A Practical Guide to Teaching Things SpiritualBook ReviewHonoring the Light of the Child: Activities to Nurture Peaceful Living Skills in Young ChildrenBy Sonnie McFarland Reviewed By Catherine McTamaneySonnie McFarland is well known among Montessorians as a teacher committed to peace education. In her new book, Honoring the Light of the Child: Activities to Nurture Peaceful Living Skills in Young Children, McFarland offers thoughtful, yet simple, activities to support the peaceful emotional development of even the youngest children. Honoring the Light of the Child builds upon the Aline Wolf's work in Nurturing the Spirit, and has Wolf's blessing in the lovely forward she wrote. Unlike its predecessor, though, Honoring the Light of the Child is written with specific practice in mind. McFarland begins by invoking the widespread international political assumption that peace education in early childhood may do more to change our political climate than negotiations among adults. While the flowery language of "the light of unconditional love" may take some adjustment for teachers who are not used to thinking of children in spiritual terms, the activities in this book emphasize not only an inner peacefulness in children, but basic lessons in grace and courtesy from which we could all benefit. There are many practical aspects to Honoring the Light of the Child that will make it a useful and easily utilized addition to early childhood classrooms. First, McFarland offers a brief description of the theoretical history of peace education, information that is both helpful to those readers for whom this is a first experience with the field and to those readers who may be looking for resources for more information or language to help justify their use of these activities to parents and administrators. Second, each activity is presented with the precision of a traditional lesson plan, including specific steps, easy to use materials lists, and photographs to help depict the completed lesson. Third, although the activities stand alone, they can be presented in order. In doing so, the activities become less a list of ideas for peaceful activities and more a comprehensive peace education curriculum. Finally, McFarland offers a coherent spiral of activities that, like the sequence of Montessori materials, reinforce earlier skills and give opportunities for children to refine and advance their experiences. Helpful blackline masters provide easy reproductions when they are used, and the materials necessary for most of these activities are every-day items that most teachers likely have on hand. The activities are age-appropriate for early childhood classrooms and make concrete ideas about community and peacefulness that may otherwise be difficult to articulate to the young child. With a variety of teachers and school settings in mind, Honoring the Light of the Child clearly differentiates spiritual education from religious education. These are activities that are appropriate for nonsectarian or sectarian settings alike and which can support the development of a classroom community as well. Many of the activities, although presented in terms of a "culture of peace" and "the light of the child" are habits upon which basic human respect is based and which are, therefore, useful regardless of whether peace education has been adopted within a particular school. A practical and mindful text, Honoring the Light of the Child is a timely guide for the development of peaceful children and communities, lessons we all could learn well. Catherine McTamaney is a former Montessori teacher, current Montessori teacher, educator and doctoral candidate in Leadership, Policy and Organization at Vanderbilt. |
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