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

Graciela Garcia Elementary School

Pharr, TX

The site visitor commends Garcia School leadership, teachers, and the entire community of parents, students, and friends of the school for creating a learning environment that ensures that every student at the school can become bi-lingual and bi-cultural.

Aldo Leopold Charter School

Silver City, NM

This middle and high school provides a model for how outdoor education can energize everything that happens there. Through place-based learning, student agency, awareness of ecological and social justice issues, students at ALCS engage all their faculties to prepare for the responsibilities that lie ahead.

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.

Educating for Human Greatness

Stoddard dares to propose we teach as if we could make a difference in areas like integrity, initiative, and imagination. Subjects like reading, writing, and math are taught, but as tools to help grow the qualities of human greatness.

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Working in the Reggio Way

For an overview of the Reggio Emilio approach to education, Julianne P. Wurm’s book, Working in the Reggio Way: A Beginner’s Guide for American Teachers is an excellent resource. 

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David Sobel

David Sobel’s work with place-based education develops another path for engaging the whole child. His more recent Children and Nature, Place- and Community-Based Education in Schools with Gregory Smith explores the subject in greater depth.

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