Waldorf in the Home

"Who's Helping Whom? Working with Your Child's Angel"
Workshop by Myra McPherson

How do we help our children go to sleep, trust the world, or take on a challenge? There is help available from the spiritual world as parents and angels work in partnership to support our children's development. Learn some ways to stop, look and listen with our hearts for guidance.

"Parenting by H.E.A.R.T~Resurrecting the Family"
Keynote by Cynthia Wand

What is at the heart of our families? What is at the heart of our lives? What lies at the core of our values? Virtues are qualities that provide the framework for creating a meaningful life. They are universally valued by all faiths and cultures and form the content of our character. By exploring and resurrecting the purity, meaning and power of virtue, we will redefine what it is to create a family and parent from that place of inner strength.

"Courageous Parenting: Changing Our Families and the World"
Keynote by Nancy Jewel Poer

The family in today's world has been described as a "bearer of culture." Having explored our own values through the preceding keynotes, how can we create the quality of life we want for our families in the face of forces like commercialism that are working so powerfully against our efforts? How can our parenting impact the world situation, and can we know what the effects of our actions will be on our children? Nancy shares her life-long experience as a parent and grandparent, educator and activist for culture change.

"Honoring the Spiritual Feminine"
Workshop by Nancy Poer

Sophia Wisdom, the universal spiritual feminine knowing of the eternal, was once revered. In our era of materialism, egotism and destructive domination of the natural world, we are called consciously to renew in our hearts and communities, this life-giving interconnectedness to spirit, earth, all nature, and one another.

"The Art of Spiritual Companioning"
Workshop by Cynthia Wand

By being deeply present and listening with compassion and detachment, we can help others "to empty their cup of emotion." This powerful yet gentle tool from Virtues Project International supports children and adults to discover their inner wisdom.

"Learning the Language of Virtues"
Workshop by Cynthia Wand

By helping your children relate to the virtues or values that underly all social and religious life, you can help their inner development as well as their outer actions. Cynthia is a Waldorf home schooling parent and a Master Facilitator with Virtues Project International, a model global program for families that has been honored by the United Nations.

"The Sacred Art of Nurturing Ourselves, Our Children and Our Families"
Keynote by Donna Simmons

In today's world, the family has been called the "bearer of culture." Yet there is very little support for intentionally creating a home life that supports every member of the family. Donna focuses on the importance and pitfalls of mothering in today's culture. She also addresses how mothers, by working with rhythm and festivals and with their own strength and mood of soul, can set the stage for a healthy, child-friendly family life, in contrast to one that is child-centered.

Donna describes her rich and unique experience, which includes being a houseparent in Camphill, teaching children from preschool through high school, homeschooling her two sons, and advising parents through Christopherus Home School Resources, which she founded. Donna has many books and other recordings available at
www.Christopherushomeschool.org [If you have young children, I especially recommend her book on Kindergarten at Home with Your Three to Six-Year-Old. --Rahima]

"The Human Soul and the Soul of the Earth"
Keynote Address by Cynthia Hoven

Understanding our sacred and intimate connection with the earth can warm our heart forces and strengthen our will. The earth is a living being, whose soul breathes with the seasons and expresses itself in the cycles of nature. The wealth of pictures developed by Rudolf Steiner in his booklet The Calendar of the Soul and other works guide the contemplation of this vital topic.

Parenting with Spirit: Working with the Spiritual World
Workshop by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns

In this workshop, Cindy and Joya focus on the reality of spiritual guidance and ways to connect to this source of inspiration and support in daily life. Working with music, meditation, discussion and artistic process, they develop a practice for ongoing dialogue with the angelic realm.

This workshop expands on Chapter 5 in their book Parenting with Spirit: A Waldorf Guide for the Three Phases of Childhood. We also carry two other CDs from their workshops on Parenting with Spirit: "Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills" and "Working with Negative Behavior in Children."

With my interest in "Mothering and Spirituality," the theme for the April, 2010 parenting conference (see right sidebar), I wanted to share with you another interesting book I have found:
The Return of the Feminine and the World Soul by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee (2009. Available from www.goldensufi.org)

"Honoring Mother Spirit and Our Amazing Spiritual Feminine Gifts"
Keynote by Nancy Poer

We have spiritual gifts as women which we rarely realize or fully treasure. It is just those strengths and gifts these times call for as we face our intense, fear driven, patriarchal, materialistic culture that would sweep away even the sacred space of our homes and replace it with marketplace values and cyber life. This is about reclaiming our sacred power, speaking our truth, and bringing renewed life and light into a world of need.

Nurturing Children and Ourselves
Keynote by Cynthia Aldinger

How can we find our way to simplicity in living that supports our own well-being and the well-being of the children we care for and about? How can we do everything we want to do and not exhaust ourselves and our children at the same time? This talk is filled with humor and practical suggestions, including how to handle a TOAD (The Over-Abundance Disease) in your life (hint: you can kiss it or throw it against the wall).

Cynthia is the founder of LifeWays North America, supporting parents and professionals in the vital work of being with young children.

Mothering Our Lively Sons!
Workshop by Janet Allison

Mothering a boy can be exhilarating and exhausting! Understanding the role of biology, testosterone, and environmental stresses means you can help him be his best. Effective language, practical activities and developmental insight can deepen your connection to all the boys and men in your life.

Embracing the Dark: Kali Energy in Life and Spiritual Practice
Workshop by Regina Sara Ryan

When we only look to the sublime and blissful images of the Divine for our consolation, we often fail to recognize the face of the Divine in those experiences and energies that do not fit our limiting stereotypes. However, the fierce and erotic Goddesses such as Kali and Smashan Tara must be approached with tremendous respect, awe, humility and caution. Using stories and the contemplation of sacred images of the Dark Mother, this workshop will provide an opportunity to reflect upon and rekindle our longing for Wholeness--for a deeper appreciation of full-bodied spiritual life and practice.

Becoming Mother--Spirituality, Femininity and Earth Transformation
Keynote by Regina Sara Ryan

Female or male, the task for each conscious human person is to "become Mother." Whether we have physically borne children or not, the knowledge of "mother"--as the one who facilitates birth, nurturance and maturation, and death and renewal--is present in the cells of the body.

Sadly, this knowledge of "Mother" often remains obscured and unavailable to us. We can, however, turn to one another, to the great "Mothers" from the past (women or men), and to the images and understanding of God as Mother to find the inspiration, courage and wisdom to transform our own hearts, to serve our children and families, and to ultimately celebrate and honor the Earth Mother on whom we all depend.

Regina Sara Ryan is the author of The Woman Awake. Feminine Wisdom for Spiritual Life

Mother-Lines of the Spirit
Keynote by Carol Lee Flinders

Biological mother-lines are the channels through which our evolutionary inheritance flows. Spiritual mother-lines come into existence when we take our evolution into our own hands. We will explore how they connect us with mothers, daughters, grandmothers and granddaughters in altogether new ways, and with women we may never meet face to face: a Dorothy Day or Aung San Suu Kyi; a Teresa of Avila or Wangari Maathai. They can render us fearless, resourceful and radiant. Distinct, yet joined like partners in a dance, the mother-lines of body and spirit turn and twine within us like the double helix of our DNA.

Eight principles for inspired parenting:

1. We need to accept who we are and build up the support we need.

2. We need fathers to be actively involved with children.

3. We need a true understanding of children and their world.

4. We need to trust the natural process of development and not interfere with it.

5. We need to trust ourselves and our children and to let go of guilt.

6. We need to trust our children as individuals.

7. We need to value our parenting.

8. We need to value our home making.