Episode description

Gill Howarth grew up and lives in Perth, Australia. She cut her teeth as a Kindergarten teacher in South Korea then returned to teach in Australia while growing her family. While she loved working with children, her discomfort with what the educational system expected and what she knew children needed became too much to ignore. For instance, play, which is highly valued in the research was being removed from the school day.

When she became pregnant with her third child, the stress of being a teacher became overwhelming, and she left the profession. However, her creative spark and desire to work with children didn’t stop. She soon set the intention to create time and space to be with children and what started as a one-day program eventually turned into a three-day one.

Born Wise Education was born and is a nature micro school that she joyfully runs with her artist friend, Nat.

In this conversation we discuss her journey from teacher to homeschooling mom. We talk about children’s intuitive nature, building a micro-school from the ground up, the importance of being in nature and the power of play for growth, connection, and emotional intelligence, and following our children’s interests.

We talk about having other adults around to help us expend our lens, the inspiration that can come from social media, and how exciting it is to see this movement of getting back to nature, grow. 

Gill is delightful and inspiring! It is obvious she loves what she does.

You can follow her Instagram @ _born_wise_education

and learn more about Born Wise and the Nature Network here:

www.bornwise.com.au www.wearenaturenetwork.com.au

To register for the Barefoot Playground gatherings, please go here:

https://barefootcoaching.as.me/schedule.php

You can read more about Missy, the podcast host, at www.letemgobarefoot.com

Instagram:  @letemgobarefoot and now you can purchase our ebook, Life Unschooled.