Setting the Home Environment

Setting the Home Environment

Incorporating the Basic R.E.I Principles

            As an educator I often get asked by parents what they can be doing at home to reinforce what their child is learning at school or how can they set up an environment for the needs of their children. These questions brought me to the idea of doing some research of environments set up at home for optimal learning. I wanted to base my research following the basic R.E.I. principles and they are:

“The basis of the R.E.I approach: Respect

The goal: An Authentic Child

Trust in the Infants Competence

Sensitive Observation

Caregiving Times: Involving the Child

A Safe, Challenging, Predictable Environment

Time for Uninterrupted Play and Freedom to Explore

Consistency”                        (Gerber & Weaver Pg.1-3)

            What I learned is that we must recognize that an aesthetically beautiful well prepared environment is a necessity for the child weather he is at school or home. We show respect for the child when we take the time to prepare an environment because they are important to us. We will take the time to figure out their environment to make sure that everything is in its place. We want them to be successful all by themselves at pulling themselves, rolling, putting the toys away, and etcetera therefore we must rely on the environment.

We want to consider the child at every level. When setting up the environment we must consider that children change quickly and the most rapid change occur during the first 3 years of life. The environment should prove for the optimal support of the child’s needs. In the article “Preparing The Home” by Virginia Buckley suggests that we break that the environment into four major areas. “1. The area for sleeping, 2. The area for feeding, 3. The area for physical care, 4. The area for movement.” I took this sections that were suggested by Buckley and applied the basic R.E.I principles of Magda Gerber.

If you were to take the sleeping area as recommended by Buckley to use a mattress placed on the floor suggesting it “not higher than 8 centimeters from the floor.” We would allow the child freedom of movement. Therefore we would be respecting the child, helping him to become an authentic child “one who feels secure, autonomous, and competent” (Gerber & Weaver Pg. 2). The environment created for an infant and toddler will help defined the adult they will become. A space must provide order, beauty, simplicity, and dignity.

The space for the environment according to Magda Gerber must be “safe, challenging, (and a) predictable environment.” Safety is our priority when setting the environment. We want our children to move around the space without worrying. By designing the entire room to be a playpen we give the child an opportunity to explore and be free just as Magda Gerber suggested. An unrestricted place gives motivation and curiosity and the incentive that will foster a strong sense of independence for the child.

Think of natural elements for infants to see, touch, feel, hear, smell, and use safely to learn. In the environment we wants objects that are made of natural materials or materials that mimic the natural as this offer the riches opportunities of touch. When preparing the environment with materials and the arrangement of objects we must observe. Magda Gerber believed that se must be sensitive to observation: “our method, guided by respect for the infant’s competence, is observation…The more we observe, the more we understand and appreciate the enormous amount and speed of learning that happens ... We become more humble, we teach less, and we provide an environment for learning instead.” (Madga &Weaver Pg.3) By getting down to the floor where the child spends his time and ask yourself some of this questions: what can the child see from the ground? What can they reach? What does the space they are moving around feel like? Or what colors and images prevail you will be using powerful observations skills to help with the set up of the environment.

Overall consider the needs of your child. Rooms will vary from climate, space type, lifestyle, and economic resources. I think above all we must respect the child, by giving him opportunities for interaction with the adults that love him and his environment

Claudia M. M.