A Garden Metaphor for Youth Education: "Feed the Soil, NOT the Plant!"

Welcome to my Kids Piano blog!

I have this blog to collect important thoughts for parents and teachers like you who want to join me on this quest to help kids grow a LOVE for making music!

If we don’t know each other already, my name is Zach Tolan. I’m a father, a teacher, and the inventor of the patent award-winning music notation system I use in Kids Piano and other Exact-Notes classes, books, and courses. I’ve taught music for many years, and in that time I've specialized in growing young musicians "from seed," that is, being their first teacher. 

(I grew this basil from seed!)

They say in gardening, “Feed the soil, not the plant.” 

You see... we can't force nutrients directly into a plant's roots... but we can put fertilizer in the root's PATH to help them absorb what they can when they're ready.

We feed the SOIL to feed the PLANT.

• Children are the plants. They have the potential to grow into strong, confident, beautiful trees! 
• Their environment is the soil. They are spreading their roots out every moment, but they can only absorb what is in their path!
• Parents and Teachers are Gardeners. We care for the plants.

Young kids are like seedlings. They don't need much to start growing... but they can't have too much of any one resource, either! New plants won't grow well with too little light, but they'll scorch with too much sun. They'll  dehydrate with too little water, and drown or rot with too much. They need nutrients in the soil, but over-fertilizing can scorch them, too!

As they grow, the possibility for bearing good fruit becomes clearer and more exciting!

Welcome to the garden!

Playful wishes!
Mr. Zach :)

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