The most important thing as you peruse the delightful pages of the Waldorf Alphabet Book with your child is the engaging conversation that flows between you as you search among the pictures for words. (from the afterword)

In this delightful, bestselling alphabet and game book for young children, each consonant and vowel comes to life in vivid pictures that show each letter's unique qualities in the world. The vibrant and playful illustrations help children learn the alphabet in the most natural and living way.

This expanded paperback edition includes a complete essay by master Waldorf teacher William Ward, Learning to Read and Write in Waldorf Schools

This is the alphabet book for parents and teachers who want to encourage the most natural development in children. It is ideal for both at home and in the classroom. It also makes an ideal gift for your favorite young child or parents!

Here is a useful compendium of information, recipes, and anecdotes from Waldorf kindergarten teacher Lisa Hildreth--a rich book for teachers, parents, and anyone who cares for young children. Create soups, breads, and fruit dishes with children, while learning and teaching them how various foods affect us and how to use healthy ingredients to make delicious and nutritious snacks.

Whimsically and joyously illustrated by kindergarten teacher Jo Valens, you will find yourself turning to this book time and again when it's snack time. The author has also included a chapter on birthday and festival foods.

Whether as a quick snack, part of a full-course dinner, or as the whole meal, there is nothing quite like a good bowl of soup. These recipes reflect the care and awareness that goes into providing proper nutrition for children and adults alike, while never ignoring the palate.

Many Waldorf schoolteachers, staff, parents, alumni, and friends of the Waldorf school movement have contributed their favorite recipes to make up this collection. You will find everything from stocks and broths to selections of vegetable, bean, cream, tomato, seafood, chicken, beef, and dessert soups ... and, of course, no book of soups would be complete without a recipe for Stone Soup! This cookbook has something here for everyone.

The Waldorf School Book of Soups is certain to become a favorite in every kitchen with kids.

But you have found your way to the Enchanted Islands, said the hermit. That is the first step, and that is good. I can't tell you which way to go, since I have no idea. You see, very few people have ever reached the castle itself, and no one has been there since I have been here, but I can tell you one thing...if you keep going straight through the forest, it will end. At the end, there are two paths. One path is the Right Way. The other is the Left Way. One of these paths is the true way, and will take you where you need to go; but you can only know which is which once you have gone along the way of your choice for some time.

What if the Right way is the wrong way, or the Left way is the right way? Lauren asked. It sounds confusing.

Yes, yes, of course it does. But once you've done it, everything will be perfectly clear.

Words are disappearing from the world. Something is lurking in the deepest waters, devouring all the words that are no longer used. No one has noticed, but the world is slowly growing darker.

For many years no children have come to the Enchanted Islands in search of Wisdom, and the Wise Enchanter is growing old. Four children from the corners of the earth have been sent on a quest to rediscover each letter, unlock the treasure of language, and thereby grow wise.

Time is running out; if the children do not reach the castle of the Wise Enchanter in time, Wisdom and light may vanish from the world altogether.

A family's path of homeschooling, from kindergarten through high school grade eleven

There are as many possible approaches to teaching children at home--homeschooling--as there are homes and families who choose to take up this individualized approach to education.

Catherine Read chose to model her homeschool approach on the curriculum used in Waldorf schools, drawing insight and guidance from the pedagogical principles articulated by Rudolf Steiner.

Part memoir, part how-to, this book is the story of her journey as the primary teacher of her two daughters through the entire Waldorf curriculum from early childhood to high school: what she did, when she did it, and why.

Dr. Zieve presents a new paradigm for health care that shows us how to go beyond the limitations and severe deficiencies of our current sickness care system. It embraces and synthesizes the emerging models of integrative medicine, energy medicine, and energy psychology into an effective and affordable approach to healing for everyone.

This guide is for both those wish to provide a more complete form of health care for their patients and also for those individuals who are prepared to make the necessary changes in daily life in order to initiate or maintain a movement toward healing. This includes understanding the daily disciplines of a healing process, the deeper psychological processes of illness, and the creative arts in their therapeutic roles.

Selected lectures

During the early seventeenth century, Europe was suddenly embroiled in controversy after the publication of the first Rosicrucian texts. Ever since, Rosicrucianism has been at the center of Western Christian esotericism. Forced underground by the Thirty Years War, it was secretly handed down by alchemists, hermeticists, and Masons to the nineteenth century, when it inspired new spiritual movements such as Theosophy, the Order of Golden Dawn, and Rudolf Steiner's Spiritual Science.

The Secret Stream collects all of Steiner's discussions of the Rosicrucians, answering questions such as Who are the Rosicrucians? What is Alchemy? What is the Rosicrucian path? What is the difference between Rosicrucianism and mysticism? And what does it mean for today? The topics include the Tao and the Rose Cross; the history and mission of Christian Rosenkreutz; the nature of Rosicrucian practice and experience; the meaning of The Chymical Wedding, and Goethe's Rosicrucian poem, The Mysteries.

Rosicrucian meditation is also discussed, including how to meditate the Rose Cross itself. This important collection goes to the spiritual heart of Anthroposophy, whose essence is the Rosicrucian path. Edited and introduced by Christopher Bamford, The Secret Stream brings to light the hidden fraternity that has lived and worked since the fourtheenth century. It reveals the Rosicrucian path that is Christian, alchemical, and profoundly modern.

Teachers and their styles are as various and unique as the polyphonic symphony of human life. And yet there are certain archetypal traits that would seem to grace the greatest and most effective of teachers: unquestioning dedication, flexibility, good humor, and an unpretentious openness to learning from anyone and everything are a just few.

Jack Petrash has spent the better part of his life teaching children, and teaching those who would also teach children, and the chapters that make up Turning Lead into Gold are filled with his sensitive observations and insights into all aspects of teaching and being a teacher, and a lifelong learner, born of these traits and having walked this path with open eyes and loving heart.

Turning Lead into Gold provides light and insight for teachers, parents, and caregivers, whether brand new or well-seasoned by their own experience.

This book succinctly explores the consciousness of the young child through a weaving of journal entries (made as a teacher, a young mother, and later, a grandmother), observations and musings, as well as practical activities from my parenting workshops. It is a journey through the child's world, trails marked by their own words. Their speech, as it naturally unfolds, leads the child to self-consciousness and critical thinking. But not too fast! Stay to savor soft grass brushing bare feet, the skid of sneakers on hot sidewalks, even the 'gentleness of a mosquito' as she bites. Find a partner to try out the practices and a quiet moment to journal. I hope this book will serve as invitation to look through a child's eyes and to hear with heart--it's no mistake that the word heart has ear inside. (introduction)

What Is This Childhood? explores the consciousness of the young child through language development, often in their own words. The child's early utterances reveal a unity of word and experience and of experience and meaning. Children live more fully in perception than conception. Yet, speech as it unfolds eventually leads the child to abstraction, self-consciousness, and critical thinking.

This journey into childhood will deepen the quality of our attention and presence in each moment, enlivening our speech and interactions and thereby preserving our children's sense of wonder and spiritual connection.

Scoochie Mouse makes her home in the chicken coop beneath the nest of her friend Henrietta, on the farm of a kind, loving family with three children, Tom, Jessica, and Lianna, their friend Birdie, and Woof the dog.

Scoochie's adventures and growing knowledge of the world are interwoven with the life of the farm and the family, with the circle of the seasons and the fairytales told in the quiet evenings. The world in which Scoochie and the farm family live is our world too, seen through the innocent eyes of childhood.

Born out of the wisdom of the Waldorf approach to early childhood learning, Scoochie Mouse and the Light of Love and its companions, The Adventures of Scoochie Mouse (2017) and Scoochie Mouse and the Miracle of Life (2021) are gentle, healing books about deep reverence for the natural world, abiding kindness toward all creatures, love, and goodness.

The short chapters are perfect for reading aloud to young children, and also appropriate for early readers (and grown-ups!) to read themselves.

(Ages 3-6+ years)

A warm, luminous story about the real meaning of Christmas--from the author of The Beejum Book, whimsically illustrated by the artist Maggie Mailer.

... this was just the beginning of big changes to come.

The colorful illustrations in this book are made by the author from dyed wool fibers, felted together to create a solid piece of fabric. She employed a technique known as dry, or needle, felting, which requires a small hand tool called a felting needle with barbs along the shaft to catch the fibers as it pierces the surface of the wool and binds them together. Jan describes the experience as painting with a needle.

(Ages 3-5).

There is growing recognition in educational circles that helping children to build the skills they need to thrive in adult life is as important as content delivery linked to achievements on benchmark tests. These important skills include communication, persistence in the face of challenge, adaptability, teamwork, good manners, self-control, responsibility, and punctuality.

A unifying goal for every Waldorf-Steiner school--anywhere in the world, large or small--is to provide a gradual progression of challenging academic content for which the students are (or soon will be) emotionally and physiologically prepared. Waldorf schoolteachers recognize that all true learning requires inner composure and flexibility, and that what can be seen and developed through outer movement is vital for mental health and acuity throughout life. Physical activity fuels the brain with oxygen and decreases stress. Every movement creates and strengthens connections within the brain and in the nerve pathways throughout the body.

The importance of developmental movement is also clearly validated by modern science as a path to physiological and emotional development, and might be just as important as academic presentation, especially in the early grades. Activities that build such basics as postural control, spatial orientation, physical coordination, and body geography are not merely classroom extras. All children (perhaps more than ever before) need a rich diet of developmental movement, drawing, and painting exercises, as indicated by Rudolf Steiner, Audrey McAllen, Karl König, Olive Whicher, and numerous others.

Although nearly all of these tools have been within the domain of Extra Lesson practitioners and Waldorf movement teachers for decades, Jeff Tunkey asserts that they should be staples for all students, in all classes, every day.

This comprehensive guidebook to Africa is a carefully organized resource for teaching children and adolescents about African culture. It is divided into geographical regions so that each can be highlighted and contrasted. The songs, fairytales, mythologies, biographies, art, and recipes are highlighted with practical activities for each grade including kindergarten.

This is an invaluable book for teachers in elementary and high school, as well as for homeschool parents. Based on this extensive, well-researched book, Waldorf teachers have created a full unit on Africa. Teachers and parents will welcome this revised edition. Hear the Voice of the Griot!

Illustrated extensively in black and white.

Scoochie Mouse makes her home in the chicken coop beneath the nest of her friend Henrietta, on the farm of a kind, loving family with two children, Tom and Jessica, their friend Birdie, and their dog Woof.

Scoochie's adventures and growing knowledge of the world are interwoven with farm and family life, with the circle of the seasons, and with fairy tales told during quiet evenings. The world in which Scoochie and the farm family live is our world, too, seen through the innocent eyes of childhood.

Born from the wisdom of the Waldorf approach to early childhood learning, Scoochie Mouse and the Miracle of Life (as well as its companion, The Adventures of Scoochie Mouse) is a gentle, healing book about deep reverence for the natural world, abiding kindness toward all creatures, love, and goodness.

The 56 short chapters are perfect for reading aloud to young children and are appropriate for early readers (and grown-ups!) to read themselves.

(Ages 3-6+ years)

Setting out on the journey of adolescence is like taking a boat into turbulent waters, not knowing where one will end up. Will the boat capsize or find its bearing? Where is the rudder?

The community of adults in a high school environment is a community of trust in which we need to foster hope, belief in positive change, and commitment to serve the highest good. This is a teacher's charge, and one must never forget it.

Teachers are responsible for believing in adolescents' capacity for change and maturing and for transformation. When these qualities live in the souls of teachers in a high school community, adolescents are able to thrive and to face their own dark night of the soul and to pass through it and into the light.

This is an invaluable resource for teachers, as well as for parents and homeschooling. It offers the possibility of offering order and guidance for adolescents as they navigate the chaos of being teenagers on the verge of adulthood.

Along with the Bible and Shakespeare, Grimms' fairy tales rank among the best selling literature of the Western world. And Little Red Riding Hood is perhaps the best known story of the Grimms brothers' collection. What accounts for such popularity? Like all of the Grimms' fairy tales, the characters in this story led us to discover the treasures in our own souls.

Philosophies, artistic styles, and religious conventions change with thim, but this tale has endured for centuries. In our modern age, with our emphasis on science and technology, a wolf speaking and eating the old grandma and Red Riding Hood seem to be drawn from the depths of a remote and superstitious past. More sensitive souls such as Goethe, Rudolf Steiner, C. G. Jung, and Bruno Bettlelheim, however, have all recognized that true fairy tales are not merely arbitrary fantasies or folk imaginations. They were aware that deep meaning shines through all genuine fairy tales.

The great German poet, Novalis, once said that fairy tales are prophetic, idealistic, and inevitable, all in one.... I believe that in a fairy tale I can best express my mood of soul. Everything is a fairy tale. Fairy tales should be told to children with out explanation. Children relate quite naturally with the inner significance of the story. They absorb the language of the imaginations and feel connected with it in a truly intimate way. Any interpretation is unnecessary and would be quite a mistake. Emotionally involved with a given tale, the young child's imagination should not be disturbed; it is always intrusive to make conscious what a child wishes to keep preconscious.

For teachers and parents, however, it is always worthwhile to become conscious of the soul and spiritual qualities behind the story. In this way, tales can be told or read to children with much more conviction and charm. One will see that such tales are not fantastic or beautiful and poetic lies but express the great soul wisdom of the heart that knows more than the head will admit.

In his insightful commentary, Andrew Flaxman helps us understand the deeper meaning behind this story and fairy tales in general.

Patricia DeLisa brings us a beautifully illustrated and important contribution to the literature of fairy tales.

(Ages 3 - 7 years)