where they fashion letters and
words out of sweets and give them to the child. For example, they make an
"a" out of candy and say its name is "a", or make a candy "b" and call it
"b", and so on with the rest of the alphabet, giving these to the young
child. In this way, children will soon learn their letters...

When the children are ready for bed, let the mother read or sing them the
Odes of the Blessed Beauty, so that from their earliest years they will be
educated by these verses of guidance.

(From a Tablet--translated from the Persian) [75]

"76: Thou didst ask as to the education of children. Those children
who,..."

Thou didst ask as to the education of children. Those children who,
sheltered by the Blessed Tree, have set foot upon the world, those who are
cradled in the Faith and are nurtured at the breast of grace--such must
from the beginning receive spiritual training directly from their mothers.
That is, the mother must continually call God to mind and make mention of
Him, and tell of His greatness, and instill the fear of Him in the child,
and rear the child gently, in the way of tenderness, and in extreme
cleanliness. Thus from the very beginning of life every child will be
refreshed by the gentle wafting of the love of God and will tremble with
joy at the sweet scent of heavenly guidance. In this lieth the beginning
of the process; it is the essential basis of all the rest.

And when the child hath reached the age where he can make distinctions,
let him be placed in a Baha'i school, in which at the beginning the Holy
Texts are recited and religious concepts are taught. At this school the
child is to study reading and writing as well as some fundamentals of the
various branches of knowledge, such as can be learned by children.

At the start the teacher must place a pen in the child's hand, arrange the
children in groups, and instruct each group according to its capacity.
When the children have, in a given place, been seated in rows, and each
holdeth a pen, and each hath a paper before him, and the teacher hath
suspended a blackboard in front of the children, let him write thereon
with his chalk and have the children copy what he hath written. For
example, let the teacher write an alif ( a ) and say, "This is an alif."
Let the children then copy it and repeat: "This is an alif." And so on,
till the end of the alphabet. As soon as they properly recognize the
letters, let the teacher make combin