Tag: spiritual development
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Michaelmas, 2025
Today is Michaelmas, otherwise known as the Day of Courage. It is the time in the year when the cooling forces of autumn sober the party of summertime growth. It is also the harvest time. In most Waldorf schools, stories are told, songs are sung, and a pageant features the Archangel Michael taming the terrible…
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Brain Hemispheres in Education
In this post, I’d like to explore the brain hemispheres and their relationship to education. Modern neuroscience and Waldorf pedagogical science are finally coming together in some exciting ways. We can use those insights to help us in our teaching and thereby bring more balance to our children. Are you right brained or left brained?…
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Teen Mental Health
The world has never experienced a mental dis-ease epidemic like the meaning crisis we currently face. There are many reasons for this, materialism being the most pernicious. Like a deeply rooted weed, it infests the garden of society’s soul. We have grown accustomed to looking at everything from the outside in and trying to remedy…
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Homeschool Easter
Homeschool Easter. You don’t have to be Christian to connect to its mythos and find value in its celebration. Of course, Christianity imbues this spring holiday with rich imaginations, but that’s not the point. The point is the resurrection of life as shown in these common symbols: In this post, I give some indications for…
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Artistic Science
Whatever your worldview, nobody can deny the ubiquitous impact of modern science on our culture. Through it, we have come to cure diseases, master the art of transportation, and produce goods faster and cheaper than ever before, among other benefits. Some people even hail science as the great expression of human achievement. Yet, we have…
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Perfectionism in Children
In this post, we will to talk about perfectionism in children and its remedy. For some of you, this may be the most important blog post you read in your life, for the very qualities we discuss here could make or break your children’s future. You may wonder why I say, “its remedy.” I’m talking…
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Artistic Speech
In this post, we will introduce the benefits of artistic speech in education. First, however, let’s understand what we mean by artistic speech. All day long we talk, talk, talk, but how often do we pay attention to how we are talking? How much effort do we put into the formation of our vowels and…
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Happy Children
In a recent interview, Dr. Leonard Sax, a long-time family physician and psychologist, explained that the biggest predictor of adult well-being in children is their relationship with their parents. Let that sink in for a minute. Happy children are those who have the best relationships with their caregivers. Does that surprise you as it did…
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Winter or Advent Spiral
This week, I wanted to write a post about making winter holidays meaningful, especially for adolescents and teens. I will focus on the Winter or Advent Spiral, commonly done in Waldorf settings. The principles, however, are broadly applicable to other traditions as well, so extrapolate as necessary. The Difference Between Children and Adolescents At puberty,…
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The Formative Power of Gratitude
On Thanksgiving each year, many of us practice giving gratitude. Is this just a nice family tradition, or is there a truly formative power of gratitude? Let’s start with words of wisdom from wise people. Eckhart Tolle once said (paraphrased), “If you practice gratitude, life will give you more things to be grateful for.” In…