Save your Child's Brain Part II: Real Life Scenarios, and the Benefits of Removing Video Games September 04 2018

Save Your Child’s Brain Part II
Real Life Scenarios, and the Benefits of Removing Video Games
What real-life problems might video games cause? 

Nathan is an 11-year-old boy with no history of any behavior problems until he started 5th grade.  That year, his grades fell, he became extremely angry, and he couldn't focus on anything for more than a few seconds.  His mother reported him becoming increasingly isolated and losing interest in all other activities, including things he used to love. 

Save Your Child's Brain Part I: The Toxic Effects of Video Games and other Electronic Screens August 30 2018

We are fortunate to have as a guest blogger, Victoria Dunckley, MD, who has done ground-breaking work on helping families in de-toxing children, especially sensitive ones, from technological overstimulation. Author of the book “Reset Your Childs’ Brain, A Four-Week Plan to End Meltdowns, Raise Grades, and Boost Social Skills by Reversing the Effects of Electronic Screen-Time, “she has identified the formal diagnosis “Effects of Electronic Screen Time,” or EEST. She has developed a four-part mini-course for parents and teachers entitled, “Save Your Child’s Brain.”. We will post all four parts on our blog, with thanks to Dr. Dunckley.

Save Your Child’s Brain Part I:
The Toxic Effects of Video Games and other Electronic Screens
The Agony and Confusion of “What’s Wrong with my Child?”

Many parents come to me and ask: Is this normal? Is my child misdiagnosed? Who do I believe when professionals are giving me different answers? Is there something in my child's environment I can change before resorting to psychotropic medication?  

Book Review: Matt McFlack and His Flyaway Kite July 26 2018

Here comes a darling children’s book about a little fellow who spends his wealth on a kite, blue yellow, and white. Through rhythmic verses, the story is told of Matt’s difficulties with a kite that demonstrates it has a personality of its own and takes train rides, wind rides, and long sails away from his little friend.

The illustrations are beautifully rendered with colors that express the friendship of the kite and the boy very well.

If Music Be the Food of Love, Play On! June 28 2018

Give me Excess of it. . .

Music is the Heart of the Waldorf Curriculum!

All human beings are made from music, and all children sing through their early childhood years. The Waldorf curriculum is laced with music — singing, recorder playing, orchestral instrument playing and Choral work.  Not a grade goes by in which these skills are not made stronger, fresher, and more artistic.

Waldorf Publications has an extraordinary array of books to help teachers find good songs, play instruments themselves and bring the glory of music to lighten their classes. 

Father’s Day – Hooray for Fathers Everywhere! Where Did it Come From? June 15 2018

Some express cynicism around holidays like Father’s Day, claiming these are just “Hallmark Holidays,” designed to sell cards and extra gifts. Few understand that the first Father’s Day occurred following a mining accident in Monongah, Virginia, in 1907, that killed 361 men.

Confidence — What is it, how do we get it, how to instill it in our children May 30 2018

According to research, confidence is born of doing.  Once success is achieved in one thing, or even if a failure occurs, the learning involved prompts confidence in the next attempt at doing something. Even in pre-existing DNA in a person, the level of confidence can be altered by activity, doing, trying. Therefore, having an approach to education that starts with doing things, experiencing things, is bound to generate confidence. Even the timidest among youngsters will feel confident once something is tried and will feel more confident when many things are tried.

Summer Reading for Kids, Parents, and Teachers May 27 2018

What would summer be without summer reading?

In our round-the-clock and round-the-world work life, following the technological transformation of the last couple of decades, it is easy never to stop working. We are passing this habit on to our children with online homework assignments and online summertime assignments from school. This online access to each other anytime, day or night, could be described as hijacking our free time. In the spirit of Waldorf education, which we call an “education toward freedom,” it becomes increasingly important to protect free time for ourselves and our children.

Book Review: The Four Temperaments May 23 2018

Helmut Eller’s new book, The Four Temperaments gives us a fresh new look at the four temperaments — sanguines, melancholics, cholerics, and phlegmatics. Eller goes into great depth in examining all the implications of the tendencies in youngsters (and in people) of one temperament or another, giving teachers and parents powerful means with which to reach children and to help them to find their way as they grow.

Book Review: A Phenomena Based Physics - Volume I May 01 2018

Waldorf Publications just redesigned the cover of the classic book for sixth-grade physics teachers: A Phenomena-Based Physics, Volume I (Volumes II and III are for seventh and eighth-grade teachers respectively). Manfred von Makensen devoted his life to the study and teaching of science. This first volume of this three-part series pays tribute to this lifetime of devoted study and experimentation.

Book Review: The Invisible Boat and the Molten Dragon April 20 2018

One genuinely marvelous thing about this second book in Eric Mueller’s Invisible Boat series is the steady stream of pictures of how nature looks behind the curtain of beauty we see. The creatures and the palaces, and the gardens and the light, are all resplendent with imaginations that ring true and lift the heart with a feeling of what’s happening on this living Earth of ours!

These pictures are charming, sometimes breathtaking, and ofttimes startling. Through these images, we are drawn closer to the earth.

Book Review: Painting at School April 16 2018

Dick Bruin and Attie Lichthart have devoted their lives to painting and the teaching of painting. In their new book, Painting at School, they express a deep understanding of color and joyful devotion to painting and its value in the lives of individuals, especially in children.

Their original work, now almost twenty years in the world, Painting in Waldorf Schools, is still rich with insights about painting as soul food for children (and adults) and valuable in its suggestions about approaching painting lessons. The original book came with a CD of paintings.

Teaching History à la Waldorf - Part II March 14 2018

Part II: Grade Five through High School

With the introduction of this first glimpse of what could be called “real” history, the stories that preceded this moment have prepared the children to turn from mood and memory of where they came from to be born on earth, to interest in what this earth holds as its own stories, its history.  Their memory muscles have grown strong, and the eagerness to learn more has been cultivated by these stories. It’s in the fifth grade that the first “real” history comes with the tales of the Trojan War, the Peloponnesian wars, and the recorded work of Greek philosophers and mathematicians.

Teaching History á la Waldorf-Part I March 09 2018

History, or as it might be better to say, “Herstory,” is literally the story of the culture in which we live: his-story or her-story.
When a child is born there follows a long, demanding road to mastering the use of arms and legs, hands and feet, fingers and toes, vocalizing sounds, moving around, crawling, standing, speaking, and understanding this remarkable world which the tiny human being has joined.
Part I: Birth through grade four — learning to think about history through pictures

Valentine's Day ~ an eye-opening day of lovers and appreciation! February 14 2018

Chocolates, flower, cards and candies fill the fourteenth of February every year. It’s a tradition that dates back to 270 A.D. and the life of Valentine. History from this long ago is hard to come by, and is veiled in legend and lore as well as enlightened with clear facts. Given it’s original date, it’s easy to understand that it is a combination of Roman and Christian traditions.

A Path Worth Treading - Encountering Nature and the Nature of Things February 13 2018

A Guest Blog from The Nature Institute

Here at the Nature Institute, we have conceived of a new year-long foundation course in Goethean science. For participants who attend the program and want to continue the work with further guidance, we plan to offer a second year with more individualized work which could be followed by a research fellowship.

Why a Class Play in Waldorf Schools? February 08 2018

For almost every grade in most Waldorf schools, there is a class play. This is an exciting event and means a great deal to everyone: the teachers, the students, the parents, the extended families of students. Interestingly enough, Rudolf Steiner never indicated that every year should have a class play! This is a tradition built in the ensuing decades of the last 100 years of Waldorf education. Doing plays is a happy tradition, but not a necessity in the curriculum!

Cross-Quarter Days and the 2nd of February February 02 2018

Long before Punxsutawney Phil became a celebrity groundhog, astronomers the world round knew this day as an important cross-quarter day in the cycle of the year. Cross-quarter days are those that fall precisely halfway between the solstices and the equinoxes.
There is an oxymoronic quality to the day: if it is bright, sunny, it bodes ill for a short winter, if it is a cloudy, lowery day, it means winter will end soon. This is a characteristic of cross-quarter days. 

Happy Groundhog Day or is it Candlemas? February 01 2018

In the mighty Celtic calendar, the year is marked by the two solstices and the two equinoxes. At the Winter Solstice, the days are the shortest of the year; at the Summer Solstice, the days are the longest of the year. At the Autumn Equinox and the Spring Equinox the days are exactly as long as the nights.

The days that mark the halfway mark between these four celestial events are traditionally named “cross-quarter days” as they are the between the quarters markers.

Saint Brigid's Day February 01 2018

Just before Groundhog Day (Candlemas in Christianity), on February 1, is Saint Brigid’s Day (also known as Bridie, Brigit, Brigitte, Biddy, Birdie).  This Irish saint was known for the feeding of the poor, tending to the sick and dying, and instilling hope in the hearts of the desperate.  She was beautiful by all accounts; a radiant, high, Irish beauty, who chose to give her life to God.

Season's Greetings from Waldorf Publications and the Research Institute for Waldorf Education December 22 2017

Hanukah is now complete, the Winter Solstice is upon us, and Christmas follows soon! All about the Light that balances the darkness and warms the world with Love.
All of us at the Research Institute for Waldorf Education (RIWE) and Waldorf Publications (WP) are filled with the lights of your work around the continent to bring Truth, Beauty, and Goodness to the young!  We are grateful for your friendship and following. We look forward to a New Year of promise and transformation with you, our Friends!  Thank you for your work, for your dedication to Waldorf Education, and to RIWE and WP!

Waldorf Publications — big Changes afoot! December 18 2017

Waldorf Publications is moving its operations to 351 FAIRVIEW AVENUE, unit 265, HUDSON, NEW YORK!!  Our phone number will be: 518-828-9999  This move will consolidate our three-site approach to date and we will, at last, all be in one location. Plus, our new neighbor will be the Rudolf Steiner Library, who moved into the former Walmart building two years ago.  We are part of a “rejuvenate abandoned box stores” effort on the part of two native Hudson sons who wanted to put life into the big space. We look forward to being a part of this!

Book Review: Entry Points: A Guide to Rudolf Steiner's 'Study of Man' December 08 2017

Entry Points: A Study Guide to Rudolf Steiner’s Study of Man
In 2003-2004, when eBooks were launched, before any test marketing or forethought, and eBook readers were “the new best thing” with Nooks and Kindles competing for the “best Christmas present of the year,” the word was that books were a thing of the past. Books were so “yesterday.” But books are holding steady.  Maybe it is because reading a book holds an 85% comprehension and retention rate while reading eBooks (any screens, really), comprehension drops to 34% on average.

November 28, 2017 November 28 2017

Keep the Research Institute for Waldorf Education, RIWE, in your good thoughts on Giving Tuesday!
Give a gift if you can but most importantly give us your good thoughts. Thoughts are as valuable as financial contributions!
Here at RIWE, the parent organization of Waldorf Publications, the work is quiet and steady to ensure that the world finds the highest caliber information about Waldorf education and its efficacy. The effort started in 1996 with an eye to North America, but since its inception, the world comes looking here when it needs to know what Waldorf schools do for the young and their families, and what Waldorf teachers need to do it.

Buy Nothing Day 2017! November 24 2017

Join us for our 5^th annual BUY NOTHING DAY! Instead of Black Friday, make this relax at home Friday. Stay home with your family, be offline and create homemade potpourri, colorful yarn and twig decorations, or learn a song, (all instructions, lyrics, and ideas included here). Or snuggle in and read a story!

Balance the universe with quiet, loving, relationships at home with the people you cherish most on this (traditionally frantic) Friday.