Where Children Grow

Froebel invented kindergarten and, for his time, was extremely revolutionary in his approach to learning. As a teacher and parent I was keen to read this and I found the introduction by Mathis very interesting. I enjoyed reading about how Froebel worked and what he did in his lifetime very much. The book then uses excerpts of Froebel's own words; it's here I lost my way a little. Some of the quotes and ideas were extremely thought provoking and echo sentiment I see in my practice as an EYFS teacher, others were harder to relate to. Not just due to how they were expressed, as Mathis says we must grant some pardon to ideas of his time that now would be sexist or limiting, but also because there is much relation to God. Teaching in a secular school, this felt very jarring with my own practice - however, as a parent, I could marvel in some ideas a little more.
An interesting read if you're interested in Kindergarten, Montessori or Steiner education, and it's a short read!

I received an advance reader copy of this book to read in exchange for an honest review via netgalley and the publishers.

Where Children Grow is a book of proverbs and wisdom by the founder of Kindergarten; Friedrich Froebel. Friedrich founded kindergarten in the 19th century, so much of his teaching and writings are different from present times, and I found this very interesting to read about. Mostly from a Christian perspective, he had much wisdom about children and child development, and this bleeds through the pages. If you have an interest in education, children, childcare, and child development, I highly recommend this book - you'll definitely take away something from it.

Edited by Miriam Mathis, this is a great introduction to the inventor of the kindergarten – both in terms of his life and his beliefs.

A short biography of the German pedagogue is followed by quotes taken from his written output and helpfully grouped by topic, such as unstructured play, time in nature, creative self-expression, faith, sports, and building character.

I found this a fascinating read, especially given that Maria Montessori was highly influenced by Fröbel and, in turn, my own approach to my children’s education is inspired by them both.