WORKSHOP TOPICS: These are based on Rudolf Steiner's insights into human development, which take into account body, mind, soul and spirit. We will explore these insights together with inspirations from mainstream education, neuroscience, and psychology, and my own practical experience.
Child Development: Birth to age 21. We will discuss WHAT are the critical developmental milestones, the first of which is the very important milestone of integrating the infant reflexes, that are the foundational blocs for the child’s social, emotional, physical and cognitive abilities. I will then introduce the HOW and the To Do’s to support these critical milestones, which will be the topics that we will explore and further deepen in the following workshops.
Rhythm and Predictability: We will discuss how essential rhythm is in bringing stability, a sense of safety and wellbeing to the young child. We will explore how we can bring rhythm and predictability to each day, week, month and year. Festivals and birthday celebrations play a significant role in this.
Sense Impressions: I will offer an overview of how Steiner speaks of the importance of the 12 senses and how over the past fifty years neurologists have also come to the significant realization that if the senses are not integrated, with proper neural connections, than this has a significant impact on the child’s and adult’s access to higher cortical functions, like ; self-regulation, focus, attention, coordination, reading and writing .... Basically impacting all social, emotional, physical and cognitive functions.
Discipline and Temperaments: Self discipline and regulation are the basis for any effective discipline for our children, who test our personal discipline as adults by pushing boundaries. Self discipline is one of the many factors we will explore that make disciplining more of a proactive and conscious act rather than a reactive and confusing act. To discipline a child is a gift: in the act of disciplining we support the child's development of self awareness and control of feelings, thoughts and actions. By learning to self regulate, children are able to grow to be responsible, resourceful and respectful.
Play and Movement: We will explore play and movement as the fundamental factors for healthy social, emotional, motor and neurological development. Imagination is developed, it is not a given at birth. The ability to think outside the box, to imagine ones own future and possibilities of self expression, can only come through the development of imagination through play. Play and movement are essential to a child's success in learning to read, write and acquire mathematical skills, also skills that will equip the next generation with flexibility, and creativity of mind, the ingenuity to be self starters, as well as the confidence and humility to work effectively with others.
Stories and Puppetry: These are wonderful tools and a gift that we can offer to our children to nourish their imaginations and to help them through difficult times.
Observation and Intuition: Amongst other things, in this workshop I will provide you with simple things you can notice and observe in your child that can indicate if they are ready for learning. For you see READINESS FOR LEARNING should not be based on chronological age but on the maturation of the nervous system (NS) which provides the tools for learning. An immature NS is still stuck operating at the brain stem level, the survival brain, where movement is involuntary and unconscious. Where as a mature NS is operating at the cortical level, where we can access those wonderful conscious and voluntary skills needing for learning like the ability to:
stay focused and attentive
self-regulate emotions
recognize and read symbols like letters and numbers
pronounce and read out loud these symbols
coordinate hand and eyes for writing
understand, plan and organize
quantify
have empathy for the other .....
We will look at how to cultivate the art of observation and trust in our intuition as we strive to meet the physical, emotional, spiritual and cognitive needs of our children.
Health and Nutrition: We will look at seven most important ingredients that help to protect and nurture the delicate growth and unfolding of your child’s wellbeing. Handwork Themes:
how to set up a seasonal table/area. We will also sew a simple fairy/elf to add to the seasonal table/area
sewing felt animals for playroom
wet felting and needle felting a toy
watercolor painting with your children
interpretation of children's drawings
suggestions of seasonal crafts to do with your children