Perseverance

In Everyone’s life, at some time, our inner fire goes out.
It is then burst into flame by an encounter with another human being.
We should all be thankful for those people who rekindle the inner spirit.
Albert Schweitzer

Blueberries

This morning I was sitting on my front steps taking note of all the amazing happenings in the garden. During this time, I watched a hummingbird drink from its delicious nectar laden flowers as I munched on freshly picked blueberries and raspberries from our garden. My little friend stopped for a moment and perched on the stem of the flower, for a brief moment, I thought even birds take time to smell the flowers, or might it be...what can I eat next?

The greatest gift of the garden is the restoration of the five senses. ~Hanna Rion

Preparing the Path…

Preparing the Path…

In my yard I have a pathway that wanders through the garden, in that garden is a pond that hosts many forms of water life, fish, bugs, larva and so forth. The pond is also a watering hole for the birds and local urban creatures such as cats, dogs, squirrels, skunks, raccoons and birds too. Surrounding the pond are trees, flowers, blueberry bushes and raspberry canes. It never occurred to me in preparing such a wonderful pathway this would become a focal point of children’s learning.

Etched in a tile that is cemented firmly into the pathway is a quote, a reminder that we must consider the environment children experience everyday on their pathway to learning. “Prepare the child for the path, not the path for the child”. It is my belief that supporting children in their learning environment is optimal for each child’s learning. There will be a time for traditional learning (schooling) as we understand it, but not too soon.

Jean-Jacques Rousseau (1712 – 1778) wrote “Childhood has its own way of seeing, thinking, and feeling, and nothing is more foolish than to try and substitute ours for theirs”. “Rousseau minimizes the importance of book-learning, (our learning) and recommends that a child's emotions should be educated before his reason.” By way of this statement, I am certain Rousseau considered book learning” a little too conventional, directive if you will and even perhaps hurrying the child to grow up to become a working part of society, lessening the importance of early years learning.

Bev Bos, see’s children’s learning as a “whisper in time, a brief moment, in which they can enjoy the richness of a childhood space.” Children move through stages of learning at a rapid pace, building their knowledge through personal experiences, therefore, it is important that attention is given to all aspects of the child’s needs to support an optimal learning experience.

In part, preparing the path in my yard was my way of creating an experience for learning, an environment that created an essence of wonderment, a place to sit, watch fish and bugs go about their daily tasks, a place to watch the birds drink from the fountain that circulates the water in the pond, informal learning if you will, but critical in their development. In creating this environment I am not sure I expected the wealth of learning and opportunities for children when my urban friends took up residence. It is my hope that children that have experienced this pathway have become a little more understanding of the complex world we live in.

Samuel Johnson once said "Great works are performed not by strength but by perseverance”, this leads me to consider the path that we prepare for our children and their learning experiences.

Puff That Mighty Dragon

Today I traveled up to our local Value Village store to scout out items that have been well loved and are being offered a new journey in new homes. I generally stop at the VV boutique once in a while to snoop about to see if there is anything that would like to come home with me. Being a guy, I head straight to the back of the store where we find tools, lighting supplies, etc. all the exciting “guy” stuff. As I walk through the store, I must pass by the dreaded, dusty old books. You know, things that have words in them, I happen to have allergies to many of them focusing my mind to the phrase, no time to read… It is something that is not on the top of my list or ways to pass time. Perhaps once in a blue moon I will pick up a fiction book to read for pleasure… however, that might be another story for another day.

During my stroll through the book section I came across The Reader's Digest Family Song Book from the 70's. In it are many songs that took me back to my childhood, but also, to a group of friends who often sing around our piano during our annual Christmas party. This song book boasts 250 plus pages of memorable songs for the aging population and yes… I include myself in that statement, however young at heart. That being said, that scoundrel Puff that Magic Dragon and his side kick Jackie Paper, were hiding midway through the book. Now in all honesty, this was my favorite song as a child putting me into a cerebral trans thinking how wonderful it would be to have a pet dragon, fire breathing no less. This gossamer fable is just that, a fable, or so I thought, until one day… I saw Jackie Paper at the local grocery store, waiting to go home with his puff buddy. I suspected by the look of Jackie’s friend that Jackie would be in for a good time meeting many new friends that would share Puff fancy stuff around the table… perhaps other’s brought the strings and ceiling wax to the party, who really knows, although I hear still hear stories today about friends sharing the fancy stuff thirty plus years ago. You see, Jackie, Puff's friend, comes in little green packages that you can see right through his personality, Jackie rolls his friends into fits of laughter with other “fancy stuff”, living in British Columbia, I get it… my question is… did author’s Leonard Lipton and Peter Yarrow really write this song to mean this or is this just one of those urban legends… I’ll take that the interpretation as an urban legend as the song remains my childhood anthem.
You Go PUFF and I don't mean bring on the fancy stuff!

Pathways To Learning

I have friends who have been encouraging me to write a BLOG… So I asked myself what is a BLOG? In my pursuit to understand this I checked in my Oxford Advanced Learners dictionary only to find it not listed, so I mustered up the courage to google the darn thing on the internet… What is the meaning of this BLOG…thingy?

According to the website www.bytowninternet.com/glossary, a Blog is short for weblog. “A weblog is a journal (or newsletter) that is frequently updated and intended for general public consumption. Blogs generally represent the personality of the author or the Web site”.

Thanks to my Google button and 'by town internet com’s' glossary for helping me to understand this…now, I can move forward.

To be clear and up front, I am not a writer, perhaps we can call this my pathway to learning. Why not, it's all about the journey...then…let the journey begin!

I will start with a quote from Ted Turner
"Do something. Either lead, follow, or get out of the way."
To which I say the challenge has been accepted, onward and upward...