josgraf

Waldorf Education: Stretching the S-e-l-f in Seventh Grade

Michael Wilt, Class Seven teacher, recently looked back at a photograph of his students from two years ago, when they were Class 5 children. His teaching life at Sunrise, daily observing these same children, did not prepare him for the photo's evidence o... Read >

Waldorf High School and The Development of Thinking

Question: What is one of the pivotal factors to "The Development of Thinking in Adolescence?" Answer: Development of the will forces, particularly between birth and age seven, but ongoing through age fourteen and beyond. I recently attended the lectu... Read >

Waldorf Education on Beautiful Vancouver Island

Subtitle: Waldorf Language Immersion in a Culturally Rich Environment For students wishing an English language immersion experience, Island Oak Waldorf School on Vancouver Island in beautiful British Columbia, Canada, offers a unique opportunity. Is... Read >

OUR Ecovillage – A New Model of Co-operation

Co-operation and sustainability are two philosophies which complement each other, allowing decisions to be made by a diverse group with many ideas, while caring for social, economic, and environmental livelihoods. O.U.R. Ecovillage is a prosperous intent... Read >

In the Kingdom of Kindercottage: Early Waldorf Education

Imagine our community in the eyes of a three and a half year old child: the Land of Sunrise. Its great halls where the giant grade-school children walk, even its kindergartens are over a fence and beyond a safely closed door - mysteries, for the most part... Read >

In a Waldorf School, Class Four: Three’s a Charm

Three dimensions. Three archetypes of Norse Myth. A salmon's life seen in three parts. The turning-ten year olds in Class Four are more deeply experiencing themselves as individuals through a lens of three in their curriculum. Mr. Richards says his... Read >

Have you been looking for us?

SUNRISE WALDORF SCHOOL, COWICHAN VALLEY, BC "Demographically, you shouldn't exist!" We were told this by a visiting Head of Teacher Training from New York, and it is quite true. With a small valley population in a rather economically depressed area ... Read >

Class Five and Six in Waldorf Education: Hovering Near the Light

Maintaining their altitude up there in the blue, Class Five children are exploring the heavenly realms of historical myths this fall with Mr. Stopeck. Their study of a handful of ancient civilizations took flight a mere three weeks ago, with an introduct... Read >

Ecovillage Life: living into the future

In our search for ecovillage living we traveled north and west through Vancouver Island's forested mountains towards Shawnigan Lake, and stopped at O.U.R. Ecovillage (O.U.R. = One United Resource) in a rural suburban region. Co-founder Brandy Gallagher Ma... Read >

Mysticism Meets an Impasse - Eckhart Tolle and Anthroposophy

In my experience questing for understanding of spiritual aspects of the human community, I have had occasion to encounter some unusual synchronicities. One such event emerged while perusing a lecture by noted Initiate and spiritual scientist, Rudolf Stei... Read >

Gardening and Farming the Biodynamic Way

When presented with the notion that biodynamic gardening and farming is an exceptional forum with advanced methods, one scientist scoffed, saying "You're not espousing a system that plants by the phases of the moon, and such, are you?!" This "scientist... Read >

Factory Farming - on its last legs

If those who consume mass meat products could witness either a) the conditions 95% of the animals in the factory farm industry have to endure, or b) the loss that is accruing in humanity's inner life due to this animal abuse - the industry would grind to... Read >

Eating for Optimal Health

The sense of taste, in its higher, more refined state, is capable of discerning what the body most needs at any given time. However, when blunted or debased, it discerns not what is wholesome in a given moment, but what is tasty, or even what will feed a... Read >

Dying Bees, the Real Cause – (and how to bring them back)

From the perspective of spiritual ecology, some of the suspected causes merely stand in the foreground of the disappearing honeybees - EMF radiation; GM crops; and diseases and pests - while artificial incursions of modern bee-keeping on overall hive e... Read >

A New Relationship with the Land

In a fully functional society, which we have no such models on the planet at this time (although some groups within nations appear to be at least experimenting with the ideal) - how would a nation that has undergone social renewal of the Three-folding pr... Read >