52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 41 We are not really aware of the fact that we have regressed in human evolution. In the past, children were allowed to grow up without being educated; their freedom was not invaded.Now we violate this freedom when we begin to educate them in the sixth or seventh year. … Continue reading Growing Up In Freedom
52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 39 On the slope of the mountains there was a cloister of the Order of the Most Holy Redeemer. I often met the monks on my walks. I still remember how glad I should have been if they had spoken to me. They never did. And so I carried … Continue reading Questions Left Unanswered – The Nine Year Old
52 Weeks of Steiner – Week 11 (This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links) Our rightful place as educators is to be removers of hindrances." Rudolf SteinerSpiritual Ground of Education, Lecture FourAugust 19 … Continue reading Our Rightful Place as Educators
One thing I love about Steiner education is the gentle unfolding of the curriculum. We are in the midst of a science block, focusing on the head. Starting in grade one, stories are brought to children to paint a picture of the archetypal human being. These stories continue through the elementary years, but deeper looks … Continue reading The Gentle Unfolding
52 Weeks of Steiner - Week 1 (This is part of a weekly serial started on Michaelmas 2023. To see the other entries, please see the post linked HERE and scroll down to the bottom for individual links) I would like to draw your attention to a fact that must have our particular concern in … Continue reading Three Fundamental Forces in Education
Teens have a bad reputation, but I think much of that is born from adults who just don't want to take the time to connect, be challenged or simply remember what it was like to be a teen. Here are some tips I've found help discover the wonder of these years: Listen more than you … Continue reading Teens are Wonderful!
“The young child is both individual and universal from the very beginning.” Cynthia Aldinger Childhood is a unique time in the greater picture of human development. It is a time of total openness to the outside world. A time when magic lives around every corner and the world and all its seemingly mundane (to us … Continue reading Individual Yet Universal
Many parents wonder when a child is ready to move to the work of grade one. A standard goal post for Waldorf schools is that the child has celebrated seven springs/Easters in their lifetime and has started to lose their baby teeth. That means that a child who was born between January and Easter will … Continue reading Readiness: It’s More Than Just Age and Teeth
As an early childhood educator by trade, the early years of childhood have always had a special place in my heart. It is such a magical time of human development, where children dance through life, dreamily cocooned in the safety of all that is good and beautiful around them. We, as adults, have an important … Continue reading Life is the Curriculum
The changing of seasons is subtle. Birds flying south, leaves slowly changing, mushrooms growing, squirrels scurrying, Michalemas daisies blooming, that first hint of crisp morning air, pumpkin patches bursting. A recent post about "calendar time" and preschoolers by Kristen Peterson from Play Based Learning had me chuckling. The post highlighted the struggles teachers have in … Continue reading Feeling the Passing of Time
