Only after a few days at Aventurijn, Peter’s mother was so happy to tell this same kid was singing in the car the whole way home!

What is it we do with these children, you might ask. We just respect the personality of each child. We give them the opportunity to follow their own ideas. The child itself knows best what he or she needs. We don’t force children into anything we think they should do. We believe in the child’s own capability of knowing what is the best to do: perhaps it is mathematics, playing with other children, making a paper aeroplane , or making a fire.

A few months later Peter told us that is head is like a funnel. When there is too much sand in it , it stops going, at Aventurijn the sand flows just fast enough.

That is exactly the point where the education of Aventurijn is based on: Each soul that is born has a plan for this life. The child knows a lot and we as teachers need to help them remember it in the right time and in the right way. Therefore we have to look and listen very carefully. Every child wants to learn and develop itself. Children learn best when they are not forced to learn what we think is important. This would cause them to hate school, and to hate learning. At Aventurijn we provide a rich environment with lot of room to play, explore, create, build relationships with adults and other children, take care of animals, be in nature or rest.

At Aventurijn life itself is the best teacher. There are no such things as learning a language at nine o’clock and do mathematics at ten o’clock. It is all part of life itself. For example when we are cooking, we need to read the recipe, we have to count how many people would like to eat with us, and weigh the ingredients. When children know, see and feel, why they are learning, they are motivated and learn very fast. This "learning by doing" makes their whole body learn. They know not only with their minds, but also with hands, feet, head and heart, body and soul.

What we see is that a lot of problems children are coping with, are in fact the problems of the school system: A nine year old boy came to Aventurijn, we had been told his reading was very bad. When we started to play a game he asked: "Do you have to read in this game?, I cannot read, you know?" I told him we could find a solution for that problem and indeed: one of the children offered him to read the cards for him.

After a few weeks experiencing that we were not interested whether he was able to read or not, he asked me to help him with learning to read, so we did and read every day.

Another boy of the same age was already 4 years learning in this way. Since he still turned the letters, we doubted whether he was dyslectic, but never talked with him about this item. One day he said: " I constantly turn the letters, that is an irritating thing" I offered him to help by telling him about a lot of games and exercises to handle this. He didn’t take my offer. Now, a year later, he writes all the letters in the right way ; without therapy, games or methods; just because he wants to and was aware of it.

When I see the children here growing in there own way, I sometimes want to cry to people; "take off your hands of the children!" The best we can do for them is to offer them a rich surrounding and respect their nature. They really know what is the best for them, so trust them, don’t be afraid that they won’t learn enough. Know as much as possible about education and psychology, but use it only when asked for. Don’t force yourself to one method, every child needs its own method; be creative. Make yourself a beautiful person, because the way you exist is the most important example for the children. How can you expect a child to be eager to learn, when you don’t want to learn. Do the things you enjoy, the children will love to be with you, and learn from you, because of the joyful atmosphere surrounding you.

A lot of people ask us how we think about spirituality. Our answer is: Put your two feet on the ground and don’t talk too much about spirituality, just live! By developing your own consciousness, your own creativity, you can handle the children and situation in a different way; that is spirituality. Spirituality is not a separate thing; it is a part of life, and life is magic!