I Dreamed of Africa
January 14, 2003

Going on Safari!

A safari is the perfect adventure to share with your children or grandchildren. It is an incredible experience that will stay with them throughout their lives. You should see the excitement in a child’s eyes when they see their first safari animal up close and personal. Children are absolutely fascinated with the sights and sounds of East Africa’s abundant wildlife. Such an adventure is a great opportunity to share with young family members how their peers live halfway around the world and to see how different they are, yet how similar. A very special way to spend time together as a family – safari adventures create unforgettable memories for the whole family.

What a great safari is supposed to be:

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How Should We Celebrate Twelfth Night – The Three Kings?

Ask Kytka Archives: January 5, 2003

Three Kings Day – Twelfth Night – Epiphany falls 12 days after the birth of Jesus and Christmas, on January 6. It marks the end of the Christmas holiday and many cultures take down decorations and burn the Christmas Tree. Almost all cultures share the celebration of a Twelfth Night Cake in which is hidden a dry bean and a tiny porcelain figurine. Whoever gets the piece containing the bean is charged with buying or baking next year’s cake and the person whose piece contains the figurine has to fulfill a dare by acting out a silly request. It’s meant to be fun….

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How do I introduce the Letters of the Alphabet, Waldorf style?
Ask Kytka Archives: January 1, 2003

“I have come up with images, stories and activities for only about half of the alphabet. Is there an established Waldorf curriculum for this?”

Letter writing is presented in a lively pictorial way with the help of fairy stories. “S” may be a fairytale snake sinuously slithering through the grass on some secret errand. The teacher draws on the chalkboard, showing how the letter is embedded in the picture, how perhaps the W is hiding in the drawing of the waves. The children draw the letter in the air with their hands and on the floor with their feet; their whole being participates in the writing experience. Then the children make their own pictures of waves, and then W’s, creating an illustrated book as each letter is presented and experienced.

In Waldorf education, the letters are presented as pictures which appeal to the child’s imagination. In reality the letter is clothes in the picture…the picture is the key. All letters of the alphabet were once pictures themselves. Are pictures ever drawn on rigid lined paper? (And coloring books are NOT pictures!) Additionally, lower case letters came much later – so we ALWAYS begin with…

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Alan Whitehead of Spiritual Syllabus & Golden Beetle Books Speaks on Mains, Blocks and Middle Lessons

QUESTION: I just recently purchase 3 of Alan Whitehead’s SSS: Genii of Lanugage & Numeria (both for class 1&2) and A Steiner Homeschool? My question is this, Mr. Whitehead speaks of 3 lesson streams: mains, middles & blocks. I think most of us are familiar with the idea of a “main lesson” that lasts 3-5 weeks. It seems that at our local schools, other ongoing subjects are then organized for the late morning & afternoon hours (handwork, music, eurthymy, games, etc.) But Mr. Whitehead’s book seems to organize all the other subjects into the ‘middle’ or ‘block’ lesson (late a.m. and afternoon); and they rotate in their emphasis (such as numeracy, literacy, etc.) similarly to the main lessons. Do you know where I can get more info on this method? Is this method specific to Australia? Any feedback on pros/cons of organizing lessons in this manner?

ANSWER: Rudolf Steiner originally intended the sequential ‘main lesson’ system, as opposed to ‘period’ teaching, for all lessons…

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Ask Kytka Archives: June 29, 2002
I heard that Steiner was a Vegetarian. Do you know anything about that? Also, Can you tell me anything about how vegetarianism relates to the kingdoms of nature?

Rudolf Steiner saw man primarily as a fourfold being. To understand this concept we need to consider Steiner’s views on the human being in relation to the kingdoms of nature:

Firstly consider the mineral kingdom. It is dead, inanimate – a stone does not move unless an external force is applied to it. It is physical structure only, without life of its own. Steiner called this the “physical body”. In the human body the skeleton is the most mineralized, “stone-like” part and can be likened to the mineral kingdom.

Then there is the plant kingdom. Clearly the plant has a physical body, but equally unlike a stone it possesses a life force which enables it to grow, to have shape, to live. Steiner named this the “etheric body”.

Next the animal kingdom. An animal has a physical body and an etheric body, like the plant. Animals differ from plants, however, in that they achieve a certain level of conscious awareness. They have feelings which express themselves through drives, desires, pain and pleasure. We can say, then, that animals are not only living beings, but “ensouled beings” with feelings. Steiner called this the “astral body”.

Human beings share with all three kingdoms of nature with the “physical body”, the “etheric body” and the “astral body “- but the human being is unique. Humans differ from animals in that they have self awareness. Humans, unlike other living beings, possess an “ego”. The power of this individual ego enables humans to walk erect, to speak and think, to be creative, to develop (and also to destroy) civilizations. It also enables them to enter into the spirit of things in a way that is unique among living beings. We see evidence of this in the artistic and social achievements of humanity. The human being has certain capacities which animals lack. Animals do not have a creative culture. Wasps build their nests the way they have always done, and nothing new has been consciously developed by them over the centuries. Foxes use the same technique as their ancestors did for catching chickens. They do not look back upon their history and apply what they have learned to developing new and more effective techniques. They do not participate consciously in the process of their own development and evolution.

Knowledge of man in the true sense must be sought in the way we have indicated. Starting from the processes of nutrition, it must be followed through the processes of healing to the processes of human and world education in …

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