Waldorf in the Home

The LifeWays training in Wisconsin is offering an "open-to-the-public" workshop on puppetry and speech development with Master Puppeteer Suzanne Down of Juniper Tree Puppets September 23-25, 2005 in East Troy, Wisconsin. Come join the training students for this inspiring weekend of creativity and fun. To receive a registration form, contact Mary Schunemann at mary@naturallyyoucansing.org or Cynthia Aldinger at ck.aldinger@sbcglobal.net.

Suzanne, who offers trainings and workshops around the world, is highly respected in her field and brings a delightful element of whimsy and joy into the puppetry work for young children. Her workshops fill up quickly, and a limited number of spaces are available. Registration deadline is September 10th.

LifeWays: Family-Style Childcare in Homes and in Centers
by Cynthia Aldinger

The LifeWays approach to childcare provides, as closely as possible, the best elements of care found within a healthy family. The practices of a LifeWays family-style model are based upon healthy sense development; continuity of care; development of mind and body; an enlivened experience of the domestic and nurturing arts; and the development of healthy social interactions. These practices are inspired by the works of Rudolf Steiner and Waldorf Education and are supported by contemporary early childhood research, as well as the common sense wisdom of many generations of parents.

This approach can be applied in both childcare homes and childcare centers. Each location will have some variations according to community needs, staffing and funding. LifeWays' national center is located in the Caldwell Early Life Center at Rudolf Steiner College in Fair Oaks, California. We are members of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, the Alliance for Childhood and the National Association for the Education of Young Children.

Waldorf Essentials, Part III: Imitation, Imagination and Gratitude
by Esther Leisher

Having achieved (to some extent at least) what I felt were some fundamentals, I turned to other Waldorf goals, goals that I would probably only partially achieve -- Imitation, Imagination, and Gratitude.

Wooden playstands and a few cloths can encourage children's imaginative play and afford hours of enjoyment. While they available for purchase from many sources, they can be expensive and heavy to ship.

LifeWays at Spindlewood: Summer Reflections
Journal Entry by Susan Silverio July 7, 2005

The children "crossed the bridge" early this year, June 2. As always I feel a mixture of jubilation and sadness. Here in Maine summer time is almost another planet: there are boats to sand and paint to put in the water, summer camps [cottages] to open, gardens to plant. It has been cold and wet this spring so the sheep were not shorn until mid-June. This year I hived a colony of honeybees for the first time and I am currently as preoccupied as a new parent. There is so much to observe and learn about these mysterious creatures and their society.

Nancy Foster has been a Waldorf kindergarten teacher since 1973 at Acorn Hill Waldorf Kindergarten and Nursery in Silver Spring, Maryland, where she now works with parents and children in parent/ child groups. She also lectures, offers workshops for teachers at Waldorf kindergarten conferences, serves as a mentor for new teachers, and is on the visiting faculty of Sunbridge Institute in Spring Valley, New York.

Is the World a Good Place?
by Nancy Foster

[The following excerpt is reprinted with permission from Nancy's book In a Nutshell. Dialogues with Parents at Acorn Hill, available from the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America, www.waldorfearlychildhood.org.]

QUESTION: How can we understand Rudolf Steiner's statement that young children should experience that the world is good? Even in his day, the world was a troubled place, and it is surely even more dangerous today.