Candlemas and Groundhog Day February 02 2021

Today is one of those cross-quarter days. Some celebrate it as Ground hog day or the day when our hope of an end to winter might be divined by a groundhog. “Punxsutawney Phil,” from Punxsutawney, Pennsylvania, has been the official weather groundhog, marking this day since 1887. 2016 marks his 130th year of predicting, with 100% accuracy, whether or not winter will be done in six weeks or will continue beyond that six weeks.

Waldorf Grade 4 Book Recommendations December 01 2020

Youngsters in grade four are now ten years old and have past the nine-year-old shift in consciousness but are still smoothing this out in their understanding of the world. Their new independence means a bit of separation from parents and teachers and some cantankerousness as this adjustment settles. The curriculum brings...

Waldorf Grade 2 Book Recommendations November 02 2020

Following Waldorf Grade 1 recommendations, here comes Waldorf Grade 2! Remember that books for general self-development and foundational work for teaching were offered in a previous writing. Also note that there are too many books in all these lists to presume that anyone should read them all, but knowing what books are available can help in deciding about the one or two or three books (or more!) that might prove useful as a guide both for teachers and students.

Waldorf Grade 1 Book Recommendations October 19 2020

Books for general self-development and foundational work for teaching were offered in a previous writing. Now we will offer grade by grade book recommendations. There are too many books in all these lists, remember, to think that we are advising that anyone read them all.

Book Review - Tatatuck’s Journey to Crystal Mountain October 07 2020

Finding a story that has authentic imagination is a true delight and this story of a small gnome hero has just that! Tatatuck is an ordinary root pulling gnome who wishes to become a crystal mining gnome.  He is small and so his dream seems highly unlikely to be fulfilled. One day he is asked if he feels brave enough to travel over the seven mountains to Crystal Mountain to bring back an important jewel for the gnomes.

Finding Indoor Ways! April 06 2020

Guaranteed Cures for Cabin Fever
There’s something about being told you have to stay indoors that creates an immediate urgency to get outside! If you are at home with children of any age, this urgency can become almost frantic at times. It’s important to re-orient our thinking to something along the lines of, “Ah! We get to stay in! We don’t have to rush to be anywhere at all!” And we have some ideas about how to help you actually enjoy this time.

The Importance of Rhythm
To the extent possible, build a new daily rhythm and stick to it, not rigidly, but at least approximately.  After a few days, you’ll see that the family looks forward to “the next thing” they anticipate even if it’s not their favorite thing. Rhythm solves many “cabin fever” issues, you will see!

Using Our Hands Has a Calming Effect March 25 2020

Certainly, in these times of being housebound for preventing the spread of illness, the uncertainty and fearful anticipation can cause nervous restlessness, particularly in children whose rhythms are disrupted. Establishing new rhythms can be very helpful, and so can using our hands (after washing, of course) in constructive activities.

Book Review: Bare Hand Knitting October 01 2019

Bare Hand Knitting — Tool Free Knitting at It's Finest

Aleshanee Aikin does not think as ordinary people do. She is multi-lingual, interested in everything, and endlessly busy with her creative hands. In her new book, Bare Hand Knitting, Tool Free Knitting at Its Finest, she applies these remarkably different ways of thinking to teaching us a technique known mostly by Waldorf kindergarten teachers: finger knitting.

Book Review: Exploring Shapes Creatively Through Pure Form Modeling September 01 2019

Exploring Shapes Creatively Through Pure Form Modeling

Arthur Auer’s new book on modeling is a genuine launch into the unknown territory of creating form and knowing yourself better while exploring!  He gathers thoughts from many before him, including himself!  But the book casts a new look at using clay for modeling as a means to self-development and creativity.  The book is big, chock full of strong ideas, with specific exercises to attempt, and worthwhile practices.

Interview with Betty Staley, author of "Tending the Spark" May 02 2019

Betty Staley’s new book, Tending the Spark, Lighting the Future for Middle Schools Students, has generated a spark! Clearly, all of us responsible for this vulnerable age need help in understanding. Meg Gorman stepped up to interviewing Betty to find out more about her motives in writing this book.

Book Review: Tending the Spark April 04 2019

Tending the Spark: Lighting the Future for Middle School Students is Betty Staley’s latest contribution to better understanding child development to better educate the child. This is a book every parent and teacher of eleven to fifteen-year-olds must read! Tending the Spark covers a multiplicity of topics related to raising and teaching middle-schoolers. Everything from physical development, brain development, peer pressure, social media, and creativity are covered in this thorough sweep through middle school changes and realities.

Book Review: Research Bulletin, Special Issue: Technology’s Rightful Place October 15 2018

This new book from Waldorf Publications is a compilation of three consecutive issues of the Research Bulletin all devoted to examination of technology and the results of its use. The Research Institute for Waldorf Education (RIWE) held three international colloquia over as many years, expanded board meetings over several days, with presenters who prepared different aspects of technology, the element of silicon, and research on electronics. The book offers a handy reference to fine essays on the power, miraculous effectiveness, and devastation that result from technology’s defining of our culture.

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.

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: 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.

How Do Children Learn to Write and to Read? October 13 2017

Literacy has been made an urgent issue in the last decade. As parents and teachers, we worry, often deeply. Back in the 1900s, we didn’t worry so desperately. Dr. Seuss’s Cat in the Hat, and T.V.’s “Sesame Street” were ever present to reassure us that ways were there for children to learn to read. Maybe these extrinsic tools for children to learn to read and copy writing laid the foundations for the worry — if these tools did not do the trick, perhaps there was something wrong with the child.

Book Review: Willibrord - A Wandering Saint in Dialog with His Friends October 02 2017

This new book by Frans Lutters, experienced Waldorf teacher from Holland, Willibrord, A Wandering Saint in Dialog with his Friends, holds great potential for teachers and parents looking for the right mood for story telling with seven and eight year olds.

Teachers and parents of second graders face the delicious challenge of filling eager young souls with rich ideas filled with ideals in a right way. In Waldorf schools, the teacher’s efforts of forming a class in grade one settles over the summer months and second graders arrive ready for good stories and new knowledge.

Book Review: The Dynamic Heart and Circulation September 13 2017

Edited by Craig Holdrege
Reviewed by Ronald Koetzsch

 

Most of us learned in high school biology that the human heart is a four-chambered mechanical pump. The size of a fist, it sends blood to the lungs to be oxygenated and then sends the returning oxygen-rich blood throughout the body in the roughly 60,000 miles of arteries, veins, and capillaries. Even considered only as a mechanical pump, the heart is amazing. The heart beats, without ceasing, about 72 times a minute, over 4,000 times in an hour, about 100,000 times in the course of a day, 365,000,000 times in a year, and about 24 billion times in the course of an average lifetime!

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Book Review: Award Winning "Helping Children on Their Way" August 16 2017

Waldorf Publications is proud to be recognized by Mom’s Choice Awards with Helping Children on Their Way

Elizabeth Auer has assembled a remarkable group of educators to write about many aspects of supporting children in their different and varied “stuck places” along the road to a balanced development for life.

Book Review: Earth Science July 17 2017

By Hans-Ulrich Schmutz, PhD
Reviewed by Ronald Koetzsch

Many Waldorf parents and Waldorf teachers regret that they themselves did not receive a Waldorf education. But parts of the Waldorf curriculum can be studied and experienced at any age. Earth Science, by Hans-Ulrich Schmutz, although meant as a guide for Waldorf high school science teachers, gives any rueful adult the opportunity to work through the rich Waldorf earth science curriculum for grades nine through twelve.

Book Review: The Falconer June 11 2017

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