Posted: March 22nd, 2010 | Author: Julia Posey | Filed under: Book Reivew | No Comments »
Today’s children spend less time outdoors in free play and exploration than their grandparents did. Further, author Richard Louv states, children are spending more time indoors removed from nature. In Last Child in the Woods, Louv asks the important question who will be the future stewards of the earth if today’s children have no relationship with the outdoor world? He calls the problem Nature-Deficit Disorder.
Last Child in the Woods refrains from cynical judgement of our youth and apocalyptic fatalism. Louv calls upon us as adults to create introductions to nature, bring children back outdoors and use our political power to address nature-deficit disorder.
Through unhurried play and exploration, the relationship between children and the outdoor world can grow.
Posted: March 15th, 2010 | Author: Julia Posey | Filed under: Book Reivew | No Comments »
The Creative Family: How to Encourage Imagination and Nurture Family Connections is a wonderful resource for anyone who wishes to nurture a more meaningful family life. Through simple projects and mindful parenting, author Amanda Blake Soule shares ways to foster the connections that make a healthy loving family. The projects in her book range from felt blocks, freezer paper stencils to building everyday family rituals.
Soule stresses the importance of allowing children to connect to natural world outdoors whether it be in a city park or the beaches of Maine.
When I am with my children out in the world…I watch them weave their way around the trees in a forest; jump into the ocean with abandon; and wrap their hands around a pine tree as they climb, getting covered in sap and loving the sticky feeling on their fingers. They aren’t worried about tripping on the roots above the ground, whether or not the water is too cold, whether they have dry clothes to change into, or how many days it will be before all the sap is washed off their hands. These details are the details of adults. It is the job of children to just be in the world. To know it and to fall in love with it.
The Creative Family is a book about building connections. The connection between a small ladybug traveling the length of your garden bed, the wide world that extends beyond your front door and the mindfulness you bring to the home behind it.
Posted: March 1st, 2010 | Author: Julia Posey | Filed under: Book Reivew | No Comments »
Recently, the el Rio team put together a lending library at el Rio HQ for the board to use, reference and read. At our last board meeting, Julia S. came up with the great idea that we should share some of our book/movie/media picks on the blog.
Each Monday, a board member will write a review and share some of the books, movies and other items that might be of interest.
Today, I’ll debut the el Rio book review with Jack Petrash’s Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out.
Petrash has been a teacher for over three decades. He taught at the Washington Waldorf School for many of those years. In Understanding Waldorf Education, Petrash shares what a Waldorf education looks like in the classroom with examples of stories that might be told or how conflicts might be resolved. The book is a glimpse into the world of Waldorf education for the layperson rather than a synopsis of the works of Rudolf Steiner.
If you are interested in buying a book through the Amazon link provide on this site, a portion of your purchase will go to el Rio Charter School. Thank you for your support. We look forward to share great finds with you.
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