I Wonder...

 I sincerely believe that for the child, and for the parent seeking to guide him, it is not half so important to know as to feel. If facts are the seeds that later produce knowledge and wisdom, then the emotions and the impressions of the senses are the fertile soil in which the seeds must grow. The years of early childhood are the time to prepare the soil. Once the emotions have been aroused – a sense of the beautiful, the excitement of the new and the unknown, a feeling of sympathy, pity, admiration or love – then we wish for knowledge about the object of our emotional response. Once found, it has lasting meaning. It is more important to pave the way for the child to want to know than to put him on a diet of facts he is not ready to assimilate.” - Rachel Carson, in Sense of Wonder (1965)

All to often we forget the simple joys of discovery. The innate response to desire more knowledge of something is all but lost with the constant need for regurgitation in our modern educations. From the time we are children we are expected the repeat the ABC's, then the states, multiplication, test answers and so on. But what if we were to approach things differently? To look at a child's wondering not as a lazy, day dreaming or grow annoyed with the questions of why? What if we touch and experience, create lasting knowledge? Remind ourselves of the first time we took something apart, just to see how it worked. Or of the time we dug our toes in deep to the sand...and discovered a sand crab! 

"...with children there is greater need for observing than of probing" - Maria Montessori

Let's dare to remind ourselves  how to wonder! With our children, lets discover the new and exciting...and see the desire to know more follow. Our children are so much more than we give them credit for...they are artists, they are philosophers, they are dreamers...they are the future.

"Education is a natural process carried out by the child and is not acquired by listening to words but by experiences in the environment." - Maria Montessori

Do not stifle that since of wonder...instead, dare to do a little wondering of your own; you may be surprised where it may take you!