Compiling this book made me smile. It is full of several years of parenting. As I edited this together, I relived some of the years when my children were younger. The wisdom I share here is real. It is palpable. Breathe it in. Take what resonates and set aside the rest to ponder. I hope this volume gives you tools and peace as you walk this journey. I have written to you, the mom in the trenches from experience in my own trenches. These are moments to savor and moments to learn and grow from. This mom thing isn't easy but it is worth it.
Donna Ashton is a veteran Waldorf homeschooling mom and mentor who has helped over 3000 families homeschool with confidence and clarity. Donna Ashton?s The Waldorf Home School Handbook is a simple step-by-step guide to creating and understanding a Waldorf-inspired homeschool plan. Within the pages of this comprehensive homeschooling guide parents will find information, lesson plans, curriculum, helpful hints, behind the scenes reasons why, rhythm, rituals, and helping you fit homeschooling into your life. Join Donna as she guides you through the Waldorf method and reveals how to educate your children in a nurturing and creative environment.
Formerly entitled The Study of Man this lecture course, newly translated for this series, contains some of the most remarkable and significant lectures ever given by Rudolf Steiner.
Key lectures on children and education have been thoughtfully chosen from the vast amount of material by Steiner and presented in a context that makes them approachable and accessible. In his many discussions and lectures, Steiner shared his vision of an education that considers the spirit, soul, and physiology in children as they grow.
A seer "sees' more than meets the eye, using the eyes of the soul along with the physical eyes. As all seeing is a form of cognition, higher seeing is the key to higher cognition or knowing. For human beings the spiritual world is hidden deep within the disguise of the world available to the senses and deep within the human psyche, and human consciousness, enmeshed as it usually is in the physical senses, cannot easily be aware of both worlds. The human soul is the link between the physical sense-imbued body and direct experience of the spirit, because it has the latent ability to focus consciousness into any number of levels. The ability to determine the focus of awareness is our great gift and our great challenge. In this practical and accessible guidebook, Dennis Klocek, building on the alchemical tradition and the Western path of initiation developed by Rudolf Steiner, shows how the soul's latent ability can be awakened by conscious acts of will and rhythmical practices. The practices begin wherever we are in our everyday lives and take the seeker through the levels of concentration--the ability to create and hold an inner image; contemplation--the ability to transform the image and make it dynamic; and meditation--the ability to reverse the image, or think it backward into inner silence. After presenting the practical exercises, along with commentary, that identify and lay out the steps, Klocek shows us how the path can be followed through to an understanding of a seemingly impenetrable alchemical image of the soul's journey as he guides us up the Alchemical Mountain to heartfelt thinking. Through such a journey, it becomes possible for human beings to live as spiritual beings among other spiritual beings. For those who are serious about developing faculties of higher knowing and seeing, The Seer's Handbook is a unique, practical, and friendly handbook of exercises, meditations, and insightful commentary that will guide both beginners and more advanced students along the path to higher worlds.
An estimated 700,000 American children are now taught at home. This book tells teens how to take control of their lives and get a "real life". Young people can reclaim their natural ability to teach themselves and design a personalized education program. Grace Llewellyn explains the entire process, from making the decision to quit school, to discovering the learning opportunities available.
Rhythm and repetition, together with example and imitation, are pillars on which early learning is based. Freya Jaffke applies these simple principles in practical and sensible ways. She describes children's play in a Steiner-Waldorf kindergarten setting, and provides tried and tested advice on this important stage of development. This book includes sections on Planning the day; Festivals; Rhythms; Materials; Educating the Will; Imagination; Spontaneous and Planned Play; Example and imitation of adults; Stages of development; From crawling to contrariness; Work and play; Craft and handicraft; Creating a protective environment; Hyperactive and inactive children.
This thought-provoking book explores issues and trends related to the growing practice of homeschooling. Readers will examine whether homeschooling produces positive academic outcomes, whether homeschooling supports or violates progressive values, and whether Christian homeschooling limits or expands children's' options. Essay sources include The Old Schoolhouse Magazine, Kathryn Joyce, Conor Friedersdorf, and Alexandra Jacobs.
