What is the source of initiative? How do we find inspiration to meet the world creatively and purposefully? How can we build that capacity in children? These questions will guide our exploration of Waldorf education in the home during the 2010 Summer Seminar, Firing the Will: Seeking the Source of Initiative.
During this unique gathering, morning presentations will investigate how the subjects of a Waldorf curriculum not only meet a child's natural developmental stages but also provide a catalyst for stoking the child's creative will to engage with the world positively.
Evening conversations will delve into understanding the human being from a Waldorf perspective and supporting the inner work necessary for parents and teachers to effectively and consistently tap the source of initiative found within. Stories of challenges to the will and how we have been successful in our purpose will be shared. Participation in eurythmy and artistic classes over the course of the Seminar will help to integrate the insights from the evening sessions.
View a gallery of photos from the 2009 Summer Seminar.
We will convene at 7pm Wednesday evening on the campus of Santa Cruz Waldorf School, 2190 Empire Grade, Santa Cruz, CA 95060. Arrive between 6 and 7 pm to register.
8:30am-1:00pm: Morning presentations in eurythmy, handwork, circle formation, singing games, painting, drawing, math, and music.
1:00 pm: Community Lunch
2:00-7:00 pm: Free time for personal consultations and/or exploring the Santa Cruz area with family.
7:00-8:30 pm: Evening conversations exploring the inner work of the teacher and storytelling.
The Seminar concludes at 4 pm on Sunday.
The 2010 Summer Seminar is expected to sell out by early June, so please register soon to reserve your spot. Tuition includes all classes and materials, a morning snack, and lunch each day featuring local organic ingredients and gluten-free alternatives provided by Talya's Kitchen. Childcare classes are available for children aged 5 to 14 at a cost of $150 for the 4 days/nights (pre-registration required, individual days will not be pro-rated).
Beginning May 19th, registration will open to the public for $475 per person.
The closest airports to Santa Cruz are San Jose (SJC) and Monterey (MRY), while San Francisco (SFO) and Oakland (OAK) are also within reasonable driving distance.
If you need help finding accommodation to fit your budget, please contact Kelli at kelli@live-education.com.
Travel information is available online at www.SantaCruz.org.
Rainbow Rosenbloom founded Live Education! in the fall of 1997, after 12 years of working with homeschooling families and co-ops, both privately and within the public schools. He studied Waldorf Education at Emerson College in England and worked as a class teacher and a high school teacher in several Waldorf schools. Rainbow also helped to construct an innovative Waldorf charter school program in Monterey, CA and served as its director for 3 years. He has a BA in Philosophy from The University of Tulsa and a Masters degree in Education from Harvard, where he studied Multiple Intelligence Theory with Howard Gardner.
Bruce Bischof joined Rainbow in the beginning stages of Live Education! in 1998 as the principal writer and artist of the curriculum materials. He is the co-owner (with Rainbow) of Live Education!. Bruce has 14 years of experience as a Waldorf class teacher in addition to several years as a mentor to class teachers in a Waldorf charter school. He completed his Waldorf training from Rudolf Steiner College in 1983. He recently completed a masters degree in Philosophy and Humanities from California State University and holds a B.A. with honors in Philosophy from the University of California in addition to 2 years of formal training in Art History and 2 years of Music Theory. Bruce, the father of two children (now grown), resides with his wife Susan near Mt. Shasta in northern California. Bruce will be leading some artistic activity.
Daniel Bittleston delights in leading workshops on creating your own stories. He is a member of the Western Regional Council of the Anthroposophical Society in America, and over the course of his life, he attended six different Waldorf schools and taught in four. Daniel's hobby, Imagination Troubador, involves interviewing people in all walks of life about how they use Imagination.
His father was a Christian Community priest, and his mother was a puppetry teacher at Emerson College. He now has three sons and three daughters, all of whom are working hard to beautify the world, enrich community and find their own deepest truths (he can tell you stories about them all day!). Daniel has been close friends with Rainbow for the best part of a lifetime.
David-Michael Monasch is a eurythmist, actor-director, juggler-clown, and father/husband. He holds a BFA in Theater from the University of Minnesota (summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa) and a diploma from the Academy for Eurythmic Art at the Goetheanum in Switzerland.
For many years he has performed and taught in almost every conceivable situation in the U.S., Canada, New Zealand, and throughout Europe, where he lived from 1976-1989. He was a core member of Ashdown Eurythmy in the UK from 1983-87, giving performances throughout Europe.
From 1989 until 2003, David-Michael lived in Seattle, where he was a founding member of Threshold Ensemble, and where he worked with Seattle Public Theater's Theater of Liberation Troupe, the Puget Sound Revels, Magical Strings, and Kaleidoscope Dance Company. He also taught at Antioch University Seattle and at all of the Waldorf schools in Washington State; and was a founding faculty member of Sound Circle Center for Arts and Anthroposophy. With his wife, Glenda, he co-founded Sound Circle Eurythmy, which ran Intensive Courses for adults, including a part-time eurythmy training from 1997 to 2004.
David has consulted with Live Education! clients since 2006. He completed his Waldorf training at Rudolf Steiner College in 1992, and was a class teacher, admissions director and high school humanities teacher at Austin Waldorf School. He has given many presentations about Waldorf education to university education classes, and has worked with homeschoolers since 2000. He helped found The Harvest, a Waldorf School in The Woodlands, TX, and has written a curriculum integrating Waldorf activities into a program for homeless students. He currently teaches a small, mixed age class at his home. He and his wife live in Austin and have three Waldorf-educated children, ages 21, 23 and 25.
Mia Michael has been a teacher for twenty years in California and in Europe. She has a B.A. in Aesthetics and Education from U.C. Santa Cruz, a teaching credential from San Jose State University, and her Waldorf credential from Wynstones, England. Ms. Michael was a founding teacher for the East Bay Waldorf School in Berkeley, California. Ms. Michael is coauthor of the Kindergarten series Waldorf home schooling program, Live Education. She is an artist and offers workshops in weaving art and spirituality in daily life.
Melanie Hatch has been leading the handwork program at the East Bay Waldorf School for the past few years. She completed her handwork training at Rudolf Steiner College. Melanie also homeschooled her four children prior to enrolling them in the Waldorf school. She has great insight into colors, costumes, and fabrics and joins our seminar faculty with great enthusiasm.
Anna Rainville grew up in a family who honored singing and dance. She has carried this love into her teaching of children and adults for thirty years in public and Waldorf schools. Her book, Singing Games for Families, Schools and Communities (2006), includes dances for all ages which she has presented in workshops and community gatherings coast to coast.
Anna taught kindergarten for eleven years in a public school and was chosen outstanding teacher of the year by the California Kindergarten Association. A founding board member of the National Kindergarten Alliance, Anna is an advocate for integrated arts, play and nature. With her mother, Betty Peck, she co-founded and directs the quarterly Kindergarten Forum. A Waldorf teacher for both children and teachers in training, she recently graduated her class after eight years at the Waldorf School of the Peninsula in Los Altos, California. In June she returned from a month in the Philippines where she taught in a masters program for teachers in Waldorf education. Anna lives with her family in Saratoga, California, where every May Day friends and neighbors come to dance around the May Pole.
Talya is a Certified Ayurvedic Practitioner, Professional Chef and the founder of Talya's Kitchen, an organic, nutrition-oriented catering business. Specializing in Ayurvedic Nutrition since 2002, Talya offers elementally-based food preparation, nutritional education and transformational cooking that makes shopping and eating an ongoing discovery in deliciousness.
Yoga, cooking and Ayurveda, Talya's first loves, are the foundations of her many skills and offerings. Talya's passion for holistic medicine and innovative, healthful cooking sparkles through in her fun, enthusiastic and inspiring teaching style and shines through everything she does.
Throughout the Bay Area, Talya offers Ayurvedic Cooking Classes, Personalized Nutritional Consultations, Catering Services and Educational Health Food Store Tours. She has studied under DeAnna Batdorff, founder of the Dhyana School of Therapeutics since 2001 and is a yoga teacher and certified massage therapist.