A Magical Walk Through Campus

“Did you have any adventures outside at school today?”

This is a question children are more apt to more respond to readily than the traditional query “What did you do at school today?” The term adventure can activate memories of many different activities occurring throughout the day, when children are free to explore the natural world outside their classroom. When adult alumni visit our campus, they always grow animated sharing wistful stories about the magical play they had on the hillside or big field.

The school has always encouraged children to find fulfillment in nature by creating many different school terrains to actively explore, and we are always developing new ones.

A weekend walk on campus is a happy way to encourage your child to talk in more detail about experiences at school. Some areas, like the preschool yards and Seven Circles Garden, are locked for safety, but other fun spaces are open for your family to come and play in. Meandering through the school grounds with children encourages them to feel a sense of belonging throughout the whole school.

Walking up the central steps, the Children’s Garden, on your left, runs in front of Rooms 3, 4, and 5. Its little bridge and arch seem to lead to another world, with its manzanita forest and gazebo. The rose garden and pampas grass are open weekends for families to enjoy, but for now the area beyond the arch is only for teachers and their classes.

Turning right on the first tier, the Preschool Garden, in front of Rooms 1 and 2, is fenced and closed, but you can peer in and ask your child what jobs they do in the garden. You can see the children’s watering cans and gardening tools, the lush plants, and the squash the children have planted.

Further down the first tier on the right, stop and marvel at the new field of wildflowers planted earlier this year (see above). It is often filled with birds and butterflies. Across from the wildflowers, on the left, is a vibrant garden of succulents.

Walking along the second tier, you can look down at the two preschool yards and get an overview of all different parts of both yards. Your child might want to point out favorite places to play, ride bikes, dig castles in the sand. There are sandboxes, a playhouse, climbing structures, and several flourishing mini-gardens that children water in both gardens. In the Rooms 3, 4, and 5 yard, notice teacher Max Reif’s magical mural on the gazebo cabinets, depicting scenes suggested by the children.

Behind Room 7 and 8, the kindergarten yard is open on the weekend. It contains several areas—bushes on the hillside where children can nestle and play, a special little fenced area above the pretend kitchen with sea shells and beautiful rocks, and a new garden, formerly the chicken coop, now under construction by children. Please don’t touch the tools or wheelbarrows.

Walking up the path from the big playground to the big field, the organic Seven Circles Garden, set along the hillside, hosts more magical experiences than any other on campus, as well as comprehensive learning in elementary science. You can walk along the fence surrounding this huge farm-like space until you reach the top of the hill. Ask your child about the edible flowers, the blackberry bushes, the beehive, the guinea pig cage, the quail roost, and the magical place in the gazebo where fairies are purported to emerge through a special opening.

We are so grateful for our spacious campus and especially to our gardening teacher, Adrienne Wallace, and to all the children and parents who help us keep all our nature terrains flourishing.

Starting the Day With Love

Becky Kennedy, author of Good Inside: A Guide to Becoming the Parent You Want to Be, reminds us that arguing with our children only means we’re human. Still, it’s not the way we want to start our day before dropping our children off at school.

Mornings can be tough. Trying to motivate children to get ready and gather everything needed can feel like running a marathon. Conflicts can pump stress hormones into our bodies, leaving us and our children feeling irritable all day. If frustrations result in a conflict, apologizing and re-establishing closeness is an important priority.

Here are some ideas for staying connected and happy in the mornings and still making it to school on time.

Prepare the night before

Get your child’s homework folder ready. Gather clothes to avoid arguing about what to wear during the morning rush. Have children help pick what they want for lunch and help make it if they are old enough. Put aside diapers and extra clothes for a preschooler.

Use “if-then” strategies to make times for connection

“If you get ready by 7:30, we can read a story or play a game” or engage, however briefly, in some other pleasurable activity that unites you before school.

Create reassuring separation rituals with young children

Plan how you will say good-bye at preschool. “We’ll go on the yard, and we’ll have two hugs and a high-five.” Having a ritual ensures that leaving a child isn’t abrupt.

Don’t waffle. Once your child has adjusted to school, it’s important not to let them keep trying to convince you to stay longer, a process that confuses both of you.

Make a mental bridge providing something to look forward to when you pick your child up. “Mom is leaving, and we’ll have fun when I pick you up. Maybe we can go to the park.”

Treat school resistance matter-of-factly

“I understand that you don’t feel like going to school today. Sometimes I don’t want to go to work, but we still have to go.”

Listen to music in the car, offer a hug at drop-off

Music and hugs have something in common: they release pleasure hormones in the brain. We want children to have happy memories about their mornings with us so they can concentrate their energies on new learning at school.

Growth Mindset: Reframing Negative Beliefs To Create “Space for Growth”

“I’m not good at spelling.”

We all have things we’re “not good at,” whether it’s spelling or math or playing piano or swimming backstroke. But approaching these things with the belief that we’re “not good” at them can hold us back; we can become stuck. This is what’s meant by a fixed mindset. But approaching a learning challenge with the idea that we can improve with practice creates “space for growth,” in the words of first grade teacher Karima Hastings. This is what’s meant by a growth mindset.

Growth mindset was the topic of a parent education presentation we held via Zoom on August 21. The presenters were Wendy Ritchey, a retired clinical psychologist and former Meher Schools board member and elementary teacher, and Karima (a Meher School alum). Warren Wallace, our director of admissions (also a Meher School alum), was the moderator. (You’ll find a link to a video of the presentation and a list of resources at the end of this article.)

A fixed mindset, Wendy explained, “assumes that intelligence, athletic, artistic, musical, and other abilities, or ‘talents,’ are fixed—you’re born with them or not. Practice is fruitless if you aren’t naturally gifted.” A fixed mindset “causes people to avoid things they might not excel at. They make excuses or get defensive in the face of failure, so they’re less likely to learn from their experience. Rather than learning from others’ success, they feel threatened by it.”

Fixed mindset doesn’t apply only to students who are struggling. A child who is already the best goalie on her soccer team may not be motivated to try to improve. This too is a form of fixed mindset.

Carol Dweck, a developmental psychologist at Stanford, popularized the notion of growth mindset through her 2006 book, Mindset: The New Psychology of Success. She describes it this way: “In a growth mindset, people believe that their most basic abilities can be developed through dedication and hard work—brains and talent are just the starting point. This view creates a love of learning and a resilience that is essential for great accomplishment.”

Dweck’s research showed that people with a growth mindset achieve more than those with a fixed mindset. Wendy noted, “If you believe you can get smarter by continuing to challenge yourself, you’re going to embrace challenges and be persistent in the face of setbacks. You’re not afraid of failure. You’re going to learn through criticism rather than shying away from it. You’re inspired by others’ success, rather than being threatened by it—you look to them as models.”

Karima has been encouraging growth mindset in her students for years. “We listen to our students’ negative self-talk and help them reframe a negative statement in a healthier, more positive way.” One tool she finds particularly effective is adding “yet” to the end of a student’s negative statement—“I’m not good at spelling—yet. This opens the door for practice to improve on a skill.”

Developing a growth mindset, she added, “is a process. It’s not immediate. And it takes practice.”

Parents can help their children cultivate a growth mindset by identifying statements they make that reflect a fixed mindset and exploring ways to rethink their approach to learning in a positive way. Equally important is modeling a growth mindset in their interactions with their children. Taken together, Karima says, these “create space for growth.”

For parents who are interested in learning more about growth mindset, Dwerk’s book Mindset and The Whole-Brain Child by Daniel Seigel and Tina Payne Bryson are a good place to start.

We have a list of children's books to inspire their growth mindsets here.

Here's a link to a video of the growth mindset parent ed session.