One Hat Only

“If each human being is to become his own educator, we must pre-suppose that the necessary impulses are within him” ~ Rudolf Steiner, Self Education in the Light of Spiritual Science

We rarely question nature and whether it knows what it’s doing as it grows. We accept that it will adapt to its surroundings and thrive to the best of its ability given the conditions within which it lives.

It is funny then that as adults, we often assume that for children to grow and learn, that for education to happen, something must be DONE to a child or set up for the child in order for it to be successful.

When we believe that the necessary impulses for education live within a child, we can understand how self-education is the basis for all education. When we see ourselves as guides and bridges from the outside world to what is already within a child, we see how self-education thrives in children.

Do we offer stories and gentle experiences to guide their unfolding? Of course! Do we bring to the children adventures in learning that speak to their phase of development? Absolutely!

But when we stop looking at education as something we do to FILL children, and instead look at it as supporting their natural unfolding, we can see ourselves as partners and respond to their needs through a gesture of inquiry for their becoming.

It means as home educating parents, we don’t need the two hats of teacher and parent. It means we can stand with our children as a support to their natural unfolding and live life authentically as one whole human. And if we believe the impulse of self-education is within our children, we must also believe that impulse to guide lies within us as well. And together, parent and child can walk the path of education together, in freedom.