on the subject of sloyd

I've sent pdf copies of my articles about Sloyd written for Woodwork Magazine a few years back to Quercus Magazine in the UK. My idea is that the subject of Sloyd has the potential of revitalizing education by putting it on a firm foundation of how we learn and grow. My articles had helped to reawaken an interest among woodworkers in Sloyd, a subject nearly forgotten in the US.

One of the things that I consider most important was that the theory of Educational Sloyd as taught by Otto Salomon spelled out a philosophy of learning and teaching that's relevant to children and adults alike, and that philosophy should infuse all of education. 

1. Start with the interests of the child. 
2. Move from the known to the unknown as the known provides the foundation for subsequent learning. 
3. Move from the easy to more difficult as that provides a vector of development. 
4. Move from the simple to the more complex as that broadens the capacity of mind. 
5. Move from the concrete to the abstract, as the concrete provides relevance and provides a framework for reaching toward new notions and a basis for further testing and development which then requires a reinvestigation of the concrete.

This is not a difficult theory to understand, as it's a thing you can observe if you honestly observe how you learn and learn best.

Today I'll introduce my Kindergarten students to sawing wood.

Make, fix and create.