About Aventurijn
A child learns to walk because it sees other people around him walk. It falls, stands up, tries to walk again, and falls… Nobody in their right mind would tell the child that he should put one foot ahead of the other, lean forward (but not too far), etc… It will learn walking while doing, and one child will master this earlier on then another.
At Aventurijn we intend to provide the ’space’ which facilitates the desire to learn that each one of us has been born with but which is often repressed as soon as we started formal schooling. In our kind of learning environment it follows that the children will know themselves when they are ready to take a new ’step’ in their learning process. This requires a continous observation from the facilitators of each and every child to discover their wants and needs, which are often expressed in a non-verbal manner.
All of the children in our school are allowed to follow their individual path of learning and they are encouraged to express this independent of each other.
Needless to say this approach to learning require an learning environment whic is both appealing and challenging to the children. They are provided with a diverse variety of materials and activities. Apart from the more conventional learning materials these include a school kitchen, a vegetable garden, wild spots to explore nature and the opportunity to participate in excursions often.
Both facilitators and children continuously create additional materials to suit the requirements of a particular moment in time.
Children learn best when they feel motivated. This motivation usually occurs when you are involved in a process of discovery or creation and understand the importance and function (the connection to ‘real life’) of what is being learned. E.g. it’s very difficult to read a book about a subject which doesn’t have your interest but which you only have to read because the teacher told you so. However, when you read a recipe because you desire to bake the cookies you love so much, the motivation to read is entirely different…
The children at Aventurijn learn from life itself. It’s a practical way of learning - engaging in projects and watching grown ups while at work. After plenty of play and experimentation, the children have acquired much knowledge about many different subjects. Taking it next to a more abstract level then only becomes a small step to take…
The creative developement of a child is very important to us. By offering a large variety of art activities (like writing poems, sculpturing Egyptian reliefs, working with geometric forms, etc…) and using many different materials, the children are able to explore their creative intelligence. This kind of intelligence is essential for developing cognitive intelligence. We stronly believe that only a creative person will be fully equiped to deal with the challenges and changes we can expect to see happening in our near future.
Up to the age of eight most children learn mostly through motor development (meaning through exploring their physical impact on the environment). By nature young children don’t thrive when forced to sit still and be quiet. The children at Aventurijn move about a lot - both physically and mentally. Providing the space for this physical development also reflects positively again on the cognitive development.
Respecting your self, each other and your environment are also necessary for a harmonious development. Therefore we pay a lot of attention to social skills like listening to each other. Whenever problems arise we encourage the children to find solutions for these together.
Schools and people who inspire us: Rebeca and Mauricio Wild, Sudburry Valley School, A.S Neill, Montessori, Steiner, Reggio Emilia, Gardner and many more.
Aventurijn is a small school, which provides an opportunity for children from 4 to 18 years to learn from life itself in an adventurous way.
Would you like to learn more about our method of education?
Please feel free to contact us at 31-55-5051222 (the Netherlands) or send us an e-mail using our contact form.
