A new introduction to botany classes that help you observe and experience the 'wisdom of plants.'
Written for teachers and parents, these lesson notes are filled with content that develops the human and spiritual potential of children aged 10 to 12, rather than simply intellectual development.

“Imagine for a moment that each seed is a tiny light,” says author Charles Kovacs, as he begins his story of plants, bringing us back to the land of winter and summer.
The plant family is introduced in order, from fungi and algae, which are lower plants without seeds, to flowering plants, which are higher plants.
Guide children through stories filled with poetic metaphors rather than concepts about the evolution of plants.
And we look into the lives of plants we encounter in our daily lives, such as wood, tea, sugar, grass, and grains, and carefully examine the individual parts of plants, such as stems, leaves, petals, pollen, ovaries, and seeds.

This book, consisting of short chapters of 3-4 pages each, beautifully presents all the wisdom that plants can learn, comparing it to human growth and wisdom.
This book will provide profound insight to those who enjoy forest outings, love nature, and anyone who encounters children.

Charles Kovacs was a teacher at the Rudolf Steiner School in Edinburgh for many years.
Inspired by the pedagogical ideas and insights of Rudolf Steiner, the curriculum of this Waldorf school seeks to awaken children to much more than mere intellectual development.
Waldorf schools pursue a holistic education that helps each child develop his or her full human and spiritual potential.
Charles Kovacs's detailed daily notes on his teaching have been used and valued by Waldorf school teachers in Edinburgh and elsewhere for many years.
Based on those class notes, this book shows one way one teacher taught children at a particular school.
I hope other teachers who utilize this resource will discover their own teaching methods.
--- From "Preparing the Book" The botany lessons presented in this book follow the format of the text.
Plants are presented in order of evolutionary hierarchy.
It starts with fungi and algae, which are lower plants without seeds, and progresses to flowering plants, flowers, and pollen.
However, the concepts of evolutionary systems or lower or higher plants do not mean much to children.
We need to make the concept of evolution more accessible by comparing the evolution of plant populations with our own development.
In this book, fungi are compared to infants, algae to toddlers, and monocots to elementary school children just starting school.
This analogy introduces children to the concept of evolution (I don't actually use that word).
In this way, children realize their own evolution, their own development.
So for children, evolution is now something they can feel, not just something they know.
Of course, there is an element of imagination in these metaphors.
These are poetic metaphors, but they are precisely what children at this age need.

--- From "Botany Lessons for 5th Graders"