Waldorf in the Home

Parenting with Spirit [3-workshop set]
Three Workshops by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns

These three workshops explain and further develop the themes in their book, Parenting with Spirit: A Waldorf Guide for the Three Phases of Childhood.
The first CD covers "Working with the Spiritual World." 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.

The second CD on "Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills" covers how children develop through the three 7-year periods and ways to work with developmental forces in parenting. The focus is on discovering how age-appropriate communication and mirroring can improve the parent-child relationship. Discussion time is included to assist with practical application.

The third CD focuses on boundaries, tolerating negativity and Waldorf-inspired discipline strategies for each 7-year period. Discussion time is included to help with practical application.

Order the 3-CD set and save $5! You pay only $32.50 instead of $37.50, if purchased individually.

The next chapter, "Discipline Skills for Parent-Child Conflicts," focuses on age-appropriate communication skills and strategies, and ways in which these need to change as your child grows and matures. Working with the spiritual world is also discussed, along with tips for co-parenting and single-parenting. The book ends with extensive appendices on therapeutic stories, suggested reading, and community resources.

I highly recommend this book! It is short--only 60 pages, spiral bound--but it's hard to find this information in such a concise, clearly written format! --Rahima

About the authors:
Joya Birns and Cindy Brooks co-lead the monthly support group at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School ("Parent Circle") and various workshops for parents. Joya previously taught early childhood and handwork classes in three Waldorf Schools and has worked with parent groups since 1982. Cindy received her MA in transpersonal psychology from Antioch University--Seattle in 1990. In 1995 she completed a two-year training in sandplay at the Child Therapy Institute of Marin and was licensed as an MFT in California in 1996. In 2003 she graduated from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training and has worked with the Care Group at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School since 2003.

Parenting with Spirit: Working with Negative Behavior in Children
Workshop by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns

This workshop focuses on boundaries, tolerating negativity and Waldorf-inspired discipline strategies for each 7-year period. Discussion time is included to help with practical application.

This workshop accompanies and expands on Chapter 4 in their book, Parenting with Spirit: A Waldorf Guide for the Three Phases of Childhood ($15). Other recrodings of Parenting with Spirit workshops that we offer include "Working with the Spiritual World" and "Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills."

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

Parenting with Spirit: Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills
Workshop by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns

In this workshop, you will review how children develop through the three 7-year periods and learn to work with developmental forces in parenting. The focus is on discovering how age-appropriate communication and mirroring can improve the parent-child relationship. Discussion time is included to assist with practical application.

This workshop further develops themes outlined in their book Parenting with Spirit: A Waldorf Guide for the Three Phases of Childhood ($15). We also offer two other Parenting with Spirit workshops by Cindy and Joya, "Working with the Spiritual World" and "Working with Negative Behavior in Children."

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

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 ($15.00). We also carry two other CDs from their workshops on Parenting with Spirit: "Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills" and "Working wtih Negative Behavior in Children."

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

"Parenting with Spirit: A Waldorf Guide for the Three Phases of Childhood"
Book by Cindy Brooks and Joya Birns

Cindy and Joya have written a much-needed book describing the three phases of childhood and ways in which effective parenting skills change in response to children's changing levels of development. The seven-year phases of development are described in the chapter on "Working with Developmental Forces in Parenting," as well as ways to influence children when they are centered in imitation (bith-7), admiration (7-14) and individuation (14-21).

The next chapter, "Discipline Skills for Parent-Child Conflicts," focuses on age-appropriate communication skills and strategies, and ways in which these need to change as your child grows and matures. Working with the spiritual world is also discussed, along with tips for co-parenting and single-parenting. The book ends with extensive appendices on therapeutic stories, suggested reading, and community resources.

The book is short (only 60 pages, spiral bound), but it's unique in presenting these ideas in such a concise, clearly understandable and practical way.

Cindy and Joya offered three workshops on "Parenting with Spirit" at our 2009 conference on "Educating Our Children--Changing the Future" in Fair Oaks. All three are available to purchase in CD format. The first session focuses on "Working with the Spiritual World." The second will help develop "Waldorf-Inspired Communication and Empathy Skills." And the third considers ways of "Working with Negative Behavior in Children." All three expand on the themes developed in the book.

About the authors:
Joya Birns and Cindy Brooks co-lead the monthly support group at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School ("Parent Circle") and various workshops for parents. Joya previously taught early childhood and handwork classes in three Waldorf Schools and has worked with parent groups since 1982. Cindy received her MA in transpersonal psychology from Antioch University--Seattle in 1990. In 1995 she completed a two-year training in sandplay at the Child Therapy Institute of Marin and was licensed as an MFT in California in 1996. In 2003 she graduated from the Bay Area Center for Waldorf Teacher Training and has worked with the Care Group at the Santa Cruz Waldorf School since 2003.

To order the book "Parenting with Spirit," click on the button below. We also sell three CD recordings of workshops by Joya and Cindy on Parenting with Spirit.

Book, $15.00

Teaching Children to Write with the Vimala Alphabet
Workshop by Jennifer Crebbin

Teach your child letter forms that support open and honest communication, being of service, engaged will power, and more. The Vimala alphabet is being used in many Waldorf schools, and through this video you will learn about teaching these forms to your child.

Video recoding in DVD format, $20.00

Changing Our Words--Changing the World
Workshop by DeAnna L'am

The words we speak can wound or heal. Become aware of the assumptions that inform your communication, and the needs behind them, to alter family and community environments into ones where everyone's needs are met.

Audio Recording in CD format, $12.50

"Re-imagine Money: Toward a New Economic Citizenship"
Keynote Address by John Bloom

Money reflects the architecture of human experience, our interior and exterior spaces, and the intersection of the two. This presentation looks at the opportunities we can take to reimagine those structures, to transform how we think about and transact with money as a step toward positive economic practices. By transforming ourselves in community and aligning our deepest spiritual values with our economic citizenship, we will lead the next generation to a freer and hopefully more enlightened relationship to money and the world of finance. In addition to the presentation, dialogue with the audience is included.

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

"How Would Our World be Different If...."
Keynote address on Mentoring Youth into Adulthood
by DeAnna L'am

How would our world be different if adolescent children were witnessed, cherished, and celebrated as they transition into adulthood? Since most of us have not been welcomed into adulthood as teens, our best intentions draw from a blank space within us. We must nourish the parts of ourselves that were left wanting in order to navigate and chart the unknown waters of mentoring our youth. This talk is intended to inspire you to embark on this demanding yet exciting journey.

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

"Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability"
Keynote Address by Lisa Bennett

Lisa Bennett, communications director for the Center for Ecoliteracy, discusses the hopeful new movement that is rising in schools across North America in response to the environmental challenges we are facing . Addressing these issues will require leaders and citizens who can think ecologically, which means: Schools need to prepare students who understand the principles by which nature sustains life and have the values, ability, and courage to act on that understanding. Lisa also discusses ways in which Waldorf parents and educators can participate in (and already are advancing) this important new movement in education.

Audio recording in CD format, $12.50

"Sharing the Joy of Nature"
Keynote address by Joseph Cornell

This recording of Joseph Cornell's keynote address at the "Children, Nature and Us" Conference provides many nature activities you can use with children and adults to increase awareness and enjoyment in nature. He demonstrates how to attract birds, how to one the senses by "being a camera," and many other enjoyable activities. Joseph also includes uplifting stories and insights from the lives of great nature mystics, including John Muir, Henry David Thoreau, and others. Lively and entertaining, with many practical applications.

Video recording in DVD format: $20.00

"Developing Healthy Sensory Integration:
Play in the Natural World"
Workshop by Nancy Blanning

Outdoor play in the natural world has supported sensory development for ages, and we need to reclaim this connection. Nancy takes participants on a playful walk and then explores the senses of touch, self-movement and balance, and ways to use the natural world as our playground for children's healthy development.

Video Recording in DVD format: $20.00

"Educating Our Children--Changing the Future" will be the theme of the annual spring parenting conference April 25-26 at Sacramento Waldorf School, sponsored by Informed Family Life.

We are living in times of tremendous change and challenges that call upon us to educate our children to have both new ways of seeing and creative thinking. What do children really need to be able to meet the problems they will be asked to solve as adults? How can we keep their idealism alive and provide the skills and abilities they will need to develop new ways of living sustainably?

This conference will offer more than three dozen workshops on social change, sustainability, parenting, home schooling and Waldorf education, which was founded out of an impulse for social change and cultural renewal. It will bring together keynote speakers from various social impulses:

"The Blessings of Change" will be discussed by Shea Darian, author of the new book Living Passages for the Whole Family, as well as Seven Times the Sun and Sanctuaries of Childhood: Nurturing a Child's Spiritual Life. Shea will explore the transformative power of blessings in family and community life, and how meaningful rites of passage from birth to adulthood help us and our children to live joyfully in the present, heal and celebrate the past, and foster courage and hope for the future. Shea is the mother of two grown daughters who attended Waldorf schools.

Lisa Bennett, Communications Director at The Center for Ecoliteracy, will share the principles and exciting applications of their program "Smart by Nature: Schooling for Sustainability" as it is being taken up by school communities across the country and around the world. Lisa is a researcher and writer, and has spoken at the National Press Club and appeared on the BBC, C-SPAN, Hardball, and many other programs.

John Bloom is Director of Organizational Culture at Rudolf Steiner Foundation Social Finance. He will share from the work he has been developing with the Transforming Money Collaborative as well as other educational programs addressing the intersection of money and spirit in personal and social transformation. RSF Social Finance provides innovative investing, lending, and philanthropic services to promote environmental, social, and economic sustainability.

Focusing on the tremendous changes in adolescence, DeAnna L'am will address the question, "How would our world be different if adolescent children were witnessed, cherished, and celebrated as they transitioned into adulthood?" DeAnna is a Waldorf parent and the founder of Red Moon--Cycles of Women's Wisdom™. She was the first to bring Rites of Passage work to mixed groups of Jewish and Palestinian women in Israel/Palestine, her country of origin. Her work helped participants bond as women beyond all political differences and artificial divides. DeAnna trains Red Tent facilitators, helps reclaim and renew Coming of Age traditions, and works internationally to inspire and equip adults to assume the task of Eldering our children. She is the author of Becoming Peers, Mentoring Girls into Womanhood.

You can join more than 250 like-minded parents for a weekend of inspiration and renewal by clicking on the conference link in the column at the right. It will take you to an information page with links to the complete 8-page brochure and secure online registration. Or you can call Informed Family Life at 303-546-0070 to request a brochure be mailed to you, or if you have any questions.

"Connecting Children and Nature"
Workshop by Jill Dreves

Explore your connection to the natural world and how it impacts your child's. Based on the work of Richard Louv (Last Child in the Woods) and the work of the Wild Bear Center for Nature Discovery in Nederland, Colorado, Jill shares the current trends and research on the importance of connecting children with nature. Participants also make a biodome, a great project to do with your children.

Video Recording: DVD, $20

"Can We See with Fresh Eyes? Replacing Habits of Abstract Thought"
Workshop by Craig Holdrege

Do we encourage our children to enjoy the night sky, or do we explain how many light years away those stars are? To help our children have deep experiences of the world, we need to overcome our tendency to over-intellectualize--to explain and define. Can we learn to hold back, provide opportunities for quiet observation, and portray the world with open-ended concepts that can grow as children grow?

Audio Recording: CD, $12.50

"Inner Nature: The Four Elements and the Temperaments"
Workshop by Cheryl Mulholland

The four elements also appear within human nature as our temperament, with each person expressing an affinity towards earth, air, fire and water in how they think, feel and act in life. Understanding the temperaments can improve our relationships and parenting and help us guide our children with their strengths and weaknesses.

Audio Recording: CD, $12.50

"Gardening as a Pathway to Understanding Nature"
Workshop by Chris Korrow

An organic/biodynamic garden is a miniature ecosystem in which the gardener strives to mimic the workings of nature. Gardens vary greatly from location to location, and understanding your specific plot will give you insight as to the best way to deal with its uniqueness. These simple concepts are also a great aid in teaching children about gardening, biodiversity, soil science, the environment and even climate change.

Audio recording: CD, $12.50

"The Sky Starts at your Feet: Nature from a Child's View"
Keynote Address by Sharon Lovejoy

Nationally-known author Sharon Lovejoy (Roots, Shoots, Buckets & Boots, Sunflower Houses, and Trowel & Error) shares ways to enchant and enliven children's relationships with nature through gardens and gardening. Sharon shares a collection of simple techniques for learning with children, not teaching at them as she shares her formula of the Five S's.

Audio: CD recording, $12.50

Storytelling from the Heart
By Cynthia Wand

I believe that one of the greatest contributors to dis-connection from our children today is technology. I feel it is has somewhat replaced one of our most cherished threads of bonding in families, the art of storytelling.

The origins of storytelling are ancient and lost in the mist of time. I imagine one of the first stories told was perhaps around a flickering fire in the gloomy recess of a cave. Maybe a primitive hunter told his family of his successful hunt as they devoured the game that he brought home? Or, more likely, he told of how courageously he fought when a terrible animal tried to steal his kill, adding a little imaginative details to convince his hungry family that he had done all he could but was foiled by cruel fate?

The power of the story has been with us for eons and has definitely taken a back seat in the homes of many families today.

As Waldorf home schoolers for many years, and igniting our creative story telling fires from within, my husband Steven and I realized how much this lost art, brought back into our own home, established a deeper heart connection with our daughters Sophie and Sadie. They also still enjoy hearing stories about our own childhood, youth, and our adult single years.

One of my greatest joys as a mother has been centered around bedtime. Those first precious years of lighting the candle, singing the songs, telling our fairy tale and reciting our favorite bedtime verse are memories I will cherish forever.
As our first daughter Sophie reached about four years of age, my husband Steven and I began taking turns with an occasional alternative form of story telling at bedtime. Jammies were on, teeth were brushed and she anxiously waited on her bed for this weekly ritual.

We didn't start entirely from scratch. Sophie helped us a little with her own creative expression. Each time we asked her to give us three magical objects and slip them into the pockets of our storytelling cloak, where we would then creatively weave them into the story. The more random they were the better. I don't take credit for this style of storytelling. It was given to me from a fellow Waldorf home schooling mother, and is a great way to involve especially a young child in the creative process, as well as make for some very unusual, and inspiring stories.

When our second daughter, Sadie, was around three years of age we began also to include her in the process and asked her for three objects as well. Being over five years apart in age made for some diversity with the objects, and a total of six random objects was about my limit as far as memory was concerned. On some nights when the creativity was waning, or the fatigue waxing, I had to cheat and write them down! So I suggest if you have three or four fairly young children you may want them to contribute only one or two objects each.

Sometimes I really missed the mark. I would watch the girls as I grasped for a thread or struggled to find some humor, their faces blank, especially as Sophie grew older and more discerning. Other times, however, I felt like Hemingway, or Mark Twain, with the words just pouring from my mind and my daughters' eyes riveted to mine. On several occasions I was so impressed by my stories that I could barely finish them because of my tears.

There were stories of death, courage, love, and stories of mystical, magical enchantment that had my girls hanging on the edge of every word. There were even stories of humor that would take them to a place of kicking their legs in hysteria. There were words like baby stroller, bunny, the sun, gnome, semi-truck and fairy all in the same story.

There were times when it took me nearly ten minutes to begin my story and times when I began with great authority in only 30 seconds.

Those fifteen to thirty minutes with my daughters were precious times. They fueled my creativity and allowed me to connect with them from the heart. Although reading to our children can be a wonderful time as well, telling a story, whether it be fictional or something from our past,bonds us together like an epoxy glue made from love. Story time honors our Spirit by allowing It to flow into the hearts of others.

What greater time than now to tell your children a story! Whether they're two or eighteen, there is a story within you that they will connect with. There is a story about a special Christmas you experienced, a story about a time you really struggled, or there's a story that you'll create from three simple objects.

Whether story time is at bedtime, midday, or around the campfire, it matters not. Stories, face to face, heart to heart, are a powerful antidote to the disease of disconnection. In this day of texting, video games and computers, where children may be feeling more disconnected, stories deserve more than ever to find a place in the home, from your heart, and into theirs.

Share your stories TODAY. Your children will become more attentive, more connected, and more creative, as will you! You will begin a foundation of love and connection in the family that will be with you forever.The recent attraction and draw of technology will NEVER replace the connection established with a mother's or father's gift of the story.
Want your child to thrive? Give yourself to them, and find the time to spread your love, attention and your creativity through stories, and you'll be amazed at the heart connections you will strengthen.

Steven and Cynthia Wand have been Waldorf homeschoolers and are the authors of Living The Heart Life... Letting Go of the Hard Life. They offer transformational mentoring/coaching in the area of relationships and parenting. Visit http://www.livingtheheartlife.com to sign up for their free Love Notes Newsletter.

Joan Almon, Chair of the US Alliance for Childhood shares the following about their important work in promoting play [Note that we have two talks on play available by Joan, The Rebirth of Play and Re-Creating Play.]

Our last update invited you to help us promote the new PBS documentary Where Do the Children Play? by organizing a local screening of the film. You responded with a flood of requests, and we have now sent out more than 250 copies of the film for screenings in the U.S. and abroad. The reports we are getting say that audiences are provoked, moved, and inspired to take action in their communities.

The film is changing people's thinking about the need for more play at home, in nature, and in schools. We will continue to fill requests for community screenings as long as we can. You can also purchase a DVD of the film for $19.95 from Michigan Television, the producer. See their web site: www.wfum.org/childrenplay. The film is now available for airing on PBS stations. Let the program director at your local affiliate know that you would like to see it broadcast in your community.

This month's playwork institute at Sarah Lawrence College in New York, called "Facilitating Play for Young Children," is completely filled, with a waiting list of applicants. We are exploring the idea of creating similar institutes and workshops in other parts of the country.

Penny Wilson, the London playworker who has been helping the Alliance to spread the word about the playwork profession and its principles and practice in the U.S., has inspired many people to see the importance of play in a whole new light. One of those people is Nancy Barthold, the Assistant Commissioner for Recreation and Programming of the New York City Parks Department.

Here's what Barthold writes in the Spring 2008 issue of Outdoors in New York City:

For many of today's children, play opportunities have turned into a world full of electronic games, plastic toys, and structured sports activities. They seem to have forgotten, or never had the chance to experience, the fun of building a fort using rocks and sticks or pretending to be an explorer while trekking through the woods. Get reacquainted with games such as hide-and-seek and scavenger hunts. All one really needs is a vivid imagination. Batteries not included.

This spring, our Recreation Division and the Urban Park Rangers will collaborate to bring you new and exciting play opportunities. Playworkers and Rangers will refocus how children look at nature--to see it as a world full of "loose parts."

Nancy Barthold is one of the movers and shakers with whom we are now working as part of the New York Coalition for Play. Our goal is nothing less than to transform the face of childhood in New York by making freely chosen play accessible to every child. And New York is not the only place where these things are happening. Similar coalitions are forming in cities and towns all over the country.

Play is suddenly very much in the news. But we won't be satisfied until we see it on every playground, in every neighborhood, in after-school programs and other out-of-school spaces, in fact everywhere that children gather. And we want every parent to appreciate the importance of play and to feel safe about their children going out to play.

That's why we're focusing on the professional development of playworkers in this country. Playworkers know how to create safe but adventuresome play spaces. They know how to keep an eye on children without intruding and "adulterating" their play. They know how to help when needed and wear a cloak of invisibility at other times. They protect children and reassure adults.

Outdoor play in nature and in parks and playgrounds is important. But so is indoor play, especially for young children. The Alliance is committed to restoring play to kindergarten classrooms and preserving it in preschool programs.

We know it will be a hard sell. Most public kindergartens are now full-day programs and most of their time is devoted to academic instruction. Kindergarten teachers are under pressure to get children ready for standardized tests. Many of them are being told by supervisors that they may not let their children play. Some are forced to follow scripts for hours each day. Many districts expect children to have basic reading skills when they enter kindergarten, so the focus in preschool is also shifting from exploratory learning and play to academic instruction.

All of this flies in the face of what we know about young children. They discover themselves and the world around them through self-initiated, creative play and hands-on exploration. Through such activity they develop oral language, an essential building block for reading. They develop social skills through the negotiation and planning that is part of play.

Children who engage regularly in active outdoor play tend to have healthy bodies and develop a love for nature. And play strengthens imagination and creativity, essential ingredients for the kind of open-ended thinking that the world needs.

In the fall we will issue a new report on early childhood education and launch a campaign to restore play and experiential learning in preschools and kindergartens. Stay tuned.

To continue this vital work we need your support. Our fiscal year ends on June 30 and we must raise $15,000 to end the year with a balanced budget. Your gifts both large and small are deeply appreciated. You can make your tax-deductible donation by mail or online at the Alliance's secure web site: www.allianceforchildhood.org.

For those who can give $100 or more we offer a special bonus: a copy of A Place for Play, a beautiful new volume of play articles and color photographs edited by Elizabeth Goodenough, published by the National Institute for Play and the University of Michigan Press.

To one and all we wish a healthy summer. Our prescription: Use it as a time to relax your body and deepen your thinking. Play accomplishes both.

With all best wishes,
Joan Almon
Chair, U.S. Alliance for Childhood