The School of Sophia and I started planning this online class many weeks before Covid 19 transformed life as we know it. My intention in those simpler times was to show parents and teachers how to use stories to empower children to deal with disappointments, difficult social situations, behavior challenges, new routines, losses, crises, and the usual developmental challenges of…
<= Return to Chapter Two — The Golden Ribbon (Note to parents about to read this to a child. I included some math in this chapter that might be interesting for a child in first, second or even third grade if they are learning times tables. If you are reading this to a younger child, you might want to skip…
Nobody likes text books and instruction manuals. This is why Waldorf teachers tuck their lessons into into engaging stories. So, when I wanted to share the essence of what I had learned as a teacher, I chronicled the true story of leading my class from grade one through six and tucked my epiphanies into it. A Gift of Wonder, A…
The Festival of the Child is a week long international online summit offering free interviews daily with doctors, teachers and parenting experts. You sign up through this link:https://www.festivalofthechild.com/?fbclid=IwAR2UlV9MGwOxJtyCcvSMpdAN4x0e-6enlCF0I0H04ScakGFJJ6_1SJe1BYE And then watch for a confirmation email, then an email that gives you your free pass to the content. You can watch the interviews posted that day and those released within the…
As we enter the school year, this. Only this. What you see above is a post on my Facebook page, Growing Children. In 12 days it has reached more than 599,000 people. My page has only about 3,500 followers, so I think this amounts to going viral. And it’s still going. It’s going viral because people know that it’s totally…
A Gift of Wonder is set in an independent school but written with public school teachers and parents in mind. This review by Desirae Blake is the first of a series of reviews by public school teachers. ## Kim Allsup’s book, “A Gift of Wonder,” is a gently told story with a powerful message. As a public school teacher, I…
A Gift of Wonder is a beautiful collection of vignettes chronicling Waldorf teacher and mentor Kim Allsup’s journey with her first class. Each chapter focuses on a key element or trait – Curiosity, Resilience, Nurturing, Responsibility, and Balance to name a few – and the story that follows allows the reader to see how that capacity or quality can emerge…
Since retiring from teaching in Waldorf schools, I’ve enjoyed working with a homeschooling second grader who often comes up with an idea for our lesson time than is more engaging than what I planned. “Can we start in the garden today?” And why not? We are both more focused after time in the fresh air where she weeds her fairy…
Soon the first grader would wave good bye to her four year old brother at my classroom door. But now they both sat in a wooded glade on a hot August day listening intently to my story during a home visit, a tradition in our school. I had been telling the same story at each home and I felt apprehensive…
