WHY CHOOSE DIHIKA: LIVING WISDOM SCHOOL?

 

What do you want for your child?

Material goals are self-evidently necessary and worthwhile. But what about intangibles like Happiness & Peace of Mind? True success includes both happiness and abundance. 

 

 

“A school for our times” …what does it mean?   Einstein’s revelation of the Universe being composed of ‘Energy’ rather than ‘Matter’ validates the ancient Vedic premise that in this Dwapara Yuga, we are in the Age of Energy.

 

In The World is Flat Thomas Friedman describes this new energy paradigm and lists the skills a student will need to be successful in this age, and questions: “How will we teach these skills?”

Learning how to learn	Nurturing passion and curiosity
Collaboration and cooperation	Developing good communication skills
Practicing problem solving & syntheses	Learning flexibility and adaptibility

 

 Our answer is: “These have to be taught experientially”. We developed these techniques as part of our curriculum long before he came up with the list!

 If you click on The Foundation Years on this website, you will find Flow Learning, an approach to learning based on energy. 

   

How is a Living Wisdom School different?

When you start from the premise that this is an energy/spiritual universe instead of a physical/mechanistic universe it changes everything. 

 

Example 1:  A child’s energy is agitated and unruly.

Physical universe: This is looked at as a trait, fixed at this time…. a perspective that makes one judgmental, leading, perhaps, to some form of punishment.

Energy universe: This is looked at as an indicator of where his energy is presently at. He is taught the techniques that make him aware of his energy and how to control it. He discovers for himself that he is happier when he is in control.

Example 2: A child needs to learn about Mahatma Gandhi.

             Physical Universe: He is taught the events of Gandhi’s life, why he is an important

             figure in our history.

             Energy Universe: His attention is drawm to the principles he lived by, the choices

             he made and the result of these choices. He is taught how Gandhi can be a 

             guide to his own current and future life. 

 

What does it mean to work with each child individually?

It means that with the small classroom size (12 students) we are able to assess each child on a continuing basis and set up his learning based on that assessment.

Academics:  In such basic areas as reading, language arts and maths the teachers keep a constant check on the child’s readiness to proceed.  Since nurturing a child’s innate passion to learn is so central to our curriculum, we have devised very subtle ways of reading the signs of readiness. Quite regularly we receive children transferring from other schools that have been pushed along before true readiness is there; the child has stopped enjoying the process. We must then assess where he needs to be to regain his passion for learning. Although it is not uncommon for a 2^nd grader to be reading 7^th grade level; it is also not uncommon for a very bright, precocious 1^st grader not to be reading at all. Our history with this shows that the non-reading 1^st grader has as much chance of graduating with honors from a prestigious university as the child reading at 7^th grade level -- as long as their own personal rhythm is honored. Being able to read these signs is a core part of our teacher training.

Personal Growth:  Under The Foundation Years on this website you will see Tools of Maturity & the 4 basic areas that we assess, each given more emphasis at different times in a child’s growth. Under each of these categories there are several character traits that we work with to help the pupil move to personal excellence in his maturity and happiness. These are assessed on a regular basis the same as academic skills. 

 

On what basis do you consider yourself a successful school system?

Academics: Despite the fact that our students were never chosen on the basis of academic prowess or IQ, they score consistently in the top 10% of American High Schools. Schools and universities that have received our students have come back looking for more of our graduates as they shine in all aspects and become positive leaders of their peers.

Personal Growth: It is very evident just watching our students, that something very different is going on here. On field trips, strangers stop the teacher to say “Who ARE these children?” Adults are astonished by their maturity… (We define Maturity as being able to see the realities of others and respond appropriately.) When we first sought accreditation for our High School, the visiting examiners stated, “If you could take what you are doing and put it in the public schools, you could change the world.”

 

How Do You ‘Create’ Joy in the Classroom?

An Education For Life (EFL) teachers’ own practice of meditation and concentration enable her to model it for her pupils. In addition, this practice is taught to the children.  Starting in Nursery, children play a game called “Quiet Bodies”.  What starts as play, soon comes to be a technique they use to come back to the joy within.

 

An EFL atmosphere is happy, relaxed and family-like. At the same time, the teachers win the child's respect by skillfully awakening his enthusiasm and energy for the tasks at hand. The child learns that, while he is expected to behave with consideration and respect, he can approach the teacher for anything at all.

 

What role will your child's school play in his becoming an inwardly strong and secure person?

Teachers are taught to see each child’s essential strengths and work from that place of security.  In addition, the students are taught to value each other’s uniqueness. These attitudes lead to a non-judgmental attitude that gives each child the confidence to try his best to excel.

 

A parent’s comment about the annual school play at one school sums this up well: “Even the youngest children stand in front of a large room full of people and deliver their lines and stay in character with poise, concentration, and self-confidence that is exceptional.  They must feel very good about themselves, or else they wouldn’t be able to do it.”

 

How is the Education for Life philosophy “taught”?

Children are guided in developing the four "tools of maturity":

the Body, Feelings, Will, and Intellect.

With increasing health, high energy, sensitive feeling, dynamic will power and mental clarity, each child discovers gradual expansion of awareness that at the same time brings a sense of meaning and joy.

 

Success here is gauged not only by results, but by the quality of each child's attitudes, effort, and interactions with others. Through EFL, children practice dealing with whatever life may bring them.

 

The importance of good teachers

"Who you are speaks so loudly, I can't hear what you're saying! “

 

Living examples inspire children far more effectively than rules or books. A teacher who loves and deeply understands his or her subject is much more likely to awaken a similar love and commitment in children in her care.

 

Living Wisdom School is built around the teachers' open-hearted sensitivity to the children in their charge. It is thus essential that the teacher expresses in her life those positive attitudes, spiritual & moral values and maturity that she seeks to impart to the children.

 

Our teachers undergo extensive training in their own personal development, as well as EFL Philosophy & Methods.  This is followed by an Internship in existing Living Wisdom Schools.

 

In fact, teachers participate in Education for Life as a lifelong process … and receive on-going support and training to keep them fresh, enthusiastic, and expansive.

 

I want my child to develop an open mind…. I am uncomfortable with him being taught to be a devotee of any ‘Guru’.                             

 

While our schools are based on the teachings of Paramhansa Yogananda, we are not a parochial school, teaching students to be devotees of Yogananda.

 

In order to lead us out of an age of greed, competition and fixed ways of operating and into an age of energy, cooperation and increased happiness Yogananda spent most of his life in America imparting ancient yogic teachings, devoid of fixed rituals. He also established effective models, including one of education (EFL) for this new age. He then trained His disciple, Kriyananda to further refine these models and bring them back to India.

 

We are a spiritual school that recognizes the divinity within and teaches children the joy of tuning into their Higher Selves.

                                                                                                                   

Reality Check

Creating a positive learning environment doesn't automatically transform children into angels!

 

At Living Wisdom School, you'll find the same issues, interactions, and challenging transitions that you would expect to see in any classroom, but on a more evolved level.

 

What's different is that children are given the opportunity to learn effective, enlightened, age-appropriate ways to deal with these situations as they arise.