SAVE-THE-DATE for our annual Spring fundraiser – an auction and gala event!  

When: Saturday, April 13, 2013

Time: 7.00 p.m.  – 10.00 p.m.

Where: 7165 Lounge, 7165 Germantown Avenue in Mt Airy (formerly North by Northwest, NXNW)

Cost: tickets $35/person in advance; $40/at the door. Optional $60/person ticket. Reduced price tickets available, contact development@phillywaldorf.com.

Join us for our live and silent auction fundraiser.  We’ll have many of the same great items to bid on as in previous years — biodynamic wine, vacation homes,  special “behind-the-scenes” tours, and more!

Make sure you keep April 13 open and available for dancing, food, drink, and other merriment – all in the name of raising much-needed funds for our tuition assistance program.  A letter and invitation are coming in the mail soon.

With our upcoming move to a permanent location, there is much to be excited about at our school.  We look forward to celebrating with everyone!

~Auction and Gala Event Planning Committee: Jamie Seibert and Jerika Johnstone, co-chairs; Allison Budschalow, Tim Wagner, Ulysses Williams, Lori Arnold, Elisa von Joeden-Forgey, Bettina de Caumette, Maggie Davis

Please make sure you hold Sunday, March 3, 2013 from 5-7p.m. for an all ages “happy hour” to celebrate Waldorf education in Philadelphia.  We are inviting all alumni and alumni families – you too, parents – of The Waldorf School of Philadelphia, as well as alumni of ANY Waldorf schools who are currently living in or spending time in Philly.  This includes current and former teachers of a Waldorf school.

We’ll be hosting this event at the High Point Café located at Allen’s Lane Septa Regional Rail train station in the Mt Airy section of Philly.  Delicious hot and cold beverages and yummy treats provided!

You won’t want to miss this opportunity to see old friends, make new connections, and to share in the telling of stories that only get richer with the passing of time.  Please come out whether you went to the Kimberton Waldorf School, Great Barrington Rudolf Steiner School, the Rudolf Steiner School – NYC, the Washington Waldorf School, High Mowing, Hawthorne Valley, the Princeton Waldorf School, and more.  Please forward widely to others who you know in the Philly area that are Waldorf (any school) alums.

Thanks and see you then!

Exploring with Imagination & Creativity, Nature & the Elements

 Join us for up to seven weeks of camp, June 17th – August 2nd  2013

Summergarten models the gentle rhythm of the Waldorf kindergarten that so lovingly nourishes the child’s developing coordination, cooperation and creativity. Each week a theme is offered that explores nature or one of the four elements.  Days are filled with singing, stories, creative play, craft making and water play; with plenty of time to explore, create and dream amidst the lovely environment of The Waldorf School of Philadelphia and the green space of our beautiful 38 acre shared campus in the heart of Mt Airy, Philadelphia.  Campers are guided and cared for by our experienced Waldorf Kindergarten teachers and each day includes a healthy, organic lunch and snack.

Week One – A Garden for a Gnome

Week Two – Blessed Bees

Week Three – Birds, Butterflies and Bugs

Week Four – Water Wonders

Week Five – Glass Gardens

Week Six – Forest Friends

Week Seven – Kites, Planes and Pinwheels

Summergarten Camp is a five day program open to children ages 3 – 6 years old including children entering first grade in September 2013. Camp Hours are 8:30 am to 3 pm Monday – Friday *no camp on July 4^th

***** Register before 15th March and receive a discount *****

Summergarten Flyer

Summergarten Camp REGISTRATION FORM 2013

Beautiful, hand-selected, soul-nourishing gifts

November 30th – December 2nd

Friday, 11-8, Saturday & Sunday, 9-5

@ Green on Greene, 6819 Greene Street, Philadelphia, PA 19119 – opposite the Weavers Way Co-op, High Point Cafe and Big Blue Marble Bookstore

The Whispering Wood Popup Store is more than a place to buy gifts. It is a multi-sensory conceptual shopping environment that melds core aspects of Waldorf Education with the selection of beautiful hand-made toys and gifts for family and loved ones. Visitors will be transported out of the ordinary with unique sound and music, the scent of essential oils, together with the sight and touch of natural elements and materials that have been transformed into children’s playthings and fine crafts. This year there are eleven vendors participating in our venture. Come visit and explore our collection of  jewelry, hand-knits, quilted and wood-worked items, hand-made books and photography. All proceeds benefit the WSP tuition assistance program.

PS – Don’t miss these events this weekend!!! The WSP holiday chorus on Friday @ 6.30, and the Sustainable Fundraising talk @ 4.00 and exclusive Alumni After Hours @ 5.00, both on Saturday.

Jaimen McMillan, founder of Spacial Dynamics and the Spacial Dynamics Institute (SDI) will offer two presentations at Kimberton Waldorf School in Phoenixville on Friday, November 16^th and Saturday, November 17^th.

On Friday evening from 7:30-9:00 p.m., Mr. McMillan will speak on the topic: Surviving Parenting and Teaching.  He will explore with us the challenge of raising children in today’s world.  On Saturday from 9 a.m. till 12 p.m., Mr. McMillan will lead a workshop entitled Movement in Childhood: The Role of Sport and Free Play in Healthy Childhood Development. Although the focus of the workshop is on healthy movement in children (and adolescents), this work can bring to everyone recognition of the importance of healthy movement at all stages of life.  This workshop is not just for those who interact with children, but also for everyone who has an interest in spatial awareness and healthy movement.  Both the lecture and workshop are free, donations gratefully accepted.

Jaimen McMillan, SDI’s Director and the founder of Spacial Dynamics®, has been training movement educators, movement therapists, and other movement professionals for over three decades. He carries a private therapeutic practice, works with the handicapped, top-level athletes, and movement artists including actors, dancers, and mimes. He also serves as a movement consultant for businesses and organizations in injury prevention, team building, and conflict management. Spacial Dynamics® gives the patient the experience of the healthy, harmonious continuum between the body and surrounding space. Spacial Dynamics® therapists learn how to use hands-on techniques and graceful, slow motion movements so that the patient becomes skilled at recreating dynamics that reconnect, regenerate, and reintegrate, thus replacing dis-ease with ease.

For directions to Kimberton Waldorf School, visit the website at www.kimberton.org.

Please join the Waldorf School of Philadelphia parent community on Tuesday, February 12th from 7-9 p.m. to hear Dr. Douglas Gerwin explore the developmental stage of “earthly maturity”  — specifically the unfolding of the complementary powers of intellectuality and sexuality­­––in his lecture entitled “The Sword and the Rose.”

What is really happening during the parallel processes of sexual and intellectual maturing? How does Waldorf education support human development through the tumult of puberty to young adulthood? These are among the questions Dr. Gerwin will address in his talk.

Waldorf Education trains each student’s whole being. Even basic physiological functions such as breathing are trained in a Waldorf school through the care teachers take to give rhythm to each day’s activities. From early childhood through to 8^th grade, we cultivate the healthy unfolding of a child’s physical as well as metaphysical nature culminating in puberty, a stage Rudolf Steiner refers to as Erdenreife or “earthly maturity.” At this developmental stage a young adult ripens not only outwardly but inwardly in order to take on the demands of the wider world.

In the setting of a Waldorf school, therefore, we understand puberty as a threshold for soul and spirit as much as it is for the physical body. As a result, from the onset of puberty and into the high school years, students need to learn in quite new ways––less through the radiant warmth of their teacher and more through their own discovery. In Steiner’s words, students need to meet the world  “in such a way that it can resound over and over within them, so that questions about nature, about the cosmos and the entire world, about the human soul, questions of history, and riddles arise in their youthful souls.” Children who have been educated secure in the authority of the adults around them and held by the rhythmic breath of each day’s activities can become young adults ready to act meaningfully, responsibly, creatively, and independently in the world.

Douglas Gerwin, Director of the Center for Anthroposophy, has taught history, literature, German, music, and life science at the Waldorf high school level since 1983. He divides his time between adult education and teaching in various North American Waldorf schools. Dr Gerwin is the founder of Waldorf High School Teacher Education Program at the Center for Anthroposophy and editor of several books related to Waldorf Education.

The Waldorf School of Philadelphia will hold its 2nd Annual Fairmount Neighborhood Open House on Saturday, November 3rd from 10.00 a.m. until 12.00 p.m. The event will be hosted by David Moser and Lorette Borko at their home, 853 N. 25th Street, Philadelphia, PA 19130.

Please join us for coffee and conversation with parents, teachers and alumni. There will also be story-telling for the little ones.

The Waldorf School of Philadelphia is a pre-k through 8th grade school located in Mt Airy, Philadelphia and a short fifteen minute drive from the Fairmount neighborhood.

We hope to see you there!

Macrobiotics Family Style with Elizabeth Gollan – Saturday, 1st December @ 10.00 a.m.

What’s healthy and what isn’t? Many parents steer their children away from sweets based on the advice of dentists and physicians. But how can you insure your family’s health, provide a good diet, and offer food that tastes good? What to feed your family is one of the hottest topics of discussion today. Come hear how one health-conscious parent made the choice to follow a macrobiotic diet and made it a family affair!

Elizabeth Gollan has twenty years experience in macrobiotic cooking and philosophy. She has apprenticed and studied for fifteen years with renowned macrobiotic counselor, Denny Waxman, and has assisted Michio Kushi. She studied cooking with Yehudit Flohr and Susan Waxman. She teaches weekly cooking classes from her home in Wyndmoor.

Coffee and Conversation is a series of informal, topic-focused programs for parents that help build connections around the joys and anxieties of parenting.

The event will be held at The Waldorf School of Philadelpha, 7500 Germantown Avenue, Mt Airy, PA 19119.

Come one and all to our WSP Family Work Days! Our work days meet two important functions, maybe three! Firstly, they serve as a way to connect your child with their school and their classroom prior to the start of term; secondly, your help getting the school ready is vital, we couldn’t get ready without your support; and thirdly, it’s really sociable and fun!

Come prepared to work! Your help on a work day is critical to our getting the building ready for the first day of school, so we hope you’ll come out to help your child’s teacher set up the classroom, move furniture, or take on any other tasks for which the teacher needs help.  And remember that there also tasks all over the building where volunteer help can be utilized.  In particular, our lovely gardens could use a few helpful hands to clear some of summer’s overgrowth.

This year’s work days are scheduled for Saturday, August 18^th from 9 a.m. – 1 p.m., and Sunday, August 26^th from 1 – 5 p.m.

Bring the family and a picnic lunch to enjoy on the field after your hard work.  See you there!

On Thursday, May 10th & Friday, May 11th @ 7.00 p.m.

You are invited to join The Waldorf School of Philadelphia’s Class of 2012 for

Shakespeare’s magniloquent and farcical display of pyrotechnic wordplay.

In the Kingdom of Navarre, the lord of the land, his two best friends, and all their male courtiers vow to forego female companionship, feasting, and sleep! So, naturally, three gorgeous and quick-witted French noblewomen arrive that same day. WHAT NOW?

Join us to find out, but in fairness to performers and audience and little ones alike, please leave children who aren’t in the grade school (ours and other grade schools) at home. Doors open at 6.30 p.m. The Cheltenham Arts Center is located at 439 Ashbourne Road in Cheltenham.

There is no charge for the show, but donations will be appreciated . Concessions will be on sale from the Class of 2013.