The project in brief:

A humanist teaching method, whose goal is the blossoming of children in all their dimensions (emotional, social, intellectual, physical, artistic, working with their hands in traditional crafts...) so that they may become free and confident individuals, able to act in the world with harmony and joy, in the full expression of their being.

Some fundamentals of the program:

I am creating a teaching method for parents, teachers or educators,
which is based on the wonders of Waldorf pedagogy, but also on my experiences in a Montessori school, in a forest school, and with children who have academic difficulties.

This is a method for teaching a child or a group of children in any learning situation (for example siblings in homeschooling, or a small school with classes of mixed ages...),
with each day:
- lessons all together, arousing enthusiasm, interactions, the warmth of the group, the joy of learning and creating together,
- lessons separated by age, to allow each child to deepen the subjects most appropriate for him, those which correspond to his stage of development,
- and times of personalized work at each child’s own pace, according to the Montessori method.

The program also includes tips on how to meet the basic needs of children, including free outdoor play, a healthy rhythm, and a peaceful bond of trust with adults.

In my experience, this educational approach allows children to regain a deep enthusiasm for learning, to quickly heal from any aversion they may have to instruction, and to become more and more competent in their memory, their academic skills, their creativity, their ability to work independently, etc.

Many pedagogical stories also allow children to overcome all kinds of difficulties related to their learning or to their social life, by responding to needs such as regaining a taste for work well done, understanding the interest and beauty of good spelling, loving mathematics, improving one's writing, learning to resolve conflicts between friends, recovering from a social challenge that has been traumatic, regaining trust in adults, being passionate about science or geography, overcoming a feeling of failure, regaining self-esteem and feeling valued regardless of academic difficulties, recovering from a possible trauma related to isolation or fear of illness, etc.

The creator and the origin of the project

For a long time I have been deeply moved and concerned by the suffering of children who are experiencing failure at school, anxiety attacks, destructive behaviours due to anguish at school… It is something that I have encountered a lot in my career, and I think I have really helped some of the children who have been entrusted to me: I have been able to see the results in them of an approach that really respects their basic needs (an approach that I was able to develop over the years thanks to everything I learned through these children, and also thanks to great colleagues and wonderful trainings). But each year, while helping a few children, I thought of all those who were stuck in insoluble situations. So it has always been my dream to be able to help families and teachers to heal these children from their school traumas, to revive in them all the richness of their intelligence and their thirst for learning, which are there in every human being! and above all, in each child!

And I have already proposed a month of discovery this spring. You can access it here and see what the textbooks will look like: http://samelblog.com/homeschooling-during-quarantine/

The year-long program is not yet available in English, but it's my wish to have it very soon! If some anglophone parents are interested, they could get together to pay a translator. Don't hesitate to contact me to talk about that!

This time of self-isolation has been my opportunity to invest a lot in this project and to help some twenty families during this period when parents have needed support.

It has been a real challenge to accompany them day after day, creating my program step by step since the beginning of self-isolation, but it is also such a joy, every day, to realize this dream!

Homeschooling and Schooling Program based on Wonder

The publications