We're in this small and quiet city where bikes seem to outnumber cars and it feels as if at every step one could almost touch the surrounding mountains and forests. The weather's fine and it's great to cycle through verdant streets, knowing there's nearly always a cycle lane and that car drivers will give you way even when they're not expected to.
We went to the woods of Freiburg because we wanted to know about Waldkindergartens, those schools where children between three and six spend every day outdoors, running, rolling about, climbing up trees, playing with sticks and leaves, getting knee-deep in mud, and discovering all forms of life however tiny they may be.
Today we start a journey. A journey on our folding bikes that will last several months, and during which we will visit schools –both public and private– where children guide their own learning. But we're not on holiday. We've been working hard (and will continue to do so) to make this experience something more than an anecdote, to use it as an instrument that will allow our kids to know a different kind of education to the one we had.
Getting our fingers sticky. Biting. Tasting. Putting our hands right into the dough. And licking our fingers after. That´s how we learn, not when we're spoonfed baby food –be it vegetable or Algebra purée. That's why we get bored when the only option we're left with is to open our mouths (to swallow). It´s just that curiosity, which makes us want to learn with all our might, is an adventurous little animal who can't live in a cage and needs to run free.
Gastronomy and education have much in common. We need to eat in order to live, the same way we would cease to exist both as individuals and as a culture if we did not learn. Both are innate impulses in humans. That's why nobody needs to remind us that we must feed (hunger does the job), as we do not stand waiting for someone to tell us it's time to ingest knowledge: we learn continually, inevitably, without even noticing, without even intending to. But the best thing about this is that learning, just like eating, is a pleasure. It should always be. This said... I'd like to invite you to a banquet.
We thought that today, being women's day, would be a good time to share our readings with you. In the world of education, women's voices are many. I would even dare say they outnumber men's. Their voices and their words, not always hearkened to, but so often unerring, have told us that education is something we should all have a say in, but children especially. At least that's how Maria Montessori saw things. An avant-garde educator who imagined a method that puts children back in the spotlight, where they deserve to be.
