The North American Biodynamic Sowing and Planting Calendar 2010

Maria & Matthias Thun

Softbound booklet - includes easy-to-read pullout wall chart!

Supply very limited - sorry, no discount

$13.95

This is the planting calendar Bob and I now use and we just love it. Tucked into its modest pages is more pithy gardening informtion than you can shake a trowell at - including results of past years' experiements, times for various kitchen undertakings (bread, sauerkraut, etc.), color photo glimpses of the Thun's farm (very inspiring!). There's also star lore and an introduction to Maria's method of calculating dates. The new pull-out chart is a real help for those times when a quick decision can mean the difference between planting today and waiting until the rain stops tomorrow. You can see six months planting guidelines at a glance (six months are on each side). Do keep your notes in the book, though - the chart is not really set up for notes.

If gardening is one of your passions, this is our pick for your calendar.

Splinters of the Sun

Teaching Russian Literature to High School Students

Betty Staley

Softbound

Regular Price: $18.00

Introductory Price: $16.50

Betty Staley passionately loves Russian literature and deeply believes that it holds many "splinters of the sun" - many loving pieces of light that illuminate the souls of readers as they speak of a world that is and vastly different in history and outlook from that of the Anglo-European worlds. It is this combination of beauty and cultural landscape that makes the great works of Russian literature so very appropriate for high school students.

Anyone wishing to teach this literature will be helped enormously by Splinters of the Sun. In it, Staley picks key authors and works and explores them through the windows of history, culture, biography and literary content and style. It is in many ways like walking through a park where the trees are stories planted by authors of genius. I believe that lovers of literature have good reason to rejoice at the coming of this book.

Eurythmy
A Creative Force in Humanity

Experiences from Pedagogical Practice

Sylvia Bardt

Softbound

Regular Price: $18.00

Introductory Price: $16.50

Sylvia Bardt has created a thorough overview of the why's, wherefor's and content of pedagogical Eurythmy as taught in Waldorf schools.

Her particular instructions are intended for Eurythmy teachers and will probably not mean all that much to those of us who are untrained. However, the love the author holds for her art and the children in her care shines through and informs all of us in so very many ways. Her accounts are insightful and warm - anyone wanting to gain an better understanding of what lies within the intent of pedagogical Eurythmy will be well met by this book.

Peter Reinhart's Whole Grain Breads
New Techniques, Extraordinary Flavor

Peter Reinhart

Hardbound, large format, full-color photos throughout, dust jacket

Regular Price: $35.00

Introductory Price: $30.00

Peter Reinhart has cracked the code for making delectible, nutritious, and frankly amazing whole grain breads. If you've never tasted a bread baked from one of his recipies, you have a more than just a treat coming, you have a flavor/texture experience ahead of you that may well be life transforming.

Sound like a lot for a single cookbook to offer? It is, but this one does really offer it. In fact, I'm going to go so far as to say that once you've used it, you will likely find other bread books to be superfluous (except Reinhart's The Bread Baker's Apprentice for it's enhanced technical information).

Reinhart's techniqe, the one that gives his 100% whole grain breads a richly complex flavor, an almost delicate crumb and a texture that is "just right" for happy eating, involves creating your own "wild yeast" starter and combining it with an overnight "soaker". To this you add some yeast and a bit more flour, salt, etc. Mix, raise, shape, raise and bake. Then, enjoy the best whole grain bread you've ever tasted.

If that sounds like a lot of work, it actually isn't. Compared to every other method of creating bread at home that I have tried (which is just about everything), Reinhart's method is the least time consuming of all. Once you have created your "mother starter," a loaf of bread is just 5 minutes and an overnight wait to arrive at the dough stage, another 10 minutes of mixing and kneading, then an hour rising and another 5 minutes or less of shaping, another hour's rise and about 30-40 minutes of baking. All told, your total hands-on time is 20 minutes spread over 12 to 24 hours. Even those of us with demanding jobs and busy families can manage that!!

I can't recommend this highly enough for the joy and nutrition it can bring into all our homes. We use it exclusively for all the bread we eat and urge you to do the same. You'll never look back, I promise!

Great Myths of the World

Selected and Retold by Padraic Colum

Softbound

Regular Price: $12.95

Introductory Price: $11.95

As a tour of the world's great civilizations and the myths that give voice to their cultures, Padraic Colum's stands out as being not only sweeping in scope but beautiful in voice. Colum has selected what I will call 'keystone myths' from the ancient cultures that have informed our modern world:

Egypt, Babylon, Persia, Post-Christian Judaism, Greece, Rome, Graeco-Rome, the Celtic world, Finland (Kalevala), Iceland, India, China, Japan, Polynesia, Peru, Central America and Mexico, Zuni.

Colum also treats us to his wonderful essay, "The Significance of Mythology."

This one-volume edition carries within its covers more cultural heartbeats and beautiful vision than any other single book I can think of. Great Myths of the World is a book to enjoy throughout a lifetime. In Waldorf education, many of these myths are at the heart of 4th and 5th grade curricula.

Celtic Myths and Legends

T. W. Rolleston

with 76 illustrations from the original edition as well as background essays on the history and culture of the Celts

Softbound

Regular Price: $12.95

Introductory Price: $11.95

For those who would like to learn something about the people behind the great Celtic myths, this edition is a gift. Originally published in 1917, it gathers together in one place pretty much the full core of Celtic mythology and historical legends. The author, in addition to lending these stories a voice through which the magic and panoply of these tales that now belong to the entire world, also illuminates the world of the Celts through his introductory essays. Those essays, in my opinion, make this book a resource to be treasured.

As for the stories, they are pure enchantment. Focusing mainly on Irish myths, Rolleston takes us into the myths of the Irish invasion and the early Milesian kings. You'll meet Queen Maev, Cuchulain the Giant, King Arthur and his knights (including the Grail quest) and much more.

In the Waldorf curriculum, these stories will fit nicely into the history and literature of the 6th grade. Outside Waldorf schools, I would recommend them for anyone 12 or older.

A Day Full of Song
Work Songs from a Waldorf Kindergarten

42 Original Songs in the Mood of the Fifth

Karen Lonsky

Illustrated by Victoria Sander

Spiral Bound

Regular Price: $18.00

Introductory Price: $17.00

This is how we knead our bread,
Push and pat, push and pat!
Roll it up and start again,
Push and pat, push and pat,
Push-a-pat-a-pat.

- from A Day Full of Song by Karen Lonsky

So many people have asked for more songs in the mood of the fifth* to share with young children. It is a joy to be able to announce this beautiful little book that is just what parents and teachers have been wanting - a beautiful way to carry children through the day and introduce them to the world where we do things to make life better for all. Just browsing through these songs is inspiring and joyous.

Please do share these songs with all the young ones in your care - they speak of a love of the earth at every turn.

*"The Mood of the Fifth" describes a type of pentatonic music, usually centered around A above middle C, which is light and delicate sounding, just right for very young children.

A Day Full of Song - Audio CD
Work Songs from a Waldorf Kindergarten

A Companion CD to the songbook, A Day Full of Song

Karen Lonsky

Illustrated by Victoria Sander

AVAILABLE FOR PREORDER - EXPECTED MID-FEBRUARY

Regular Price: $8.00

Introductory/Preorder Price: $7.50

Learn the songs from the teacher who wrote them - a beautiful accompaniment to Lonsky's songbook.

Human Fertility
For use with 10 - 12 year olds
Grades 4-7

Coming of Age Curriculum Series

Lessons in Support of the Inner and Outer Changes in Puperty and Adolescence

Linda E Knodle

Softound

$37.95

We are happy to be able to offer Linda Knodle's newest editions of her original Human Fertility curriculum. She has now created two separate curriculum guides to better support the needs of different adolescent age groups.

In this first volume, offered in support of students in grades 4-7, Linda guides teachers, parents and community leaders through a detailed curriculum offerings designed to create a warm understanding of the physical and emotional changes the students are experience. Further, Linda helps adults weave a welcoming community around these teenagers.

This is truly a heartfelt work which has already graced the lives of hundreds of adolescents and the adults who care for them.

Contents:

Part One: Preparation for the Course

Introduction

• Sample Rotation for Middle School Blocks of Study
• Daily Main Lesson (Sample)
• Elements of the Lesson

Preparation: Before Classroom Work

• Preparing Yourself
• Preparing the Faculty
  • Letter for Faculty or Adult Community
• Preparing for Parents
  • Letter for Parents
• Preview Questions for Interviews
• Overview
• Preparing for the Students
  • Details of the Day
  • Spelling List
• Resources for Teachers and Parents
  • Resources for Students

Part Two: Lesson Plans

Part Three: Supplements

Lessons for Middle School Issues
For use with 13-14 year olds, grades 8-9

Coming of Age Curriculum Series

Classroom Lessons Supporting the Development of Life Skills, Self Knowledge and Social Grace

Linda E Knodle

Softbound

$37.95

Linda's second volume in the Coming of Age Curriculum Series focuses on a semester's worth of topic-oriented lessons to be delivered to students in grades 8-9. These lessons are open, enlivening, and nourishing of the upright human being within both students and adults. There is an artistry and playfulness that informs all these less and makes them so very beautiful and healthy for both the students and adults. We really can't recommend them highly enough.

Contents:

Part One: Preparation for the Course

Introduction

• Sample Rotation for Middle School Blocks of Study
• Daily Main Lesson (Sample)
• Elements of the Lesson

Preparation: Before Classroom Work

• Preparing Yourself
• Preparing the Faculty
  • Letter for Faculty or Adult Community
• Survey
• Preparing for Parents
  • Letter for Parents
  • Developing Values
• Preview Questions for Interviews
• Overview
• Preparing for the Students
  • Details of the Day
  • Spelling List
• Resources for Teachers and Parents
• Resources for Student

Part Two: Lesson Plans

Table of Contents for Lesson Plans

Student Lesson Book Entry Sequence

Optional Lessons for Day Five through Eighteen

Student Lesson Book Entry Sequence for Optional Lessons

Part Three: Supplements

Teacher's Evaluation of Student

Student's Evaluation of Teacher

Reviewing the Work

About the Author

Colour Dynamics
Workbook for watercolour painting and colour theory

Angela Lord

Hardbound, beautifully and clearly presented with hundreds of color illustrations and photos

Regular Price: $55.00

Introductory Price: $50.00

Way back in the day, when our own children were first embarking on their Waldorf journey, I longed to be able to learn how to use watercolor paints and discover the wonders of color itself through them. Unfortunately for me, there was no possibility of my taking time out from our home and children to attend art classes and absolutely nothing was in print that could serve as a tutor at home. From what we've heard over the years, many of you have felt the same way -- and those of you who've written to ask know how reluctantly we've answered that what they are looking for really didn't exist.

It is with both relief and joy that we can announce the arrival of Colour Dynamics, the first really complete, beautifully and clearly illustrated, step-by-step workbook for discovering the life and mysteries of color on one's own. For me, it is a dream come true: a thorough tutorial that anyone can use as the foundation for a lifetime of color exploration through the medium of watercolor.

Of course, Colour Dynamics' usefulness extends well beyond parents at home: teachers and therapists will find it both refreshing and deepening; teenagers may well develop a passion for color through it, too. This book has truly raised the bar for artistic instruction as available through the printed page. Both the publisher and the author are due whatever accolades come their way as a result of this wonderful text.

In the case of this book, the journey of a thousand paintings can begin with a single stroke of your brush. It is wonderful!

Highly recommended for adults and teenagers.

Contents:

• Introduction
  • Materials
  • Techniques (for both wet-on-wet and veiled painting)
    
    
• Part One
  • Exploring Colours
  • Painting the Rainbow
  • Combining Colours
    
    
• Part Two
  • Complementary Colours
  • After-images
  • Painting with Complementary Colours
  • Why do Colours Clash?
    
    
• Part Three
  • The Colour Circle
  • Enhancing Colours
  • The Polarity of Red and Blue - A New Colour Circle
    
    
• Part Four
  • Sunrises, Sunsets: The Interplay of Light and Darkness
  • Sunrises and Sunsets as Achetypes: Painting Out of Colour
  • Colour Dynamics: A New Language of Colour
    
    
• Part Five
  • Colour Through History: A Brief Overview
  • Colour Now: Ways to Use this Book
    
    
• About the Author
• Glossary
• Appendix
• Quotations and References
• Credits and Illustrations
• Suggestions for Further Reading

Between Form and Freedom
Being a Teenager

Betty Staley

Softbound

Back in print!

Regular Price: $26.00

Introductory Price: $22.00

In this excellent book, Betty Staley has given us a compassionate, intelligent and intuitive look into the minds of adolescents.... I can only hope it will be read by a significant number of significant people—namely, parents, teachers, and, indeed, adolescents themselves.

Joseph Chilton Pearce, author of Magical Child and The Biology of Transcendence: A Blueprint of the Human Spirit

Pass this book around the family - then stand back for some wonderful results! The strongest endorsement for Between Form and Freedom is that not only have thousands of parents found it helpful, but thousands of teenagers have, too! For parents, Betty Staley's insights shed a much welcomed light on the many perplexing aspects of raising teenagers. For teens, the light shines not only as an awakening self-awareness, but as an aid for understanding their parents!

Six Ways to Celebrate Christmas!
& Celebrate You!

Lynn Jericho

Softbound

Regular Price: $14.95

Introductory Price: $13.95

Lynn Jericho has gifted us with a book that is itself a celebration of the heart of the Christmas Season. With love and warmth for all the ways Christmas can be celebrated, she invites us to explore and discover and renew our own joy. Six Ways to Celebrate Christmas! is a treasure to be cherished throughout all season and a good friend to walk with during Advent, Christmas and the Holy Nights. We can't recommend it highly enough.

In it, she invites you to explore your feelings about Christmas as they move between delight and disappointment, enthusiasm and exhaustion, sentimentality and cynicism. You can discover the heart and meaning of what Christmas and the dark time of year are to you, and learn why Christmas is so essential to nurturing your life no matter what your religious and cultural background.

Contents:

• Authors Note
  • Sentimentality and Cynicism
  • Levels of Consciousness
  • When and How to Read This Book
  • Why I Wrote This Book
  • My Ultimate Christmas Wish for You
    
    
• Introduction
  • Christmas Questions and Christmas Reactions
  • Christmas and Your Soul
  • The Three Contexts of Christmas
  • All Glory, Laud and Honor
  • Celebrating Christmas
    
    
• The Christmas of Nature
  • Ancient Christmas
  • The Cycle of the Sun
  • Without a Calendar
  • Nature and the Soul's Imagination
  • A Note to the Southern Hemisphere
  • How Do You Experience Nature's Christmas?
    
    
• The Christmas of Nativity
  • Unto Us a Child Is Born
  • Joy to the World
  • A Heart to Hear Angels Sing and a Head to Follow the Star
  • Sharing the Light
  • How Do You Experience the Christmas of Nativity?
    
    
• The Christmas of Riches
  • Deck the Halls
  • The Tree Decorations
  • The Wreath
  • Christmas Lights
  • Christmas Colors
  • The Foods and Flavors
  • Good Cheer
  • Christmas Smells
  • Sounds
  • Gifts
  • The Economy of hte Christmas of Riches
  • How Do You Experience the Christmas of Riches?
    
    
• The Christmas of Relationships
  • The Wreath of Love
  • The Peaceful Family
  • Goodwill to All
  • Everyone's Birthday
  • Saying Hellow, Saying Goodbye
  • Christmas Generations
  • Opening Heart and Home
  • The Annual Office Party
  • Christmas Charity
  • The Melting Warmth of Christmas
  • Three Relationship Imaginations
    
    
• The Christmas of Childhood
  • Our First Christmas
  • Our Second Christmas
  • Our Third Christmas
  • Our Fourth Christmas
  • The First Christmas Shadows
  • Christmas, Divorce and Death
  • Growing Up in a Home Without Christmas
    
    
• The Christmas of Selfhood
  • A Yearly Journey
  • Inner and Individual
    
    
• Celebrating Christmas! Celebrating You!
• More Inner Christmas Books
• De-Clutter Your Holiday
• My Note of Gratitude

Awakening to Child Health - Vol. I
Holistic Child and Adolescent Development

Raoul Goldberg MD

Hardbound

Regular Price: $30.00

Introductory Price: $27.00

Awakening to Child Health - Vol. 1, is an exquisitely beautiful and warm portrait of child development and the health-giving impact of a warm and nurturing environment on the emerging human being. I should be clear that this is *not* a home medical care guidebook. It is something that I've always that was very needed - an exploration (in clear and common English) of the nature of childhood with lots of examples and considered discussions.

In other words, this is a book about children, who and what they are, what they need to develop into healthy adults, what they need to be healthy and strong as they grow. The knowledge, warmth and wisdom of Awakening to Child Health is truly life enhancing, at every level.

This book is wonderful - the sort you'll read, explore and be grateful to have known for years and years to come.

Contents:

1. Meeting Children and Your Inner Child
2. The Prenatal Journey of the Incarnating Child
3. Body, Soul, and Spirit and the Three Births of Childhood
4. The Heavenly Years from Birth to Three
5. The Golden Years from Three to Seven
6. The Beautiful and Healthy Years from Seven to Fourteen
7. Puberty to Adulthood
8. Seven Life Processes, Four Temperaments, Three Physical Types and Seven Character Types
9. Awakening to the Self and Identity

A Donsy of Gnomes
7 gentle gnome stories

Written and Illustrated by Siegline De Francesca

Softbound

Regular Price: $14.95

Introductory Price: $13.95

A Donsy of Gnomes is just one of the dearest books ever. The wee folk who live in it will become fast friends with all the young children who get to meet them. And, these charming natural/magical little people come bringing gifts ~ in the most delightful ways possible they teach wee lessons, happily and by example, in generosity, selflessness, resourcefulness, courage and friendship.

This is just a perfect little book for young children. Take your child on a charming and jaunty journey though the worlds of the gnomes. It's just the thing for sweet dreams at night or a pause in teh midst of a busy day. I predict that this will be one of hte books that will remain alive in your children's hearts long after they have grown and have children of their own.

A joy to be shared with children ages 3 and up!

Swedish Folk Tales

Illustrated by John Bauer

Hardbound, large format, richly illustrated with amazing paintings

Regular Price: $30.00

Introductory Price: $27.00

from "Leap Elk and Little Princess Cottongrass"

This dazzling collection of twenty-nine illustrated stories, retold by some of the greatest Swedish writers, includes:

• “When Mother Troll Took in the King’s Washing” by Elsa Beskow
• “The Magician’s Cape” by Anna Wahlenberg
• “Leap the Elk and the Little Princess Cottongrass” by Helge Kjellin
• “The Four Big Trolls and Little PetHer Pastureman” by Cyrus Granér
• “The Trolls and the Youngest Tomte” by Alfred Smedberg
• “The Ring” by Helena Nyblom
• “The Seven Wishes” by Alfred Smedberg
• “Stalo and Kauras” by P. A. Lindholm
• “The Maiden in the Castle of Rosy Clouds” by Harald Ostenson
• “The Boy and the Trolls, or the Adventure” by Walter Stenström
• “The Crofters and the Gnomes” by Anna Wahlenberg
• “The Golden Key” by W. E. Björk
• “The Giant Who Slept for Ten Thousand Years” by Einar Rosenborg
• ... and many more!

John Bauer’s original and evocative illustrations bring these classic Swedish folk tales to life. His art seems to me to be a combination of earthly idealism and a fascintating evocation of spiritual reality (or perhaps "elemental reality"). It is no wonder that he is so beloved in Sweden. This collection, paired with his paintings, makes this a book to treasure for generations.

Because of the complexity of some of the themes, as well as the rather robust encounters of humans and elemental beings, I personally recommend this collection for children ages 9 and older, though some of the stories are appropriate for younger children.

The Mitten
A Ukrainian Folktale

Adapted and illustrated by Jan Brett

Hardbound, dust jacketed, large format

Regular Price: $16.99

Introductory Price: $15.99

Nicki wants new mittens as white as the snow. Grandma doesn't thing that's a very good idea, for when he drops one he'll never be able to find it against the white snow. But Nicki really, truly wants white mittens, so Grandma knits them for him. And, of course, he drops one and can't find it.

But other creatures have no trouble at all finding it and, one by one, climbing into it (Grandma must have used very resiliant wool!). After about a dozen animals have crowded into the mitten, one of them sneezes and off flies the mitten into the air where Nicki sees it against the blue ski. Do turn the very last page for the unspoken but delightfully illustrated conclusion is to be found after the words stop.

This retelling is not only a joy to read, but there are little vignette illustrations at the margins of each page that make the story all the more magical.

A treasure for any child ages 3 and older.