Our approach
At the HOMESCHOOLER’s Hearth, we believe that educating children at home is a courageous and far-reaching activity.
The way we see it, you are not “merely homeschooling.” You are fully engaged on the frontlines of life with a highly spiritual and often harrowing task: aligning with Nature for the raising of humanity.
Our view of childhood development is based largely on the work of Canadian pediatric psychologist and co-author of the best-selling book, Hold Onto Your Kids, Dr. Gordon Neufeld. Neufeld’s attachment-based developmental theory also known as the “relational developmental” approach and often referred to as a “psychology of the heart”, centers around the pivotal role that relationships are designed to play in brain growth and overall child development.
According to this approach, when healthy attachment is cultivated in just the right ways within key relationships in a child’s life, Nature can do its work of growing our children up. Nature knows the secrets to softening and opening turbulent and defended hearts and minds. Working with Dr. Neufeld’s principles is a rediscovery of the forgotten ways Nature supports the developing human being, And this makes all the difference for the flourishing of the next generation.
While Neufeld’s attachment-based developmental approach does not focus on the spiritual aspects of child development, it is our perception that his work dovetails with our view of home education as a spiritual vocation.
From learning and cognitive development to emotional, behavioural and moral unfolding, the Neufeld approach addresses critical, yet often forgotten, factors in human development. These can provide invaluable breakthroughs for those choosing to educate at home.
Neufeld’s attachment-based insights are grounded in science while maintaining an abiding respect for the intangible realms of human experience. His profound respect for Nature’s design in the unfolding of human development allows for a truly natural and genuinely holistic approach to raising and educating children.
From the HOMESCHOOLER’s Hearth point of view, attachment-based , relationally-informed homeschooling is the original “Nature School” because central to it is human nature itself. In fact, becoming more human and humane is the very heart of the approach.
While we are not formally affiliated with The Neufeld Institute, we encourage all of our clients and website visitors to pay a visit to the Neufeld Institute website and spend some time exploring Gordon Neufeld’s background, his vast body of work and the Institute’s courses and resources for parents, clinicians and educators.
https://www.neufeldinstitute.org
The relational-developmental approach provides deep understanding, invaluable strategies, solutions and salves for many of the pains of those currently caring for the children of this beautiful, turbulent world.
Meeting another mother on the journey
Homeschooler’s Hearth founder, Gail Nielsen, earned her Professional Coach certification in 2006. A former registrant of the College of Psychotherapists of Ontario, she had a counselling practice for 25 years supporting individuals, couples and families. She is also a writer and musician and her children have been taught in public, separate and Waldorf schools in Canada, as well as at home.
After completing a Master’s thesis on the philosophy of medicine Gail provided grief and spiritual counselling in a holistic health center before beginning work in the area of children’s mental health. During her career she has worked in both agency and private practice settings, provided asynchronous text-based counselling through a large EFAP company and created the first-of-its kind mindset coaching program for elite-level ice hockey players.
Gail has studied the work of Waldorf Education founder, Rudolf Steiner, since the mid-1990’s and has been engaged in a range of related initiatives, including having served for many years as a Board member of the first agricultural land trust in Canada (R.O.S.E.) which holds an aspiring biodynamic farm, working one-on-one with Waldorf teachers and planning Waldorf parenting conferences. Over the past decade, she has taken up advanced studies through the Neufeld Institute and researched extensively how Neufeld’s approach relates to Steiner’s insights into human development.
Gail views attachment-based relational wisdom as the key to a healthy second century of Waldorf Education and necessary for the evolution of the homeschool movement. Gail cares and listens deeply and is always grateful for a heartfelt conversation.
