Beginner's Mind

For parents of young children, homeschool parent-teachers, teachers in training, and for adults interested in discovering a more loving way for children to blossom in school, Beginner's Mind is the how-to book we have been waiting for--a book that describes teaching the way we so passionately wish it for our children, each and every day they go off to school. Told through the eyes of a ten-year-old, Beginner's Mind asks the question, "How do we want teachers to teach, inspire, and guide our children?" The answer is provided through a series of fourth grade classroom scenes that take us back to a shipyard town in New England where a loving teacher opens her students' eyes to all-but-unimaginable dreams and opportunities. This is a book that reminds us of what teaching can look like: daily lessons where standardized and measurable curriculum goals are less prized than the immeasurable blossoming of our children, and a classroom that puts on display the possibilities before us when a teacher's love is combined with the beginner's mind. As the author shares in these classroom stories, a beginner's mind knows that art is not just for artists and music is not just for musicians. Beginner's Mind is a cautionary tale about an enlightened teacher who led the battle and proved the value of educating the whole child: mind, body, and soul. Beginner's Mind is a tender and sometimes heartbreaking field guide for parents and teachers on how to educate our children, with an emphasis on bringing something into the classroom that cannot be explained in mere words; it can only be experienced, chapter by chapter, lesson by lesson.