Waldorf and Television?

This post is now located at www.BEarthBLOG.com

Helle Heckmann: Protecting Childhood: Birth through Age 8

Helle Heckman, director of the Nokken Waldorf Kindergarten in Copenhagen, spoke November 2 at the Ames Public Library on the topic, "Protecting Childhood: Birth through Age 8." Kristie Burns received permission to film this inspiring event. The following is a ten-minute excerpt from her talk. The full talk is available from Helle Heckman or to Lifetime members of www.Earthschooling.com. This video clip is exclusive to The Waldorf Channel. You can see this ten-minute clip, where she talks about one of the main issues in modern childhood, at: http://waldorftv.weebly.com/theory.html

If you would like an excerpt of one of your videos featured at The Waldorf Channel or you would like your event filmed for free please contact me, Kristie at: herbnhome@gmail.com. I work mainly in the area of the Midwest. However, in April I will be in the California area as a speaker at the 2010 Waldorf in the Home conference.

This video is also being sent to Delphine Douglas of the Prairie Flower Waldorf School in Ames and will be available for viewing for members of the Ames Waldorf Association.

Enjoy!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

New Waldorf Channel Shows

New Waldorf Channel Shows



Public

Sample for inspiration: Spinning Wool with Stories & Tutorial

at: Spinning Wool





Private or Purchase

(for www.EarthSchooling.com members and members of www.HerbnHome.com forum

You can also purchase these (and support The Waldorf Channel) at: Video Downloads)

18-minute story & tutorial - Spinning Wool

Our Earthschooling & Waldorf Enrichment Day: Part One - Making Bread

Make Your Own Unique Spool-Knitter and How to Use It



Enjoy!

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

New Waldorf Channel Show: Watercolor Paper & Spinning Wool

This can now be found on our new blog HERE

The Nature Table: Nest in Tree with Bird Craft at The Waldorf Channel

A new FREE public show is on The Waldorf Channel at:



The Nature Table



This video shows you how to make a beautiful nest in a tree for your nature table with a beeswax bird. In the video we use homemade molding beeswax made using the member video "How to Make Your Own Waldorf Supplies: Molding Beeswax" found in the Tutorial section of the channel.



Enjoy :)

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

How to Make Waldorf Block Crayons

Dear Members,

This week our featured video is on how to make Waldorf block crayons.

This 9 minute video shows you the basics of how to make a Waldorf Block Crayon with beeswax and ingredients from nature. Alternate ingredients are suggested for your convenience and a list of natural artist pigments (that you most likely have in your kitchen or nearby) is included. Using this video you can make all the basic colors of Waldorf block crayons and endless colors beyond that. These are child-safe and all-natural of course!

A typical set of block crayons costs $14.00-$35.50. My homemade set of 18 crayons cost me $5.35.

This video can be found as part of the How to Make Waldorf Supplies here:
http://earthschooling.info/thebearthinstitute/?wpsc-product=how-to-make-waldorf-supplies

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
http://www.earthschooling.com/

New Waldorf Channel Show! Waldorf Storytelling

New Waldorf Channel Show July 29.2008
At: www.TheWaldorfChannel.com
Click on: "Storytelling" and it will be at the top of the page

Waldorf Storytelling
7-minute clip from "Home and Hearth Conference" in El Paso, TX 2008
This 7-minute clip gives insight into different types of storytellers and how to start storytelling with your own family or class. Advanced storytellers can find inspiration here too!

You can also purchase the full 75-minute workshop for only 12.50 on DVD at:
The Herb'n Home Store

Or purchase the download (Ipod or video download) for only 7.50 at:
Storytelling Download

Nature Walk Adventures

Our newest series on The Waldorf Channel is a series of nature walk adventures and you are welcome to share your own! Have you seen a deer, fox or other animal while walking? Did you make something beautiful in the woods? Videos in this series will be focused on the unusual, inspirational and/or educational. I will not be including videos of people walking in the woods and doing nothing. Although these kinds of videos may be beautiful I am aiming to create a series that is more educational and unusual. If you have anything to contribute please contact Kristie at: herbnhome@yahoo.com

I do have many clips to share, but I decided to start small. This one is a very short clip of a chipmunk chirping. Did you know that chipmunks chirp? I never knew...I always thought it was the birds...until one day the sound was driving me crazy so I went outside to see what the ruckus was and I found something like this little guy...tune in and see. Your kids will be watching those chipmonks very closely after seeing THIS 30-second clip!

Chipmunk Chirp at The Waldorf Channel

Blessings & Health,
Kristie
http://www.earthschooling.com/

What is Waldorf? Waldorfize your Lesson Plans

I am excited to announce our new Waldorf Channel show for this week. It is called:

What is Waldorf? How to Waldorfize a Lesson Plan

I am thrilled with this video and would LOVE to hear feedback on this from anyone and everyone as I will probably revise it at some point and make it a feature video on the channel. I think it is a very useful video for new Waldorf parents, experienced Waldorf parents and families of Waldorf parents who have no idea what they are doing! I am going to send everyone in my family a link to this video tonight!

You can link directly to the video at:
http://waldorftv.weebly.com/theory.html

Enjoy!
Blessings & Health,
Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND
List Moderator
Mother to Mosi, 13, Sunii, 11, and Sofi, 9
http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/
http://www.thedreamangels.com/

How can I teach counting by 2s? WALDORF QUESTION OF THE WEEK #13

How can I teach my child counting by 2s?

You can try doing some verses and when you say them you emphasize every other word. It helps with the Rhythm of 2's and gets the whole body involved which helps. Here is an example: (on the capitals stomp your feet or clap or throw a bean bag or bean bag animal or something).

The DRA-gon SEES a TOAD and HIS tail GOES swish-SWISH, swish-SWISH
(he still wants that toad for his lunch)
2, FOUR, 6, EIGHT, 10, TWELVE, four-TEEN, six-TEEN, eight-TEEN, twen-TY

Another one of my FAVORITE ways to learn counting by anything is to do a "math circle". This can also be a really fun woodworking project and is really very easy.

Take any scrap of wood or a circular tree slice and make a perfect circle on it (by tracing the outside of a bowl). Now, place ten dots around it - all evenly spaced.

Hammer nails into all ten dots.

Now you have a circle with ten nails around it.

Take some yarn and start at the top. Count by 2's and each 2nd nail you get to wrap the yarn around it. See what design you have after a while!

Count by 3's - there is a different design.

I LOVE playing with this game! (oh, the kids do too)

You can see an instructional video on how to make it at:

http://waldorftv.weebly.com/lessons.html

These are all from my math e-book for kids ages 4-8 at: http://www.waldorflessonplans.com/

Hope this helps.

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

My First Visit to the Rudolph Steiner College by Erron Evans

Dear Parents, I wanted to share the work of one of my favorite "Waldorf Photographers" with you. He is the photographer who made the video of Brian (the Waldorf teacher in CA) making the chalk drawing on the board at :

CHALK ART

He has a small exhibit of photos he took at the Rudolph Steiner College that are so WALDORF. Can photos BE Waldorf? If this is possible...he has achieved it!

You can see them at:

http://www.erronevans.com/RSC/index.html

Blessings & Health,

Kristie

Felting Without the Needle

Ever since we started working on this video the kids and I have not been able to stop making these adorable little felted figures! The figures you see in the pictures above were made by a 3,5,9 and 11-year old without needles. How? Find out by downloading the member video of the week at The Waldorf Channel. It is available at: Felting Video

New Waldorf Show - Sunday Feb.17th, 2008

This week our new show is:

Multiplication Art/Woodworking Lesson (Grades 1-3)

You can view this new show at:

http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/
link to: Lessons

Enjoy!
Blessings & Health,
Karima

Waldorf and TV

References for this article can be found at:

Reference Page

As a naturopath, writer, and teacher this is one of my favorite projects to take on. I enjoy researching the historical uses of herbs and healing therapies and then tracing their usage up until the modern day where we find that they are still being used for the same ailments – only now their usage is “proved” by modern research. After writing many of these articles I have come to the conclusion that there are many visionaries that have existed that were able to convince hundreds of people of their vision, but sadly, they were not fully listened to until “modern” methods could be used to prove what they say is true.

And some visionaries are still waiting! In the book, The Field, Lynne McTaggart researches some fringe science such as EMF waves, light therapy and ESP research and shows how even these fields are finally getting the “proof” they need to stand up in modern society.

Article: What Did Steiner Say about Television?
So what did Steiner have to say about television? Nothing. There were no televisions in his time. But, he said enough about early childhood education that we can surmise what his views on the tube would have been.

These reasons center on Steiner’s view of the astral body, imagination and the way a child learns.

A cornerstone in Steiner’s educational theorems was the fact that children go through three stages in their lives. First, from age 0-7, the spirit inhabiting the body of the child is still getting used to its surroundings. This explains many standards in the Waldorf curriculum such as the standard of teaching the alphabet at age 7 or 8. During the second stage, from ages 7-14, the child is said to be driven by imagination and fantasy, and during the third stage, starting at age 14, the astral body is said to be driven into the physical body, creating the onset of puberty.

Waldorf educators saw a direct link to this astral body and the watching of television. The scenes, the lack of imagination involved, and the topics covered on most channels would obviously bring on the astral stage of the body at an early age. This was one reason that television was banned from Waldorf schools.

Modern researchers, however, have just recently made this connection when they recently announced, “Watching Television may Quicken the Onset of Puberty” (Dr. Laura Markham, 2006). In her article, based on 35 different research studies she states that this connection has a lot to do with the hormone melatonin. Melatonin is a hormone produced by the pineal gland in the brain, which plays a key role in regulating the body’s internal clock. Light emitted by television screens suppresses melatonin levels in the blood, which disrupts sleep patterns of children and teens as well as the age at which they enter puberty. It is also interesting to note that the problems of early-onset puberty have baffled researchers since 1950. This was the same date in which televisions became widely owned in the United States.

This is not the main reason given when Waldorf Schools state on their websites that children should not watch television. When I reviewed 40 Waldorf school websites I found that 36 of them stated their main reason for discouraging television was that it hinders the imagination in the child.

And this is indeed one of the most important elements in early childhood education that Steiner, himself, promoted. Rudolf Steiner, in his 1919 Essay, “An Introduction to Waldorf Education,” states, “Of prime importance for the cultivation of the child’s feeling-life is that the child develops a relationship to the world in a way such as that which develops when we are inclined towards fantasy.” Fantasy, in Waldorf education, is not the fantasy of Disney movies or only the fantasy of fairy tales. It is a holistic process of allowing the child to expand their imagination into expanded realms. Fairy tales are one aspect of this process.

Recent studies show that television hinders this process in young children. In a study led by Dr. Aric Sigman, an associate fellow of the British Psychological Society (and concluded in 2007). He shows that television affects the brain in many ways that would weaken the imagination in children. The first effect that translates into a weaker imagination is the occurrence of “jump cuts” in television that fracture attention spans. At the same time, studies show that the brain is then programmed to reward itself with “dopamine” (the happy drug) for being able to cope with this fractured attention span. Basically, people become addicted to functioning with a fractured attention span. Extreme multi-tasking and children being enrolled in tens of “after-school activities” are also a result of this addiction. Imagination is naturally lost when our minds cannot focus. Have you ever tried to write an article while being interrupted every five minutes?
As far as being educational, brain scans performed by neuroscientist have shown that television and many interactive media games do not stimulate intellectual areas of the brain.

Teachers in Waldorf schools also discourage the watching of television because of the effects it has on the child’s behavior at school. But any teacher could tell you that! Not just a Waldorf teacher. And we have all heard that enough times to be tired of that reason. But how can we bring Steiner’s research into this and understand it on a deeper level?

Steiner said, “From birth to about the sixth or seventh year, the human being naturally gives himself up to everything immediately surrounding him in the human environment, and thus, through the imitative instinct, gives form to his own nascent powers.” If I didn’t know that Steiner was not alive during the time of television I would expect his next words to say something about the effects of television. But his next words are even more powerful. He says, “From this period on, the child’s soul becomes open to take in consciously what the educator and teacher give, which affects the child as a result of the teacher’s natural authority.”

So, what, then, would happen when that “teacher” is the television? What Steiner is saying in his statement is that the child is in a stage where he/she is imitating everything around them. Everything becomes their teacher. Any parent who has been embarrassed by a child’s actions that reflected their own knows this to be true. Rahima Baldwin Dancy’s book “You are Your Child’s First Teacher” explores this issue in much depth. It becomes only obvious, to a Waldof teacher, then, that if you allow television to be a teacher you open up the child to many things you do not want them exposed to.

On the website of one Waldorf school in Ireland it states, “Television, as well as film, videos, DVDs, recorded music, computers and electronic games have a very powerful effect on children. It can take several days for the effects of a single video to wear off. If children are watching every day, the effects never wear off at all; many children now speak a lot of the time in ‘cartoon’ voices, make ‘sound effects’ to accompany their jerky movements (kicking, punching) and compulsively repeat lines from videos they have seen over and over again. This is now seen as normal childish behaviour, but it really comes from these media, not from the children themselves.”

Another concern about television watching is that it will hinder the child’s ability to reflect on and carry through on the lessons they were taught during the day. Steiner believed that “What is learned more slowly at any given age is more surely and healthily absorbed by the organism, that what is crammed into it.” (Spiritual Ground for Education by Rudolf Steiner). This is one reason that when a child is given a lesson in a Waldorf manner that they are allowed time to reflect on it and often given the “same” lesson twice. Lessons often depend on the child taking in the content of the first lesson, sleeping and reflecting on it and then coming back the next day to recall and work through it. During this time of sleep and reflection the lesson will have been digested, together with mental pictures a child has made for themselves and it is this that makes the lesson really “sink in” to a child’s being.

If children are watching television or using any other electronic devices during this process, these devices will “over-ride” the lesson. So instead of reflecting and creating images of the lesson, the child’s head will be filled with images of the television or media. Once again, his own imagination is denied him. This view on the damage of television ties into the modern studies done on television watching and its effects on concentration that I discussed earlier.

Recent studies are also showing that TV can be linked to obesity, autism, and even diabetes. Steiner gave numerous lectures on the topic of nutrition and education and believed that the health of the body was greatly affected by how it learned, and how a person learned was also greatly effected by their health. Knowing, what we know today about the health effects of television on the body, we can assume that Steiner would not have approved of this as a healthy medium for holistic learning.

Post-Article: How Does www.thewaldorfchannel.com Tie into This?
The Waldorf Channel is intended for adult viewing only. Programs are designed to be short in span (3-8 minutes) so the ill effects of using electronic media for all people is minimized.
I do realize that some children may choose to watch some of the videos in an instructional way with their parents.

Videos that children may be watching for instruction are mean to be “instructional lessons” and not “shows to watch”. So if your child chooses to watch a show then they should be aware of the presenter as their “teacher” and they should participate with the presenter and their parent together as a way of learning new things. This is a way of bringing Waldorf into your home via the incredible tools of the Internet in the modern world and is NOT a way to bring TV into your Waldorf home.

Waldorf Radio is intended to be listened to by parents alone or parents and children together. After listening to a show parents should be able to re-create the stories for their children and children should be able to recreate the stories in their own way – including creating plays. This is one way to bring the magic of storytelling and fantasy into your home as a family together.

New Waldorf Show - Sunday Feb. 10th, 2008

Today Sunii shows you how your kids can make an amazing Valentine's treat for you and all you need to do is sit back and relax :) I am a bit surprised he wanted to be in the video! He is so shy in person and so this is his first public debut! I'm not so keen on him becoming a YOUTUBE star (LOL) but I am excited that he is venturing into new things and out of his world of "shyness" and he is a lot more fun to watch than I am! So enjoy the new show at:

www.thewaldorfchannel.com

I filed the show under "celebrations" for Valentine's Day!

Blessings & Health,
Kristie

New Shows at TheWaldorfChannel.com 2/5/2008

There are so many fun new things on The Waldorf Channel!

New Videos:
A String Game Story by Kristie Burns - 4 minute video lesson

New Radio Shows:
Tikki Tikki Tembo (He doesn't die at the end in my version)
The Arabian Nights - Part 7

New E-Books:
Sixth Sense Math
A Year of Waldorf Watercolor Painting

Please consider supporting The Waldorf Channel by purchasing one of our E-books, E-Videos or E-Audio products at: The Waldorf Channel Downloads.

Thank You and Enjoy!
Blessings & Health,
Kristie

NEW! Finger-knitting and Chalk Art at www.thewaldorfchannel.com!

Every Sunday we broadcast a new show on www.thewaldorfchannel.com . You can access these new shows and any past shows by visiting the site.

This week our PUBLIC and FREE shows are very exciting.

Chalk Art - in the "art" section of the channel

FILMED BY: Erron Evans / Studio E at: http://www.erronevans.com/
Brian Wolf, a teacher at the Davis Waldorf School in California

This is an AMAZING and breathtaking video of Brian doing a chalk masterpiece on the board at his school. It is done in fast-motion so you feel as if the picture is being created out of the air. It really took him 45 minutes to do but the video is only 5 minutes long! Even though I could not duplicate his art I did learn a lot about chalk drawing from watching this and was inspired as well!

Finger-Knitted Flowers - in the "crafts" section of the channel

by www.thedreamangels.com

A lot of people have been asking how to make those finger-knitted flowers I posted a picture of a couple weeks ago on my BLOG so here is an 8-minute tutorial on making VERY EASY and very beautiful finger-knitted flowers. This is an original pattern that my daughter and I created 4 years ago. And I know you all need something to do with that 1000 meters of finger-knitting you have around your house - right? These also make a perfect Valentine's Day project AND GIFT. Everyone we have gifted these to before has been thrilled with them.

Enjoy!

Blessings & Health,

Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND

I confess RE: Waldorf Home Organization

OK, I confess, my kids never watched the "Homeschool Organization" video I uploaded to www.thewaldorfchannel.com

This is what my dining room looked like this morning and I have 3 questions:

1. How did coats get on the floor when nobody went outside since I reminded them to pick them up last time?

2. Why is there only one blue shoe on the floor (In the background)? Where is the other one????

3. Does a coat hook mean NOTHING to these children?

Love & Laughs,
Kristie

I felted my pet cat's fur yesterday!

Dear Parents,

So what does one do with their fingers when they have been knitting like mad for a month and suddenly one day they have a break with nothing to do with their hands?

Well, I ended up felting my pet cat's fur. It was sort of an accident, really. She saw that my lap was free (this cat follows me aroud like I am the Pied Piper and waits for me to sit down) a lot yesterday so she got petted A LOT. Finally I decided to switch to the little cat brush we have. So I brushed an brushed an removed some hair and had this little pile of cat hair. I was talking to a friend at the time and didn't want to get up and throw it away so I held it in my hands for a while and started messing with it...pretty soon it started to take on a felted texture. So I thought...hey - perhaps I could make something out of this....so I made a little skirt for a doll.

Encouraged I made some hair for the doll and then a little baby dragon. Ran out of hair then. We have a nice white bunny and I tried to get some hair from her (I was having fun by this time) but she didn't want to be petted so...

Anyway, this was really easy. All I did was roll the hair around in my fingers for a while until it started to come together like felt. Before it was too stiff I started shaping it into what I wanted. I didn't use any needles. So I guess this would be "finger felting?" is there a such thing?

Enjoy!

Blessings & Health,

Kristie Karima Burns, MH, ND
Mother to Mosi, 13: Suni, 11: Sofi, 9
http://www.thedreamangels.com/
Natural Healing Online at: http://www.herbnhome.com/
Visual Resources for Waldorf Parents at: http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/
Waldorf Lessons Plans at: http://www.waldorflessonplans.com/


BLOGs about Waldorf, Healing & Humor at:
http://herbnhome.blogspot.com/ (Frugal Natural Healing and Living)
http://waldorfschoolonline.blogspot.com/ (Waldorf Home Schooling Inspirations)
http://healinghumor.blogspot.com/ (Healing Humor)
http://thedreamangels.blogspot.com/ (Inspirational Thoughts)
http://yearofthelimo.blogspot.com/ (A BLOG about my crazy car and charity work)

New Videos at www.thewaldorfchannel.com

Dear Members,

Check out the new videos at http://www.thewaldorfchannel.com/, International Visual Resources for the Waldorf Parent. New posts include:

Eurythmy in the Class
Eurythmy on Stage
The Basics of Waldorf
Reading and Writing in the Waldorf Method

These videos were all generously donated by Eugene Schwartz, International speaker and Waldorf teacher who graduated THREE classes!

Enjoy!
Blessings & Health,
Kristie