BosquEscuela and the Magical Letters
In a rapidly changing world, children need a place where they can truly be themselves. A place where learning is not about performance, but about connection. Where head, heart, hands, and soul work together. - Ina Vandenberge
Why BosquEscuela? – A conversation with founders Ina Vandenberge and Jhon Quijano
A response to an urgent need
More and more children feel lost in the traditional education system. They experience stress, a lack of emotional support, and feel increasingly disconnected from their true selves. At BosquEscuela, we offer an alternative: a holistic learning environment where children (and their guides) reconnect with their intuition, their inner power, nature, and community.
Learning from connection
Our approach is rooted in years of experience in holistic and project-based education. We start from experience to build understanding – not the other way around. Children learn to trust their inner compass, collaborate from the heart, and embrace their unique power.
Our core values:
- Experiential: We live what we teach – in BosquEscuela and in the many trainings we offer worldwide on Holistic Education.
- Connected: Learning with head, heart, hands, and soul – for children and their guides.
- Transformative: We see through the child’s eyes and make space for infinite creativity.
- Magical: Together with the children, we continually rediscover an enchanting universe.
Born in the Colombian mountains
BosquEscuela was born in the magical nature of the Colombian Andes. What started as a small community grew into a vibrant school rooted in love, adventure, play, and deep connection. Our pedagogy evolved alongside the children – full of playful projects, natural rhythms, and space for emotional and social development.
And the results? Joyful, curious, creative, and caring children who not only understand the world but are ready to change it.
The visionaries behind BosquEscuela
Ina Vandenberge, a speech therapist and audiologist, was deeply moved by her work in Latin America. Meeting an Inga master from the Amazon set her on a path of healing, awareness, and the creation of a new educational vision.
Jhon Quijano, a passionate pedagogue and linguist, brought structure and vision to Ina’s dream. Together, they created El Bosque Encantado – a center for natural learning, spirituality, and ecology – where BosquEscuela was born.
More info: https://www.bosquescuela.net/
BosquEscuela, the Magical Letters and the Butterfly Brain Project: Magical Synchronicities
When Briony, the driving force behind the Butterfly Brain Learning project, was the principal of a primary school, she noticed frequent conflicts on the playground. From a deep desire to help children with this, she wrote a fairy tale. The main character, Asiro, is a boy born in a flower meadow who learns step by step how to soften the hardenings around his heart. Through inner transformation, he opens the doors of his heart to release and heal old pain.
During that same period, Briony composed letter songs—one for each letter of the alphabet. The children sang these with great enthusiasm during the morning sun circle at school. She also created figures for various letters but temporarily set the method aside because she felt the concept wasn't fully ready to be introduced.
Meanwhile, Ina had completed the Rainbow Talent Training and later accompanied Briony multiple times as a rainbow coach. During her trip to Colombia, she translated all of Briony's fairy tales and songs into Spanish. She led Fairy School projects at various schools and provided Rainbow Training to teachers and parents. Together with her partner, Jhon Quijano, she founded El Bosque Encantado—a magical place that evolved into a vibrant community with its own school and pedagogy: BosquEscuela.
There, Ina continued working with the letter songs. She used the melodies as a foundation to create further and discovered how important the emotional connection with the letters is for a natural and meaningful learning process. Inspired by the children of the forest school, she developed a unique method step by step, where each letter is associated with a character or hand puppet. Each character has its own story, personality, and life lesson, supporting children in their social-emotional development and daily growth processes.
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This led to the creation of the reading and writing method "Las Letras Mágicas del Bosque"—a complete, playful, and heartfelt learning method for the Spanish language. Ina now trains teachers and parents to implement this method in schools and homeschooling and is also developing a version for the Dutch language.
Later, Briony further deepened the characters and wove them into a coherent story and methodology. She integrated all the techniques of Butterfly Brain Learning, such as flash learning and a creative approach to mathematics. This co-creation resulted in a rich, multidimensional learning landscape where head, heart, and hands come together—a world of education that brings the magic of learning back to life.