BF Ethos

This is why we teach what we teach. This is our version of an instruction manual for educating kindness makers!

Body

This is an acknowledgment that not every child’s body and mind are the same. When working with the tiny humans, we must create a space in which we get to know how they work and create an environment based upon that knowledge. With the proper supports and accommodations, we must hold the belief that all students can soar. We must then pass that mentality and knowledge on to our students or children and talk openly about the many ways people move through the world. Diagnosis are not dirty words. They are opportunities for growth and deeper understanding.

Present

As citizens of the world, our children can create positive change today! This is a radical statement. But yes, we believe children ages 5 and below, can alter the world–if we give them the tools and the information to do so! This means that in our classroom spaces, we discuss how our systems of government operate and how people can make changes within that space. We explore voting, protesting, letter writing, and more. By extension, this also means that we openly discuss the many many many issues plaguing our society today. As humans in the world, our children deserve to have the discussions and participate in solutions.

Society

Those who study the brains of growing humans have shared that our children naturally create an expectation for the world around them based upon the faces of their care givers. Usually, this means that from their perspective, people are fairly homogeneous. We want to give them a view that matches our beautiful realityl! In our spaces, we highlight the many different ways their are to be human. This means we talk about everything; race, gender, sexual orientation, family structures, neuro-divergence, and more! We give our students the ability to create a picture that is full of color.

Past

To create a kinder path forward, our students must understand where we have been. For our children, we do not sugarcoat our past. We embrace it as an opportunity for growth and self reflection. This means that in our spaces we talk about the less desirable moments. We talk about slavery, we talk about the bigotry of our past laws, we talk about the real way we acquired our lands. There is a child appropriate and honest way to discuss the not kind choices. Afterall, if we do not talk about the unkindesses, how will we know how to make the kind decisions as we grow? How will we be able to create a picture of what our world could be ?

Future!

When educating tiny humans, it is important to teach to who the children could become. Our students will one day be adults and have a grown-up sized impact on the world. This means that with every decision we make when caring for children we ask, what is the lesson that is taken from this choice? What will they take with them as they grow? We emphasize skills like resiliency, creative problem solving, and empathy, in the hopes of forming humans who can navigate the world with confidence and kindness.