LifeWays North America NEWSLETTER
WINTER 2022
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Theme: Winter Games~ Thriving and Striving
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Dear Friend,
While for many of you, winter is still ever present and COLD, for others (like myself in Sacramento) blossoming is already happening and garden beds are being prepared! And, of course, for our dear friends in the southern hemisphere you are leaving summer and headed into autumn!
Thank you all for your patience in anticipating our Winter Newsletter. As with so many loved ones we know, our dear Michaeleen, LifeWays newsletter editor, and her family have been going through the winter illness of our times. Thus, the delay. We are cheering her on and invite all of you to send out love and well wishes.
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Contributions from the
LifeWays Community
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The Winter Garden, A Story
by Suzanne Down
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Imagine this little tale as a puppet play... I like creating surprise in my puppet shows. Here, the snow cave can be revealed from under a white snowy landscape silk, already set up with little twinkle lights hidden with white silk gauze veiling, that can be turned on with a dimmer light. How magical it will be for your children!... READ MORE
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Little House Reflections ~ Winter 2022
by Veronica Oliva-Clour
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The winter seasons are long periods that can last six months at Little House, located in central Minnesota. Snow can gently begin falling in October, which excites us all, and usually covers the garden in a gentle soft blanket. Then it may melt away and seem like a bit of a tease. But eventually we all know that the big snow will come, supported by King Winter and his team of merry folk.. ..READ MORE
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Little Mice in the Snow, A Movement Game
by Lynn St. Pierre
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This delightful Ellersiek large movement play is designed for mixed age kindergarten. The body of work created by Wilma Ellersiek offers the young child all that is needed for healthy development of the lower four senses. Later, after snack you could invite the little mice under the table to clean up all the crumbs. Enjoy this wonderful play with your children! ...READ MORE
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Even the Youngest Children Thrive in Indoor/Outdoor Nursery Settings
by Catherine Falknor
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After a year’s hiatus at the Whidbey Island Waldorf School (WIWS) because of COVID, children have resumed their classes and had a full autumn’s worth of subjects, increased outdoor time, and festival life. The nursery program, blending outdoors and indoors time, was among the only segments of the school to continue operating last year, together with the outdoors classes for the mixed-age kindergarteners. This year, the Little Woods Nursery is providing a safe environment for children, many affected by isolation during COVID, to grow and flourish with their peers.… READ MORE
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We invite you to view these delightful winter circle time videos of Jaimmie Stugard, Director and KinderHouse Teacher at LifeWays Early Childhood Center in Milwaukee, WI.
LifeWays Milwaukee celebrates its 20 year anniversary this year!
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Featured LifeWays Representative |
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Thriving and Striving at
Paradise Farm
in West Bend, WI
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"Here as well as anywhere I can look out my window and see the world. There are lights that arrive here from deep in the universe." -Wendell Berry
Paradise Farm is the site of an historic homestead in southeastern Wisconsin, amid the rolling hills and fertile land of the Kettle Moraine. The Potawatomi people lived lightly on this land for centuries, a staggering feat in a region where the weather can be harsh and cruel for five months out of the year. In 1850 or so, German settlers felled giant oak trees with simple hand tools and fashioned them into the strong beams that provide structure to the buildings that have housed every farm animal and human being on this patch of land for 170+ years. The thriving and the striving, and the living and the dying, of those who came before us for hundreds of years have shaped this little patch of land, and they have shaped us, too.
Thoreau, who went to Walden Pond to learn about the natural world, was convinced that if you study any one place carefully enough, you can learn everything you need to know about the world. Paradise Farm is a place where the invitation to observe and listen is strong and clear, like a bell ringing in the countryside calling us to gather at the table and discover the foundations of our heritage. This invitation is what drew me and my family in, and what formed the farm education program at Paradise Farm.
The Paradise Farm education program began 11 years ago, and like the land on which the program lives, it has morphed and changed over those years, adapting to changing circumstances and the needs of the community. We first started by partnering with schools, hoping to go beyond the usual "field trip to a farm" experience that is a standard component of modern American children's schooling. The vision was to develop a relationship between children and the farm, giving the children enough time and exposure to life on the farm that they could gather up the goodness of the land and its ancestors. Relationships take time, however, and most schools don't have the resources or the inclination to cultivate a long-lasting relationship between the children and the farm. When responding to teachers' inquiries, it was difficult to get beyond the question, "Can the children come out to your farm and get a pumpkin?" It’s still a dream to partner with a school that will invest in supporting a class of children to develop a long-term relationship with the farm. Maybe someday.
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Mary O'Connell opened LifeWays Early Childhood Center in Milwaukee in 2002, where she served as director for 13 years. Mary is an alumni of the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She is a traveling teacher and Training Coordinator for LifeWays North America. She has taught parents and childcare teachers all over the U.S. and internationally. In 2010, Mary co-authored Home Away From Home: LifeWays Care of Children and Families with Cynthia Aldinger, and in 2018 she authored Observing Young Children: A Tool for Meaningful Assessment. Most recently, Mary started a non-profit farm education program at Paradise Farm in West Bend, where she and her colleagues provide outdoor, farm-based education to children and adults.
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News from the LifeWays Community |
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FREE Online Course from LifeWays! |
To introduce you to our innovative approach to care for young children, we invite you to jump into our FREE online course. “Welcome to LifeWays” includes videos and resources to help you deepen your home life and transform your work with children! Enjoy it on your own time, and at your own pace! (Directors, teachers and professional caregivers: This is a great introductory course to share with parents in your early childhood programs!)
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Your support of LifeWays North America keeps Certification Training, Continuing Education Hours and Parenting Enrichment available for students worldwide. Your past generosity helps us keep resources like our Living Arts Weekly blog posts and our newsletters free for thousands of people. You help us continue to develop new avenues of support, and you help us provide a living wage for our staff. Your generosity is deeply appreciated!
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CALL IT IN - make your donation over the phone by simply calling Michael at (405) 343-7211 ~Thank you!
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Looking for details on upcoming LifeWays trainings, workshops and courses?
Now you can plan your education and enrichment opportunities with the new LIFEWAYS PLANNER, published every two months. Catch up on the latest issue, January/February 2022. By signing up on our website HERE you'll get the bi-monthly Planner, our weekly Blog and more!
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Questions? Ideas? Comments? |
Share them with your editor:
Michaeleen Hinca
LifeWays graduate, Class of 2000
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Transform your life with young children! |
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