Waldorf Learning Support: Books from Audrey McAllen, Joep Eikenboom NOW AVAILABLE! October 22 2024

For decades through the twentieth and early twenty-first centuries, in England, Audrey McAllen studied the indications given by Rudolf Steiner about child development, sleep, breathing, children’s drawings, and the circulation of the blood, the system of our nerves, temperaments, and much more. She worked these into specific exercises and specific class exercises to give strength to the therapeutic work made possible by a Waldorf class and classroom.

Ingun Schneider worked with Audrey McAllen for fifteen year to merge her own in depth experiences in the classroom with the knowledge of Audrey McAllen. Ingun has founded Waldorf Learning Support (WLS) to help teachers comprehend the power of accomplishing exercises with a whole class that helps all children to master specific capacities to aid in a more complete incarnation and a harmonious blending of therapeutic activities into a whole class experience.

The tendency in the contemporary culture is to isolate children who are struggling with ordinary learning in a classroom setting. While exercises of support for individuals such as these children is also a possibility, work with a whole class to utilize the social intentions of the ideals behind the building of a class community and the cultivation of care, one for another, possible in that class community. What is excellent support for a struggling child become good for the whole class of children.

Waldorf is very excited to be selected by WLS to publish and distribute the books that form the body of the Extra Lesson work, developed over the last fifty years. With help from Steiner Books, Waldorf Publications now can off these books for supporting teachers in remedial care as Waldorf Learning Support develops an all new edition of The Extra Lesson:

This Extra Lesson book is the original edition by Audrey McAllen and will be replaced soon with a new, expanded edition including Ingun Schneider’s edits and additions out of the long-time work done developing ideas. This edition is the last of the original stock remaining.

These books offer a treasure trove of ideas for balancing and supporting difficulties in learning children have. Thoughtful, experientially-based practices are all through these valuable manuscripts with explanations about why as well as how. Ingun is working to revise the books to include her own research and exercises based on her work with Audrey McAllen.

Deeper Look - Autumn-Nature Activities for Children October 08 2024

"Autumn Nature Activities for Children" is a comprehensive guide filled with creative and engaging nature-based projects designed to connect children with the natural world.

New Release - Parzival: A Forerunner of the Modern Human Being June 25 2024

Parzival
Forerunner of the Modern Human Being

The archetypal legend of the famous, bungling hero, Parzival, holds lessons for all human beings. We start out as ignorant ingenues, without a clue about the great world; stumbling after what we believe we want and wish to be, hurting others, making wrong assumptions, following rules others have laid out instead of finding for ourselves what it is that we are called to do.

Book Review - Verses and Poems and Stories to Tell March 10 2024

Dorothy Harrer's Verses and Poems & Stories to Tell is a charming collection that embodies the spirit of childhood wonder and the rich tradition of storytelling. Through a delightful mixture of verses, poems, and fairy tales, Harrer invites readers into a world where the mundane meets the magical.

Bees — and Books about Them! September 27 2023

Can there ever be too many books for the young about bees? In our time of worries about the diminishing number of bees in the world, stories that help us all, children especially, to feel connected to bees through appreciation and gratitude, through love, are important. Fostering a lifelong sense of wonder and protectiveness for these tiny creatures who give us honey, nourishment, bees wax, and who pollinate fruit trees, herbs, and all flowering plants is imperative to the bees and our own survival.

Book Review: Handbook of Research on Waldorf Education — Jost Schieren, Ed. August 25 2023

Here, at long last, is a book which identifies the scientific underpinnings of Waldorf Education!!

Published by Routledge, the internationally acclaimed academic publisher, this book defines the exclusion of Waldorf Education for 100 years from circles on educational science, missing the opportunities for mutual stimulation and collaboration.

Book Review: Louis Braille - A Blind Boy Invents Braille July 24 2023

How can we stand firm in love and gratitude when misfortune descends upon us? Trust in the purposefulness of all that comes our way is a difficult skill to master! Louis Braille demonstrates to us a humbling answer to this challenging question and to mastering the demanding skill of trust.

This latest release from Waldorf Publications has us excited like never before. Louis Braille, a Blind Boy Invents Braille is another masterful telling of a story by Jakob Streit, made possible by the Streit Family Foundation in Switzerland and by Nina Kuettel, the fine translator.

Just in time for Earth Day! The Green Curriculum in Waldorf Schools April 21 2023

A Twelve Part Series
From Roots to Bloom

A few years ago on AWSNA’s “Green Pages” Sarah Hearn, Waldorf graduate from the New York City Rudolf Steiner School, with help from a class teacher or two, wrote a series of short articles on the many ways in which the curriculum in our schools connects a child to the Earth, awakens a devoted love of Nature and grows environmentalists who carry a passion for caring for the Earth and all its gifts. Sarah has agreed to have these little articles republished as a guest blogger here. She called her series “From Roots to Bloom,” to emphasize the growth in a human being as reflected in the plant kingdom. We are delighted about Sarah’s giving us permission as this overview of the “green curriculum” bears repeating many times. Embedded as it is in all that’s done in Waldorf schools, it’s wonderful to see it teased out for a minute to reveal some of its better parts!

Holi — The Hindu Festival of Colors, India March 08 2023

Water balloons, powders of vibrant colors, feasting, music, dancing; the festival of Holi is celebrated in March in the Hindu calendar during the full moon. It celebrates the coming of spring and the triumph of good over evil.

This festival, dating back to the 4^th century CE, memorializes the story of Vishnu, the god who comes to earth in one of his several incarnations as a human being — this time as Narasimha— and is the celebration of his defeat of the demon twins, Hiranyakashipu and Hiranyaksha.

Imbolc, Groundhog Day, St. Brigid’s Day, Candlemas Day and the Celtic Calendar of Celebrations February 01 2023

By the ancient Celtic calendar, the year was divided into four seasons. The mighty passage of the sun through these periods signaled the change of seasons—as it does for us today. These days and times vary slightly from year-to-year. For 2023 the dates for the Northern Hemisphere are:

The Summer Solstice (June 21) marks the longest day of the year when there is more daylight than on any other day of the year.
The Autumnal Equinox (September 22) marks the day in fall when there is an exact equality of daylight and darkness.

Saint Nicholas and Building a Capacity for Self-Reflection in the Young - A Waldorf Perspective December 05 2022

December 6 is the day marked to celebrate the legendary Saint Nicholas (15 March 270 – 6 December 343)—the prototype for our North American Santa Claus. His feast day is often celebrated in Waldorf schools, though in some schools his celebration has been disapproved and removed for being too Eurocentric or too harsh for children. His legends are rooted in German lore and in Dutch stories (Sinterklaas* is his name in Dutch). But vestiges of this remarkable saint pop up in many places throughout Europe, Turkey, parts of Dutch-colonized African countries, North America and elsewhere.

Traditionally when Saint Nicholas appears to children, he wears the garb of an early Christian bishop* (so he wears a funny mitered hat, as some children would tell you) and he carries a large golden book. In this book are written all the good deeds children have done on one page, and on the opposing page, unfortunate deeds and challenges facing the child are written. Saint Nicholas addresses each child with these balancing facts of the little one’s life.

A Deeper Look into the Days of Michaél September 29 2022

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 the change in the stars.

Book Review: From Mechanism to Organism: Enlivening the Study of Human Biology August 16 2022

At long last, a resource book for high school teachers, parents, and students that brings to life the experiential approach to the complex subject of human biology!  Michael Holdrege’s decades of experience at the Chicago Waldorf School teaching middle and high school science and math shines on every page of this penetrating book. From Mechanism to Organism contains wonderful illustrations that demonstrate valuable ideas for teachers to use in bringing different aspects of the ninth-and tenth-grade science in a Waldorf curriculum to high school students.

Book Review: Bare Hand Crafting - the sequel to Bare Hand Knitting November 01 2021

If you loved Bare Hand Knitting, here is Aleshanee Akin’s next volume, Bare Hand Crafting 2! It is filled with more advanced techniques using yarn, thread, and your own two beautiful hands!  Many have asked about this upcoming treasure trove of creativity and now it is here! In addition to learning how to knit without needles, you can learn to hand knit in three dimensions, and to crochet, embroider, and combine all your skills to make lovely things to wear, to play with, and to enjoy.

Book Review: Form Drawing October 11 2021

Form Drawing is a book about a subject unique to Waldorf schools. This book offers the best introduction to form drawing this Library Lady has ever seen! Form Drawing is full-color and bursting-with-illustrations—it is a must-have for understanding this powerful and engaging artistic subject!

Beginning on the first day of first grade, form drawing helps artistically to develop in children a sense of space, movement, balance, proportion,

Now Available - Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals: Toward a Biology of Form March 29 2021

Waldorf Publications is pleased to announce the inclusion of Wolfgang Schad’s new edition of his master work: Threefoldness in Humans and Mammals (original editions in English titled: Understanding Mammals or Man and Animal) in our offerings. Anyone teaching fourth grade or High School, anyone interested in strengthening the relationship to the animal world must have this two-volume set!  The photographs are compelling, the information is comprehensive and compassionate, and the shared relationship between mammals and human beings is made crystal clear and movingly complete through this deep study. It is a necessarily expensive set, but the results are beyond ordinary value and you will treasure the books for a lifetime!

Waldorf Grade 7 Book Recommendations February 25 2021

Seventh graders are in the throes of the mighty force of puberty and the birth of the last of the “finer bodies” that some would call the “aura” of the human being. No births are quiet and the chatter in a classroom is the sound that begins in sixth grade and lasts through eighth and signals the arrival of a new birth, new capacities, and new challenges. The growth at this time in a young human being rivals the growth of a newborn and will not be repeated for the rest of life.

Waldorf Grade 6 Book Recommendations February 19 2021

In sixth grade, the 11/12 year-old is usually beginning to experience the onset of puberty. Growth happens at an increasingly rapid rate and the child often goes through a time of alarm, not recognizing who he or she is anymore. Just as a single example, somewhere during the time of puberty a girl’s larynx grows to three times its original size and a boy’s, seven times its original size. This growth rate will never be repeated in the life span of human development.

Book Review: Xavier Sings Stories of His Alphabet Friends January 12 2021

Technology has opened vistas galore on the science of brain development. One remarkable discovery for Waldorf teachers and parents is how potent music is in developing memory. All of us are much more likely to remember something if we learn it in song.

 

This isn't surprising in one significant way: music often makes us feel, sometimes very deeply. It cultivates a mood, and we are more likely to recall the mood than the content. If something is very funny or very sad or very moving or very shocking, we are much more likely to remember than if there is no mood at all. Once the mood is evoked, the content then follows.

Waldorf Grade 5 Book Recommendations December 15 2020

The fifth-grade child is reaching the height of childhood. Capacities have solidified and consolidation runs through the whole fifth grade year. The child begins to realize what he or she knows and can do. Rudolf Steiner said that fifth grade is a year of balance. Though this is true, it can be misleading. It doesn’t necessarily mean that the fifth-grade year is without any problems. This balance is most clearly true for the physical maturing of the child, as a child. For the first time the breath and heartbeat reach adult proportions. Each breath is now accompanied by four heartbeats.

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: Immersion Learning - A Travelogue July 31 2020

by Franz Lutters in conjunction with Leiden University, the Netherlands

What is this unusual practice in Waldorf schools around the world, that has teachers, day after day, two hours each day, week after week for, sometimes, four weeks teaching the same subject?! It is called “block teaching,” with a single subject the consistent focus for three, four, and sometimes up to six weeks, depending on the teacher and the goals for the class.