Families for Famlies
By admin | January 7, 2010
My name is Sharleen A. McCorrister and I am the director and owner of The Greenwoods Academy. A school that promotes an integral Montessori based learning environment for young children. We are located in Kanata, Ontario in Canada and opened our doors in October of 2008 and are steadily growing.
I am also an educator of the very young for well over 15 years and within our classroom we learn about many things. One of our most important areas of study is called peace education. Through various discussions we learn about what peace is and how it begins within each one of us. We learn how to cultivate it and then share it with others. We learn about the great peace makers, such as Dr. Martin Luther King. He asked, “What have you done for others.” The children at The Greenwoods Academy have taken this to heart.
Maria Montessori, the founder of Montessori education, believed that children are the stewards of the world. Our cultural studies takes us far and wide as we travel the globe learning about different countries, different people and different habitats. Within all these differences we discover many similarities, like our basic needs. The basic needs of every human being are the most fundamental essentials that we all have in common.
From this discovery that others are living in such desperation, the children see a need that must be met. Shelter is a fundamental need for everyone and when we see others who, through calamities of nature, extreme poverty or man made wars, reduced to horrific conditions how can we sit back comfortably and do nothing. The children at The Greenwoods Academy ask, “How can we help?”
The children are embarking on a mission, a mission of hope. With the assistance of their teachers they have created a campaign called Families for Families. Through this campaign the children will raise money through various fundraisers to purchase shelters for those in need. Through a unique partnership with HousAll Systems, a locally based company that have designed a shelter unit that can serve as temporary sustainable housing for up to 10 years, and an international NGO called Partners In Health, The Greenwoods Academy’s goal is to sponsor 70 units within the year to be delivered to Haiti.
While working a few years ago in Cambridge, MA at the Cambridge Montessori School, I had the privilege of meeting an epidemiologist, Mary Kay Fawzi, who was also a volunteer with Partners In Health. What began as a conversation of interest grew into a fundraising campaign with my classroom The Red Room and subsequently the whole primary building became involved. Again, a similar group of children saw a need to help those in Cange, Haiti. Through many fundraising projects we were able to send much needed funds and over 300 pairs of shoes to this tiny country in the Caribbean.
Haiti is the poorest country in the western hemisphere. Cange and other small villages are the hardest hit during the hurricane season. Their lack of adequate housing has been an issue that is slowly being met but the threat from storms and lack of proper materials has disabled even the noblest of efforts. That is where HousAll and Families for Families have found a solution. These units provide healthy and safe living environments for families in need. They are compact, easily constructed and adaptable to any weather condition.
The children are busy with their next fundraising project, a hand-made quilt to be auctioned off in early Spring. They are excited about this new project as they set to the task of designing their masterpiece. Some children have drawn a picture of what it should look like, others sift through the squares of materials placing them in a pattern. I am quite inspired once again to be taking up needle and thread for this humanitarian cause. I remember the words from Tracy Kidder’s book, Mountains Beyond Mountains. In it he writes about a billboard he saw while traveling in Cuba, “The Only Nation is Humanity.”
Spurred on by their conviction of doing right, the children at The Greenwoods Academy believe that even their little hands can make a difference. Encouraged by a letter from Dr. Paul Farmer, the founder of Partners In Health, these youngsters of 3, 4 and 5 years old forge a path towards their ultimate goal. They are truly citizens of the world and understand with certainty that the “world is a village.”
In the candid words of my student and friend Kieran Pike, “Now we are making Dr. Martin Luther King’s dream come true.”
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Welcome
By admin | July 16, 2008
Welcome to the Greenwoods Academy Blog.
This web log hopes to:
- create a better understanding of Integral, Montessori, and other educational philosophies and practices.
- create a sense of belonging in the current parent community in their selection of educational alternatives for their children and increase their understanding of these alternatives..
- help parents more fully understand the value of their children engaging and continuing an alternative education through all grade levels.
- attract parents new to Montessori and other education philosophies and open them to the possibility of selecting such schools for their children.
Any and all comments are welcome.
Miss Sharleen
Ditector, The Greenwoods Academy
Topics: The Greenwoods Academy | No Comments »