Educate
the
Whole
Child

It’s time to let the wholeness of the child engage with the wholeness of the world.

WHAT IS

WHOLE CHILD EDUCATION

AND HOW DOES IT WORK?

To the extent that we narrow the purpose of schooling to what can be measured, we fail to
engage those sides of children that must be developed in order for them to pull learning
from life. We also increase the likelihood that
they will be bored, question the value of school,
and in some cases even drop out.

Instead of starting with the questions “How do we prepare kids to compete in the 21st century
global marketplace?” or “What will insure that graduates all have command of basic skills?”,
suppose we start by asking what qualities we want to encourage in children as they grow toward
adulthood.

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OUR

SCHOOLS

Putney Central School

Putney, Vermont

A beautiful rural school with forest classrooms in Putney, Vermont

East Kingston Elementary School

East Kingston, NH

East Kingston illustrates what can be achieved at a rural school that is small enough so that each child is known well and with whole child practices can grow and be nurtured to reach his or her full potential.

Escuela Manzo

Tucson, AZ

Manzo Elementary or Escuela Manzo sits in the Hollywood section of Tucson, and with its gardens and chickens serves as a food source and environmental inspiration for the community.

OUR

RESOURCES

Educate the Whole Child expects to offer a graduate level 12-credit certificate–Teaching the Whole Child. It will consist of four online courses that may be taken as a series or independently. See details here.

Creative Podcasts

One of our ETWC network schools, City Neighbors, has instituted a podcast series featuring innovative leaders and ideas that break out of the standard mold. The first of these is an interview with Dr. Kaleb Rashad, former CEO of the innovative High Tech High, a network of 16 project-based schools in San Diego.

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American Schools

An excellent exploration of democratic education is Sam Chaltain’s, American Schools: The Art of Creating a Democratic Learning Community (Lanham, MD: Rowman and Littlefield, 2010).

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The Self-Organizing Revolution

One of the best books surveying the alternatives to mainstream, accountability-oriented education. Dr. Miller has a broad view and is not sectarian in any way.

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