Are you coming to Georgia, United States October 11-13, 2019? We hope so. Our annual conference and general meeting, Facing Each Other: Freedom, Responsibility, and Love, is filled with rich content, artistic work, and opportunity after opportunity to deepen and connect. 

Beginning with a Class Lesson enriched by artistic activity, through to our keynote conversations with Patrick Kennedy and Andrea De La Cruz, our event will enliven you. Join us for workshops on biography, diversity, honey bees, connecting with the dead, the divine feminine, and more.  You will feel a "through line" of meeting the world with the spiritual depth and tools of anthroposophy in an atmosphere of warmth and open-mindedness. 

If you haven't been to an ASA conference in the past few years, this is the year for you to join us. Go here to find out more and register with our early bird rate! We can't wait to see you in October!  Warmly, Laura Scappaticci, Charlie Burkam, Angela Foster, Dave Mansur, & Tess Parker for the 2019 Annual Conference Planning Committee

PS - Join us on Thursday, October 10 for Living In The Branches, our national groups and branch pre-conference gathering, followed by a regional meet and greet, and panel discussion on Facing Technology

De-cluttering children’s playrooms boosts creativity and cognitive development, study finds

From Sara Burrows

Too many options in the toy room can overstimulate and overwhelm a child, so that he can’t focus on — or learn from — any of them, a recent study finds.

Reducing the number of toys results in more creative, imaginative play, researchers found. For the study, researchers from The University of Toledo gave toddlers either four toys or 16 toys. The children with fewer toys played with each toy for longer periods of time, studying, observing and experimenting with it.

“An abundance of toys present reduced the quality of the toddlers’ play,” the study’s authors wrote. “Fewer toys at once may help toddlers to focus better and play more creatively.”

The children with four toys exhibited one-and-a-half times more interactions with the toys than the children with 16, indicating they were playing in “more sophisticated, advanced ways,” they added. “This increased involvement with a toy has positive implications for many facets of development, including imaginative and pretend play, self-expression, physical skills such as fine motor coordination, and problem-solving,” writes psychologist Susan Newman for Psychology Today.

The study echoes the findings of a German experiment in which all of the toys were taken out of several kindergarten classrooms for 3 months. The children were left with only their desks, chairs and blankets to play with. At first they were bored to tears. But by the second day, they got creative. They started building forts, turning their desks into trains, and performing circuses and plays. Their drawing and painting skills even improved: “The children used to do one little squiggle on a piece of paper and then throw it away,” teacher Gisela Marti told The Independent. “But when paper was given back to them they drew or painted all over it until there was not a patch of white paper left.”
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“We find that children [who participated in the experiment] concentrate better when they work, integrate better into groups and communicate better than the children who didn’t take part,” said Elke Schubert, a German public health officer.

From Return to Now

The Association for a Healing Education (AHE) invites you to our professional development sessions, which are part of our three-year Learning Support course. Modules are open to all teachers who have experience with Waldorf education. These modules take place in the Rudolf Steiner House in Ann Arbor, Michigan.

Did you know that you can:
• Attend any individual module, or choose several which meet your needs
• Participate from July 22, 2019 to July, 2020 to earn a certificate in the Foundations of Extra Lesson
• Join the full three-year program to receive certification as a Learning Support teacher (including mentoring and a practicum).

July 15-18, 2019
Early Childhood: Working to Create Healthy Movement
Circle work, movement journeys, games, and whole-child development. Working with parents. Enriching the Early Childhood environment for developmental growth and sensory nourishment. Betty Jane Enno

July 2019 to July 2020
Foundations of Extra Lesson Year

July 22-26, 2019
Extra Lesson Intensive Week: Background of the exercises; exploring the use of Extra Lesson for ages 7 through adolescence; and applications from the 5 categories of E.L. Bring harmony to the classroom and help each child develop the structural aspect of the physical organization to anchor the ego to the physical body. Case studies.

October 24-27, 2019
Perspectives on the First Lesson. Core issues of learning and behavior. Developing IEPs. Engaging the child in correct movements.

March 2020
Origin of the Human Form. Archetypes of the growing child. First grade entry.

July/August 2020
Deepening our understanding of E.L. principles. How children reveal challenges during assessment. Spatial orientation and directionality. Body geography and self-identity. Case studies.

Visit our website www.healingeducation.org

Questions? Contact Connie Helms, registrar@healingeducation.org

Join us for an evening gathering to discuss the ins and outs of what makes biodynamic seed saving different from other seed saving techniques. 

Beth and Nathan Corymb from Meadow Lark Hearth Whole Farm Ecological Seed Initiative, a DBA of Richard Everett Farm, LLC will be our guests and co-hosts. The Corymbs founded the Turtle Tree Biodynamic Seed Initiative in Minnesota in 1994 and then expanded in 1998 to Camphill Village in Copake, NY. Meadow Lark specializes in biennial seed crops such as cabbage, onions, carrots, beets, and celeriac. They have learned special ways to overwinter the crops in order to grow them in zone 4.  

Members who are curious about the importance of growing seed are encouraged to participate as well as seasoned seed savers. Participants will be encouraged to share their own experiences with seed saving and to think about ways we can increase seed saving within our own farming operations and communities.  

We will also set aside time to discuss the Corymbs' 7th Annual Labor Day SEED Fest & Professional SEED Workshop taking place August 30th - September 2nd.  For more information visit www.meadowlarkhearth.org. 

August 14, 2019 / 7:30 - 9:00 pm ET, 6:30 - 8:00 pm CT, 5:30 - 7:00 pm MT, 4:30 - 6:00 pm PT

Member Salons are FREE / There is no cost for members to participate, but space is limited and pre-registration is required. If you are a current member, please log in to your existing account before registering. If you are not a current member, you can become a member today and then register to join this conversation.

To fully participate in all of the visual and audio aspects of the salon, you will need a computer, tablet, or smart phone with camera and microphone that is connected to high speed internet. You will need to download the zoom software prior to the salon. If you do not have access to high-speed internet or your device does not have a microphone, you can also participate via telephone.

Register by August 15 for the best rates! 
We're excited to announce that registration is now open for the 2019 Biodynamic Conference. We encourage you to browse all the ways you can explore biodynamics, gain knowledge and inspiration, and connect and share by checking out the Conference Schedule; the searchable Workshops, Multi-Day Themed Sessions, and Field Days;Children's Program information; and so much more on our conference site.

Register by August 15 for the deepest discounts on main conference registration. BDA members save even more! Become a member for as little as $5 and receive an additional 10-20% discount on registration. Read more about prices and other registration information.

In the early grades, U.S. schools value reading-comprehension skills over knowledge. The results are devastating, especially for poor kids. By Natalie Wexler

​Drawing by Justyna Stasik

At first glance, the classroom I was visiting at a high-poverty school in Washington, D.C., seemed like a model of industriousness. The teacher sat at a desk in the corner, going over student work, while the first graders quietly filled out a worksheet intended to develop their reading skills.

As I looked around, I noticed a small girl drawing on a piece of paper. Ten minutes later, she had sketched a string of human figures, and was busy coloring them yellow.

I knelt next to her and asked, “What are you drawing?”
“Clowns,” she answered confidently.
“Why are you drawing clowns?”
“Because it says right here, ‘Draw clowns,’ ” she explained.

Running down the left side of the worksheet was a list of reading-comprehension skills: finding the main idea, making inferences, making predictions. The girl was pointing to the phrase draw conclusions. She was supposed to be making inferences and drawing conclusions about a dense article describing Brazil, which was lying facedown on her desk. But she was unaware that the text was there until I turned it over. More to the point, she had never heard of Brazil and was unable to read the word.

Waldorf schools make mindful environments for students a priority to help keep stress to a minimum and support wellbeing and learning. We can use best practices of Waldorf classrooms to inspire mindful environments at home during the long summer days. Being mindful of a child’s environment during summertime — by nurturing imagination, prioritizing nature and encouraging good habits — can go a long way in making summertime the ideal break from the busy school year.

“Rhythm, also known as routine, both softens anxiety and brings an awareness of ‘how to be’ to the child.” – Waldorf Teacher, Joy Itiola

​Rhythm and Routine
So often, summertime is a time of spontaneity as a child’s unbridled joy is released under the guise of endless opportunities for unstructured play. Unstructured time is essential for young children. But that doesn’t mean that children don’t need an underlying structure to their day.

From Filana

We've just moved into our new workshop in Paonia, Colorado. Join us in celebrating by taking advantage of our summer sale - 40% off all our crayons!

Visit filana.us and use the discount code JULY2019 at checkout. You'll get 40% off and 4.95 flat rate shipping anywhere in the US. US orders only.

Joan Almon was the Founding Director of the Alliance for Childhood and also served as its Director of Programs. She was a former co-chair of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America and a consultant on early childhood education. She believed that one of the best ways to support children is to support their play time, “for in play, children address all the situations in their lives and find solutions for them.”1

While studying sociology at the University of Michigan, Joan also worked as a social science research aide and social work aide. She earned her Bachelor of Arts degree in Sociology in 1966 and spent the next two years doing administrative work for the A. Philip Randolph Institute, a civil rights organization, and the National Sharecroppers Fund, an anti-poverty organization.2

In 1971, Joan was a co-founder, administrator, and kindergarten teacher for the Waldorf School of Baltimore. This began a lifelong passion for the education of young children in general and the Waldorf approach to education in particular. The Waldorf educational approach was developed by Rudolf Steiner in 1919 and promotes educating the whole child: “the heart and the hands, as well as the head.”3

Beginning in 1975, Joan furthered her education with graduate courses in Waldorf education through Towson State University in Towson, Maryland; the Acorn Hill Children's Center in Silver Spring, Maryland; the Waldorf Institute in Detroit, Michigan; and the Rudolf Steiner Summer Institute in Waterville, Maine. Expanding her studies overseas, Joan spent the 1978 school year as an assistant in the Rudolf Steiner Kindergarten in Vienna, Austria. Upon her return to the United States in 1979, she became a Waldorf kindergarten teacher at the Acorn Hill Children's Center in Silver Spring, Maryland, a position she would hold until 1989. During this time, in 1983 Joan became a co-chair of the Waldorf Early Childhood Association of North America and over the next 20 years she would be either a co-chair or chair of this association. In 1984, she became the editor of the Waldorf early childhood educator's newsletter, Gateways, a position she held until 2000.4 And in 1986, she joined the board of the International Waldorf Kindergarten Association. After ten years of teaching at Acorn Hill, in 1989, Joan became a lecturer, adult educator, and consultant for Waldorf kindergartens and trainings in North and South America, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, Africa, and Asia. In 1993, she joined the Council of the U.S. Anthroposophical Society, a non-sectarian, non-political organization that furthers the work of Rudolf Steiner. Nine years later in 2002, Joan became the General Secretary of the Society. While training and consulting, Joan also began writing about Waldorf education and about children's play beginning with “The Child: Play and Development of the Young Child” in 1992.5 Later articles included “Endangered Childhood” (1998), “The Vital Role of Play in Early Childhood” (2003), and the foreword to Children at Play (1996). She felt that, “Play is an integrating activity – it integrates children's cognitive, emotional, social, and physical capacities, and it has the potential to socially integrate neighborhoods and wider communities.”6

Joining like minded professionals, Joan assisted in forming the Alliance for Childhood in 1999. As Executive Director she led their campaign to “restore imaginative, freely chosen play to children's lives, at home and in school.”7 They have collaborated with other organizations focused on restoring play as well as concerning other childhood issues, such as the overuse of electronics, the commercialization of children, and the effects of “high-stakes” testing.8 The Alliance has published reports and position statements on the emerging research concerning these issues. Joan, with Edward Miller, in one of these Alliance reports noted that, “Numerous studies – some extending over decades – show the effectiveness of play-based education that combines hands-on learning with child-initiated play.”9 They further declared that the demands of No Child Left Behind, the yearly standardized tests, and the resulting reduced recess time have contributed to increased aggressive behavior among kindergarteners as well as a noticeable loss of their curiosity and creativity. They concluded that, “Even more vital than early reading is the learning of play skills, which form the foundation of cognitive skills.” Recognizing that play is important for all regardless of abilities or disabilities, Joan had a vision of utilizing playworkers to facilitate inclusive play at playgrounds. She noted that even if the physical barriers to play are erased through better playground designs and equipment, there still remains the social and ability barriers to inclusive play. Utilizing playworkers for “modeling inclusive play behavior by playing with children with disabilities, or translating their play wishes to children without disabilities, is a powerful tool. So is (their) addressing the concerns or fears of typically developing children who are reluctant to play with children with disabilities.”10

Accordingly, the inclusion of children of all abilities in natural play and the importance of playworkers to facilitate play are two emerging fields within the play movement with which Joan was involved. She formed a working group on inclusive play and promoted the academic and professional development of playwork and playworkers who would assist children to rediscover play, set the tone for inclusive play, and provide a watchful presence over the children as they play.

Joan Almon passed away on July 14, 2019 after a battle with cancer.
​

• 1.Almon, Joan. “Fun and Leisure: Restoring Play to All Children.” National Center on Physical Activity and Disability (NCPAD). < http://www.ncpad.org/fun/fact_sheet.php?sheet=907&view=all > 21 May 2012.
• 2.“Curriculum Vitae. Joan Almon.” Cendi. < http://www.cendi.org/interiores/cd5toweb/talleres/02_taller_curri_vitae.htm > 7 Sep. 2011.
• 3.“Why Waldorf Works.” AWSNA: Association of Waldorf Schools of North America. <http://www.whywaldorfworks.org/02_W_Education/index.asp> 21 May 2012.
• 4.Op.cit., “Curriculum Vitae. Joan Almon.”
• 5.“The Child: Play and Development of the Young Child.” Renewal. Journal for Waldorf Education. Vol. 2, No. 1.
• 6.Op.cit., Almon. “Fun and Leisure”
• 7.Almon, Joan. “The Politics of Play.” Greenmoney Journal. Fall 2011. < http://www.greenmoneyjournal.com/article.mpl?newsletterid=46&articleid=637 > 7 Sep. 2011.
• 8.“A Dozen Years of Advocacy For the Sake of Children.” Alliance for Childhood. < http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/ > 21 May 2012.
• 9.Almon, Joan and Edward Miller. “The Crisis in Early Education, A Research-Based Case for More Play and Less Pressure.” Alliance for Childhood. < http://www.allianceforchildhood.org/sites/allianceforchildhood.org/files/file/crisis_in_early_ed.pdf > 21 May 2012.
• 10.Op.cit., Almon. “Fun and Leisure.”

Archangel Michael, icon by Simon Ushakov, 17th century.

By Mario Betti

We live in the age of Michael, the Archangel of the Sun, and as we are exposed to the influence of the oppositional powers, each of us is facing personal, professional, social and spiritual challenges.

At a time when humanity is crossing the threshold, we are in need of spiritualized thinking, nature observation and Michaelic communities.

As we cross the threshold we sense, deep in our souls, the proximity of death forces, but because of this we also experience our true, immortal-cosmic dimension lighting up. As a result, more and more people can remember earlier incarnations or have concrete premonitions and experiences of nature’s spirituality and their own higher self. Some speak of having met the Christ. Closeness to death and the yearning for immortality or for spirituality are effective, though still largely unknown, factors that profoundly determine our lives today.

Christ – helper at the threshold

Many hopes and fears are linked to this, because the powers of evil, too, become tangible at the threshold. Rudolf Steiner said that Michael, through whose being Christ reveals himself in a new spiritual form, is the great helper at the threshold to the supersensible world. He also said that the initiation principle should become a civilization principle today.

Michael works in two ways: firstly, by spiritualizing our thinking forces into free, visionary heart-thinking, a process in which feeling and will are also transformed; and secondly by spiritualizing our view of nature. Since true anthroposophy is a synthesis of science, art and religion, the arts and religious experience are included in this transformative process. This gives us two sides of a golden triangle: the spiritualization of consciousness both in relation to the inner world and to the outer world of the senses, with its practical implications.