I was drawn to the State  House this winter to follow a bill that set out to remove parents rights for a true informed consent to vaccines. What an adventure it has been following a bill through committee and back to committee and with all sorts of amendments that turned it into the opposite of what it set out to be. In the end parents in Vermont did wind up with conditions on the philosophical exemption that was renamed the Philosophical Conviction. The religious exemption too now has conditions one must sign off to in order to exercise that right. The medical exemption was tightened and the Department of Health very quietly started pushing Child Care providers to report the names of children whose family uses an exemption. This applies to Waldorf preschool programs too. The state is looking to the schools to report the “Exemptors” supposedly in case of an outbreak, although more practically it seems to be a means to harass families that do not adhere to the ever growing vaccine schedule for children. Child care providers and schools are not allowed to report this  private information without the consent of parents. Be sure to let your school and child care providers know if you want your privacy protected.

 

 

 

 

 

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

 

.

To wonder at beauty,

Stand guard over truth,

Look up to the noble,

Decide for the good:

.

This leadeth man truly to purpose in living,

To right in his doing,

To peace in his feeling,

To light in his thinking.

.

And teaches him trust in the working of God

In all that there is:

In the width of the world

In the depths of the soul.

January 2012

 

 

Dear Readers,

Happy New Year!

Twenty twelve brings us so much to look forward to on The Wonder of Childhood.  We have a year of articles lined up for you including Interviews, Book Reviews, Give Aways and a continuation of the columns we began with last March.

Help spread the word about The Wonder of Childhood with our “button”

 

We are grateful to our sponsors for their support. If you have a product or a site you’d like to publicize, give us a holler at: thewonderofchildhood@yahoo.com to see if we might be able to help you. Our rates are reasonable and returns high.

We love contributions of the written kind too, as in Articles. If you blog or write and have an idea for The Wonder of Childhood we’d love to talk with you.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

 

“Winter is dark, yet each tiny spark
Brightens the way to Christmas Day.
Shine little light and show us the way
To the great light of Christmas day”

December 2011

Dear Readers,

As the year 2012 draws to a close, we are working very hard on the content for next year’s The Wonder of Childhood. We have some very exciting pieces lined up as well as interviews with movers and shakers in the world of Waldorf education. We’ll get back on track with some of our original columns too.

Warm and bright wishes to you all

Lisa

 

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From the Editors Desk

November 2011

 

 

Dear Readers,

A warm welcome to you in November. The days are growing darker and we are busy making lanterns to light our way through the dark of winter. Thanksgiving in Canada and the United States brings a moment to gather and acknowledge the bounty in our lives. The harvest is out up. The hearth is warmed by wood, tea and good company. Bedtime comes more easily with darkness falling before dinner.

Warmly,

Lisa

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

 

“Delicious autumn!   My very soul is wedded to it,
and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth
seeking the successive autumns.”
-   George Eliot  

October 2011

 

Dear Readers,

Welcome!

What a whirlwind this month of autumn has been! Has it been this way for you too?

Yet you are still coming, from all over the world to visit here at The Wonder of Childhood. This is what our readership looks like, on any given day, a sample from all over the planet.

Here in Vermont, it is indeed golden everywhere with hints of more to come in the reds and oranges. If you are thinking about coming to Vermont, please do! The roads are open and the people who run shops and restaurants and places to stay need your business more than ever to help move through the devastation they experienced.

This month, I am honored and delighted to bring you a beautiful, inspiring and deeply touching article, Striving, Loving, Trust and Time: Reflections on Cultivating Maternal Confidence,  by Liza Fox.

Connie Helms brings us the third piece The Sense of Self Movement in her excellent series on The Foundational Senses.

Warmly,

Lisa

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From the Editor’s Desk

 

“Season of mists and mellow fruitfulness,
Close bosom-friend of the maturing sun;
Conspiring with him how to load and bless
With fruit the vines that round the thatch-eves run;

To bend with apples the moss’d cottage-trees,
And fill all fruit with ripeness to the core;
To swell the gourd, and plump the hazel shells
With a sweet kernel; to set budding more,

And still more, later flowers for the bees,
Until they think warm days will never cease,
For Summer has o’er-brimm’d their clammy cells.”
-   John Keats,  To Autumn

September 2011

 

Dear Readers,

Here we are in the whirlwind of a new year, the school year. Somehow it always feels like the new year for me, the time of new beginnings and new projects. My new project is here, a continuation of something I began last spring.

The children and teachers are back to school at home and in school. A new year has begun.

The fruits and vegetables that have been growing since spring are ready for harvest. Apples, peaches, tomatoes and corn keep resurfacing on our table and are begging to be put up for winter.

The cool crisp air of autumn helps us pull in to clearer thinking as Mother Earth inhales her forces, deep into her earthen belly. The trees leaves are beginning to turn gold and red here in Vermont and the pumpkins are ripe for picking. Our favorite organic berry picking farm found itself first flooded thigh high by the springtime rains and then with hurricane Irene under water once again this year.

In Vermont, many farms and many, many families were devastated by hurricane Irene and  the rivers that rose so rapidly, no one could imagine the destruction that was to come. This edition includes an Interview with a Waldorf homeschooling mom whose family was touched deeply by the storm. As you may know, the Chinese character for  ”crisis” also contains  ”opportunity” and this crisis has been an opportunity for people to help each other through the devastation and loss experienced by so many. If you are inclined to help and want to know how, you’ll find out how and where you might do so in this edition.

This edition contains the final installment of The Fourth “A “: Allowance or Letting Go in David Sewell McCann’s series on Intuitive Storytelling with Children. In it he paints a picture of life really, of how we might wander through a situation and come to an impasse yet with trust, find our way through.

Connie Helms bring us a look at the second of the Foundational Senses in The Sense of Life. She brings us a broader picture of the whys and hows of so many elements of early childhood programs in Waldorf education. For Waldorf parents who keep hearing about warmth, rhythm, sleep and protection from media exposure from the teachers, this article may bring some context out of which those needs arise for the young child.

Danielle Epifani, of Director of Margaret’s Garden in North Berkeley, brings us something to contemplate on the deeper meaning of  Michaelmas as well as some ideas on how to celebrate Michaelmas with children in Michaelmas Thoughts on “The Festival of Human Becoming.“

 

Warm regards,

Lisa

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From the Editor’s Desk

 

“In summer, the song sings itself.”
-  William Carlos Williams

August 2011

 

My Dear Readers,

We are in the throes of sunshine and  the glorious days of summer  The hot, humid, sticky days and nights of the last few weeks  have given way to oh so comfortable days as well as pleasant nights with a gentle breeze for sleeping . The mosquitoes are surprisingly few in the evenings.  We’ve been enjoying long, lazy days by the lake that bring sound and restful sleep at night. Mornings are long and lingering. Simplicity reigns and it’s so easy to be outdoors. The outdoor table is so pleasant. It’s resplendent with the bounty of the season’s harvest: blueberries, lettuces, summer squash, zucchini, chard, kale and sweet, ripe tomatoes. Grilling and eating outdoors makes for little clean up. It’s easy to imagine how simply one might live in a climate that remains like this year round. Yet  in the gentle breezes coming across the lake, there is a hint of change. The morning breeze is crisp, hinting of what is to come.

Sarah Orne Jewett put it this way some hundred someodd years ago:

“This was one of those perfect New England days in late summer where the spirit of autumn takes a first stealing flight, like a spy, through the ripening country-side, and, with feigned sympathy for those who droop with August heat, puts her cool cloak of bracing air about leaf and flower and human shoulders.” -  The Courting of Sister Wisby, 1887

Coming with the bracing air is the new school year. With this issue we will be introducing some regular columns to help you plan and organize family life through the school year. We’ll move through the rhythm of the year with household tasks and meals for the family, for the home table and to pack for school or work. We are so deeply nourished by the natural rhythm of meaningful and purposeful work that serves the household and community. It is these rhythms of childhood that support healthy development for life.

We’ll look at the foundations of human development with an exploration of the foundational senses and some tips for parents to support  healthy development in children. Adults too might recognize themselves and find some comfort in a deeper understanding of the senses. This issue begins this very fine series with  Strengthening the Foundational Senses and The Sense of Touch by Connie Helms. I am delighted to introduce Connie Helms who is an Extra Lesson teacher, Consultant, Waldorf parent and much, much more.

Maureen Wheeler brings us donuts for breakfast, yes donuts, plump and delicious and everything you’d expect from a Wholistic Health Counselor!

David Sewell McCann  urges us to “Live a little, take a risk and have some fun”  in his latest article, in which “the rubber meets the road” in  Approach: The Third “A” of Intuitive Storytelling for parents.

DeAnna L’am brings us magic with Create Magic with Your Child in which she shares how she and her daughter celebrated the turning of the wheel of the year this spring.

We’ll continue bringing you blueberry love for the month of August.

We’ll look  at Lammas, an ancient cross-quarter day celebration, in the the wheel of the year. Lammas is for “loaf mass” or  feast of the first harvest, the harvest of grain, which was adapted by the Church from Lughnasadh, or Lugh the Sun King.

And lots more to come in August.

If you are enjoying The Wonder of Childhood, please display our 125×125 button on your site, it’s here:

The link is: http://www.thewonderofchildhood.com

 

Wishing you a blessed and abundant Lammas!

Lisa

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From the Editor’s Desk

July 2011

“That beautiful season the Summer!

Filled was the air with a dreamy and magical light;

And the landscape

Lay as if new created in all the freshness of childhood.

                                                                                                                       -  Henry Wadsworth Longfellow

Dear Readers,

July is upon us and with it a new issue of The Wonder of Childhood. What a wonder and wisdom filled group of writers fill this issue! Maureen Wheeler brings us some wisdom with Water! while DeAnna L’am brings wisdom on the journey shared by parent and child  in Stepping into Womanhood. Christine Natale brings us three rich and insightful pieces in this issue, Who Are You Calling a Princess?, The Three Vain Princesses and Waldorf Kindergarten Birthdays. Guest contributor Raelee Peirce brings us Parenting Counter-Culture with some tips on how to slow down in a fast paced world and guest contributor Helen McGlauflin looks at boundaries with children and explains The Gift of No.  Lynn Jericho encourages us to relax as parents and wonder and through that wonder bring to our children a love of life and a love of themselves in an Interview and Lisabeth and David Sewell McCann talk about stoytelling and Sparkle Stories in their Interview. Both offer readers something sweet with their give aways.

You’ll find some great opportunities for preparing the curriculum on our Resources page and a celebration of blueberries over on our Blueberry Love page.

More articles are on the way.

Warmly,

Lisa

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From the Editor’s Desk

“What is one to say about June, the time of perfect young summer,

 the fulfillment of the promise of the earlier months,

and with as yet no sign to remind one that its fresh young beauty will ever fade.”

-  Gertrude Jekyll, On Gardening

 June 2011

Dear Readers,

The banks of Lake Champlain are overflowing as are many other river banks right now. I have been feeling like my own banks are overflowing  with the flotsam and jetsam of life tangled and banging against the rocky shores while the water level rises and rises, shifting the perspective each day.

My computer gave out in April  with many photos and a fantastic interview still lodged in the hard drive.  I am  putting The Wonder of Childhood together with a borrowed computer on limited time from my teenager. That is a topic I am unable to find any wonder in right now right now! Enjoy your wee littles and the media free days! The good news is that a new one of my own  is on the way.

Summer is such a marvelous time of wonder, earth worms creep through the soil and appear in puddles on rainy days. Butterflies, bumblebees and birds are busily flitting about, humming and chirping, engaged in busy work of laying eggs, making honey and caring for their young.

Happy Father’s Day to all fathers everywhere! Social changes of the past decade have made new demands of fathers that are often confusing and frustrating. Christine Natale explores the stereotype and the archetype of father and mother in this issue and brings us a good deal to chew on and relax into on the roles of parenting. Here’s to Dads!

Have a look at the new Table of Contents to see the June articles as they go up. We are putting together a master Index by Subject and an Index by Author to make it easy for you to find  the inspiration or information you are seeking here.

Janet Allison brings us more perspective on boys and some great suggestions for expressing their energy in the summer time and Anthroposophical nurse Risë Smythe-Freed brings us a look at Attachment Parenting and Anthroposophy, one that brought me great relief many years ago when I was a new parent convinced that Waldorf education was right for us yet feeling daunted by comments I had heard about parenting and Waldorf education. DeAnna L’am brings some beautiful ideas on how moms can prepare for their daughters’ first periods, creatively and meaningfully.

In her Fairy Tales in Waldorf Education Column, Christine Natale looks at The Frog Prince and takes us on a journey into the Brothers Grimm story of The Frog Prince.

Keep checking back for more as much of our content is still streaming in. We will pick up where we left off with the grades and bring you a look at second grade in this issue as well as some support for home life in the early years with a Waldorf approach.. Renee Gaul shares her favorite Waldorf Resources for the Early Years and I take you through the Early Years Rhythm that has been my own for the past fifteen years as an example of what one family does. I’d love to hear from you and what rhythms work with your family.

What will your summer be like? Suzanne Down shares ideas for summertime puppetry outdoors in Re-finding the Lazy Days of Summer with Outdoor Puppetry and David Sewell McCann continues in his series on Intuitive Storytelling for Parents with an article on Affection: The First “A” in Storytelling.

I have two interviews for you with long time Waldorf teachers and supporters of Waldorf homeschoolers to put up this month. Check back and look for them.

If you have not yet done so, go over to our BLOG and enjoy an interview with Nancy Parson’s and sign up to win a $25 Gift Certificate to Waldorf Books.

Splendid summer wishes to you all,

Lisa

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

May 2011

 

Dear Readers,

The Merry Month of May is upon us with much lighthearted celebration to be had, Maypoles to build and dance around, flower crowns to weave, potlucks and gatherings to be had. May Baskets to deliver, Mothers to celebrate! Maureen Wheeler of It’s All Connected brings us some musings on the greening of May with seasonal food scrumptious recipes too.

Here in Vermont the earth just turned green, the leaves are beginning to unfurl and the tulips opened just this past week. We’ll have our May celebration at the end of the month when we have “local” blossoms to use. I understand that this is the custom in Norther Europe to celebrate the May when Mother Earth is in the snowy May of the Hawthrorn Blossoms.

This issue brings some new features to the magazine, we are introducing Give-Aways to share some of the work we really love with you and we are working on some new short and fun feature sections.

Joyce Gallardo is a guest writer and brings us a beautiful picture of La Dieta, the post partum period in Ecudor with photographs that might be an Impressionist’s tableau. Lynn Jericho encourages us to explore the shadow side of mothering and is offering one spot in her upcoming workshop on Inner Parenting called Sunshine and Shadows in our first ever Give-Away. Janet Allison speaks to the importance of Mother and Son separation.

 

Warmly,

Lisa

 

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From the Editor’s Desk

March 17, 2011

Dear Readers,

With great joy and excitement, I bring you the first edition of The Wonder of Childhood. Little by little, I am laying out articles and setting them up on the magazine pages. On April first, The Wonder of Childhood officially launches its first edition.

This magazine was born of wonder, of wondering how to bring together many individuals, many of whom have yet to meet each other, a wondering of how to bring to parents and teachers support and connection around parenting, Waldorf education, natural living, a wondering of how to create something that will nourish and inspire. Excitement in the thrill of taking a vision of bringing together writers from ostensibly disparate walks of life whose work fills this magazine and implementing that vision. Awe for the beauty, wonder and wisdom that reveals itself through others.

Central to the magazine is a bringing together of people who have taken in the work of Rudolf Steiner and through their work are bringing new impulses and ways of being in the world: on a farm, in the garden, in caring for the young, in teaching the teachers, in working outdoors, in nourishing the body, in the public school classroom and in daily life and especially in parenting, bringing social renewal through our work to individuals, families, and communities.

Inside you will find four main sections to the magazine:

• Parenting
• Waldorf education
• Nourishment
• Natural Living

We have a special Easter section this month.

Over the next twelve months, Eugene Schwartz  will bring a glimpse of the Waldorf School curriculum through the grade school years, from the first  to the twelfth grade,  in his column Through the Years. You will also find companion pieces on handwork, gardening, family stories, movement and games that compliment and support the development of the child in the grade highlighted for that edition.

We will bring you an article each month from each of our fifteen columnists as well as articles from other writers and contributors

Each month, we’ll spotlight an Early Childhood Program. This month, in our Spotlight on Early Childhood column, Danielle Epifani brings us pictures of wonder from her beautiful and nourishing early childhood program Margaret’s Garden in the hills of Berkeley, California.

My very warm thanks go to Amanda Everse whose technological skills and techno coaching helped bring this site to life. Amanda offered the most Waldorf sort of advice to me when I froze in my techno panic, she urged me to “play with it,” and reminded me that “it won’t break,” advice I sorely needed which drew me out of my fear. Amanda’s work in web design is as much about coaching to find clarity, and see the greater vision, as it is technical programming.

In July of 1956, an article titled “Help Your Child to Wonder“ was published in Woman’s Home Companion. Rachel Carson wrote it. Her words ring true today:

“A child’s world is fresh and new and beautiful, full of wonder and excitement. It is our misfortune that for most of us that clear-eyed vision, that true instinct for what is beautiful and awe inspiring, is dimmed and even lost before we reach adulthood. If I had influence with the good fairy who is supposed to preside over the christening of all children, I should ask that her gift to each child in the world be a sense of wonder so indestructible that it would last throughout life, as an unfailing antidote against the boredom and dis-enchantments of later years, the sterile preoccupation with things that are artificial, the alienation from the sources of our strength.

If a child is to keep alive his inborn sense of wonder without any such gifts from the fairies, he needs the companionship of at least one adult who can share it, rediscovering with him the joy, excitement and mystery of the world we live in.”

May every child know the companionship of that adult.

Here in Vermont, spring is a time of stirring, of sap rising in the trees, of water gurgling beneath the snow and in the brooks, mud is interspersed with snow, the air is filled with anticipation and bird song. The joy, excitement and mystery of the renewal that spring brings are upon us as we dig out from under three feet of snow upon which the warming sun glistens.

Throughout the month, we will bring you some treats and surprises that you’ll find noted on the companion blog to this magazine found here.

If you’d like to display our 125×125 button on your site, it’s here:

 

 

The link is: http://www.thewonderofchildhood.com

Warmly,

Lisa Boisvert Mackenzie

 

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