Ancient Path

“Each person needs a field of activity for his inner life, for his willing, feeling, and finally for his thinking soul. The child needs this field of activity for the strength of his soul as does each adult. If I do not present the child with the images of the language of the fairy tales, then the contents of his soul will be supplied by the idle talk of the alley. Car makes and money concerns; trivial, unimaginative bits of everyday conversation will rule the field of his soul, resulting in a field filled with weeds.”  ~ Helmut von Kugelgen Inner Life of a Child To the child, fairy tales have an enormous effect on the inner life. They help them work out and face problems that will arise in life. A fairy tale given at just the right time, can educate, support and liberate the emotions of a child.  It is plainly obvious that my children do not experience the world the way I do. They think it would take a long time to walk to the sun. I do not wish to hurriedly br...

Magical Cedar Tree: A Home School Tale to Spin Since the beginning, we have sat together listening to the stories of our ancestors. Storytelling is the vehicle for which we learn.  Forest Schooling on the Homestead Our very best memories are made during our Forest Schooling hours. Most afternoons are spent wondering through the acres of forest behind our home. We have adventures and find all sorts of living things … many of which I never knew existed. Our recent adventure accompanied a story called, " The Legend of the Cedar" In the Waldorf pedagogy, stories from the ingenious people of the land are told to the children to help them connect with the earth beneath their feet. This generally takes place in Second grade, but the Native American stories all tie in wonderfully with our afternoon Forest Schooling. One of the books I'm using for activity ideas is,  Forest Schooling . The idea for a magic wand made out of sacred tree branches, came from this book. Earlier...