unable to develop an inner compass. When we are allowed to be free, we are afforded the opportunity to look closely at ourselves and to self-actualize (be who we truly are). When we create a free environment like the one at Patchwork, we are saying that we trust children. We offer them freedom because we want them to practice choosing how to spend time and think about the world in a safe, supportive environment. In essence, we want them to practice being free as a child before they are free as an adult. As adults, we often don't know what to do with our freedom, because for the first 18 years of our lives, it wasn't a regular part of our reality. Learning how to navigate one's life early and often sets the groundwork for a confident and centered adulthood, reducing the likelihood that one will spend early adulthood trying to "find themselves."
Responsibility
It is important to clarify that the free environment we create for children is within the context of our school community. This means that there is a big difference between being "free" and having a "free for all". Because we balance freedom with responsibility to the community, my rights must end when they start to infringe upon yours. Another way to say this is that we provide the children with a strong "container." This allows children to feel the natural limits that are present within a community. The container is present for any age group, but as a child grows within Patchwork they become better at noticing when they are bumping up against the edges of the container without needing as much support from their community.
One simple example is that the children are free to sit wherever they choose for lunch, eat whatever they choose from their lunchbox and to stop eating whenever they are finished. However, each child is expected to help clean up their own lunch, otherwise the community would be burdened with quite a large mess. Some of the younger children require more help with cleanup and with remembering this step in the process. As the children grow they become quite adept at cleaning everything up on their own and even helping other children as well.
Self-Direction
Self-direction is a term we use to refer to a person's inner compass which is the guide accessed when all barriers are removed. Most of the systems we encounter present us with many barriers. Our society usually does not encourage us, especially in childhood and even often in adulthood, to exercise our inner compasses. At Patchwork we are therefore attempting to reverse this trend.
What we need in the world are conscious humans who are accustomed to asking hard questions and taking a stand when things do not seem quite right. We need innovative thinkers but more than that, we need people who can trust their hearts and have cultivated their ability to think for themselves.
Meaning
When we are directed by our inner compass we find meaning in what we are doing. To say that we "find meaning" in something is to say that we feel a certain truth in our experience. When someone else creates an experience for us we can feel the truth that might exist for them, but when we create our own experience of the world, we feel the truth that exists for us. We are able to say, "That felt right; that felt meaningful to me."
This means that we try to have "nothing out of context," meaning we do not teach the letter R on Tuesday just because it is letter R day. Instead, we write Rowan's name on the white board during morning meeting because he has an idea to share with the group, and thus end up modeling (in context) the usefulness of the letter R. Imposing arbitrary constraints on learning only serves to hamper the natural process of learning. Since we know that children are wired to learn, we trust that they will encounter knowledge (like the letter R) when it is meaningful to them and within context.
Joy
Joy is the experience of truth which is freeing because nothing is hidden. Joy is felt when there is no hidden agenda or ulterior motives for our actions. When we find meaning in what we are doing, we feel it in our hearts, where we don't get away with any facade. Joy comes very easily to children, and at Patchwork we are committed to ensuring that everyone's experience of joy is wild and abundant.
Agents for Change
People who can trust their hearts and think for themselves are the same people who will take action when it matters. Regardless of age, a person can be an agent for change in the world. To be an agent for change is really to be a citizen, or a true, engaged member of a community. To read more about how Patchwork supports children in their citizenship, see Elizabeth's article "Everyone Concerned About Citizenship, Raise Your Hand".
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