Annual Damaged Book Sale! February 16 2017

Every so often we receive a shipment of books that have been damaged during transit.  A slight ding to the cover or a creased page does not mean that the book is unreadable, only that we cannot sell it at full price.  We collect these cosmetically damaged books throughout the year and hold a “Damaged Book Sale” when we have a nice assortment collected.  Despite being slightly damaged these books are ready to be read and treasured!     Read More...

Groundhog Day or Candlemas? February 02 2017

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.

There’s No Minute Like the Last Minute! December 16 2016

Waldorf Publications and the Research Institute for Waldorf Education have many fine possibilities for thoughtful gifts when thoughtfulness in the hectic season becomes hard to muster.

Consider the caliber and depth of some of these gifts — remember, books and subscriptions keep giving long into the future!

This Special Time of Year December 07 2016

In our western world, there is a building feeling of celebration leading up to the winter solstice, Chanukah, Christmas, and even the Lakota Winter Count. The sun’s turning toward greater and greater strength and light gives this season a feeling of “something significant happening.” Ancient stories indicate that the “windows of heaven” are open for a time in the deep winter and heaven hovers near the earth more closely than at other times of year.     Read More...

Happy Thanksgiving and Happy Buy Nothing Day 2016 November 24 2016

The Friday After Thanksgiving is celebrated at Waldorf Publications and the Research Institute for Waldorf Education, RIWE, as “Buy Nothing Day.” The sweetness of the Thanksgiving holiday is its absence of commercialism. Food, family, gratitude, gathering are all that need be pondered and enacted.  Read More...

A Waldorf teacher's presentation on Martinmas & Veteran's Day! November 10 2016

The feast of St. Martin coincides with Veterans’ Day.  This is no accident because St. Martin of Tours started his life as a conscripted soldier in the Roman army.  He was even in his youth, remarkable and he rose in rank to a leadership position quickly.

Happiness is Winning the World Series after 108 Years November 04 2016

Just ask the Chicago Cubs what happiness is and they will tell you. Winning the World Series for their team and their community after 108 years of no participation in the Series or championship wins is the “sweetest thing, with no words to describe it,” one elated team member said to a journalist when the last inning was completed and the Series was won.

That word, “happy” or “happiness,” is a mysterious word, overused in the USA. Deviating from the sports arena for a moment — the word happiness is used frequently about schools and teachers and education. Recent surveys done by private schools indicate that many parents....

All Saints’ Day and All Souls’ Day: the Christian Counterpart to Samhain or Hallowe’en October 30 2016

Those who grew up going to a parochial school of any kind in the Christian streams of faith know that Hallowe’en is the contraction of Hallow’s Evening. The pagan practices of Samhain or harvest festivals that include the awareness of the thin veil that exists at this time of year between the dead and the living were deeply rooted in ancient cultures.    Read More...

Samhain –– Hallowe’en begins in Ireland October 26 2016

It figures that the land of Banshees, fairies and Leprechauns would be the starting place for a holiday like Hallowe’en. The Celtic word “Samhain” is actually pronounced “Sow-in.” This word literally translates as “summer’s ending.” After the harvest was gathered and stored, livestock had been sorted for slaughter or breeding, and the earth was perceived to have exhausted herself, this festival of Samhain was one of four high festivals of the Druid religion.

Why Do Girls Never Slay the Dragon? October 06 2016

During the Michaelmas season there are many stories of dragons terrorizing kingdoms. The pattern is, for the most part, repeated. A frightening dragon appears breathing fire and destroying whole villages, and a princess is inevitably frightened and weeps helplessly. A knight appears who courageously faces the dragon, slays the dragon, rescues the princess and earns her as a bride for his heroic actions.     Read More...

A Deeper Look into the Days of Michaél September 29 2016

The season gives the signs now of the turning of summer to autumn. In the air, before the green of the leaves begin to blush, the air gives an occasional whisper of fresh chill to herald the changes that will come. Even in places in which there is not a dramatic change between seasons, reports of subtle changes as the earth turns and the parade of the seasons rolls onward come from those sensitive to expressions from the Earth.

The Perseid outburst or meteor shower in mid to late August each year marks....

Belly Laughs September 09 2016

The first grade class teacher kiddingly told the first grader that he was “full of soup,” that he was tricking her and she tickled him as she challenged his playful trick. The little boy let out a deep belly laugh as he conceded that he was caught out and that he was indeed playing a practical joke on the teacher.

The laugh gave the teacher a reason to pause. It was almost December and she had never heard this child laugh like that before. He lived in a difficult home situation and there had been questions around the boy’s placement in first grade. He was repeating first grade following the decision of the previous teacher and so was new to this class.

In the first days of the second time at first grade, the teacher noticed that the boy’s voice had a disembodied quality.....

School Begins and Michaelmas Arrives –– Thank Goodness September 02 2016

In some parts of North America, school has already been in session for almost a month. In other regions schools will start after Labor Day. Whatever the beginning, the new school year is always a rush of excitement; new books, new pencils and crayons, new promises about working hard and paying attention, and a few tugs of remorse that the open, free days of summer have come to an end.

The Rose Ceremony in our Waldorf schools holds a picture....

Twelve Senses: Not Just Five in the Human Being – Part III August 24 2016

The four senses that become the focus of development in a young person’s high school years are sometimes called the “higher” senses.  All the senses must be cared for and developed with equal care.  Development of all twelve senses is important all through a child’s life. However these final four senses flower in a particular way in high school that is a wonder to behold if the work done on the other eight is deep and thorough.

Twelve Senses: Not Just Five in the Human Being - Part II August 16 2016

Part II : The Soul Senses

The sense of smell, the sense of taste, sense of vision (sight), and the sense of warmth are the next four senses that are sometimes called the “lower senses,” or the “soul senses.”  These senses are those we concentrate most on in the elementary and middle school grades....Read More

Twelve Senses: Not Just Five in the Human Being - Part I August 12 2016

Part 1: The Physical Senses

One of the pillars of Waldorf education that defies ordinary thinking lives in the comprehension of the twelve senses of the human being—and, particularly, the child.

What is a Summer for but Daydreaming, Play, and Rest? July 08 2016

In the early chapters of the American classic, Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain, we find young Tom out in the woods near his home, playacting with his friends the legendary tales of Robin Hood: robbing from the rich, giving to the poor, avoiding the deadly arrows of the Sheriff of Nottingham, tricking the upper classes with clever stunts and disguises, and swooning in love for Maid Marian.    Read More...

Teenagers: Part II June 28 2016

Science as it is taught in Waldorf schools offers a fine example of the social, emotional, and moral elements hidden throughout the curriculum. Waldorf schools are often criticized for their science teaching because it differs so dramatically from more mainstream teaching of the sciences. 

All the sciences through the grades are taught experientially. Every topic of science leads with direct....

Teenagers: Emerging Adults Part I June 23 2016

In the mighty arc of maturity that human beings must travel before achieving adulthood, we lag far behind all others in the animal kingdom. It is astonishing to watch the birth, for example, of a horse. The little colt tumbles out of the womb and within hours is cleaned and standing up, taking tentative steps with its newborn legs. Think in comparison of the months it takes for a baby to master the use of its arms and legs to practice.....

The Truth About Age Twelve June 20 2016

The age of twelve is remarkable. As childhood comes to its end, the twelve-year-old can feel accomplishment and mastery of many skills in jump rope, running, reading, arithmetic, high jumping, memorization, writing, logic, and reasoning. Just as the sense of mastery peaks, the child’s body begins to change. Though the first changes are invisible, the child feels them with a growing sense of alarm at what the changes might be.     Read More...

Being Nine Years Old June 16 2016

 

The teacher knelt before the boy to explain how to cross the street carefully and to check to see if he felt uneasy about crossing without a teacher holding his hand. The boy’s mother was taking a job in the area and she wanted her children in a Waldorf school. The boy had come to visit the second grade that day. He had, up till then, been home schooled, and there was a question about whether or not the boy belonged in second grade or third grade because of his age—older than the youngest in the third grade and younger than the oldest in the second grade.

After the teacher had completed explaining carefully how to cross the street without a teacher helping him, the teacher asked, “Can you do that?.....

“What’s the Big Deal about Teeth in Waldorf Schools?” June 13 2016

First Grade Readiness and the Waldorf School Plan

A parent of a kindergartner asked a teacher this question one day, “What’s the big deal about teeth in a Waldorf school?”  It’s a good question as Waldorf teachers take seriously the changing of teeth, from milk teeth, or “baby teeth,” to the new growth of adult or second teeth.

Deciding whether or not to declare a child ready to move from kindergarten to first grade is a weighty decision to make. 

Change Your Mind – Observe! Science Kits and New Ideas June 02 2016

The science kits are themselves a lot like the science teaching done in Waldorf schools—or really like all teaching in Waldorf schools: filled with endless potential for opening minds to new ways to see things, think things, discover things. Our hope is that parents might also try these kits and experiment at home with their children and experience some of the fun of figuring things out from observations. Minds can change by simply trying an experiment and observing the results. Our motivation is that these science kits might be catalysts for insight.

The Waldorf School and the End of Year Report May 27 2016

Assessment is a “hot topic” in the news and in educational debate. In Waldorf schools assessment takes many forms, none of which includes standardized testing.

During the year, concentrated “blocks” of study might include an end-of-block assessment. A block might be three or four weeks long and concentrate study on one topic. After a botany block in the fifth grade an outdoor “treasure” hunt to find, for example, a monocotyledon, a pistil, a tap root, a deciduous conifer branch, a dicotyledon, and so on, might be the "test.”    Read More...