A One Year Training for Families
The Work
This course proceeds in four phases, designed to instruct, inspire and model a comprehensive, contemporary approach to parenting. In this four-phase process, parents will begin with an intensive three month study. Essential elements of family life will be presented, home-visits will be included, and parents will have the opportunity to observe these principles at work in The Rose Garden, a Waldorf based, nature-oriented early childhood program. Slowly, through the ensuing phases, further parenting topics will be studied. Parents will be encouraged and supported to put the principles into practice in the daily round of their own unique lives, through continued home-visits, Rose Garden visits and phone conferences..
This training can be taught in two ways, depending on the needs and wishes of the parents:
One course is taught with a primary focus on the organization and application of the Essential Elements of family life, and Further Parenting Topics.
The other course is taught with a dual focus: 1)the practice of the spiritual foundation of these Elements and Further Topics and 2) how this inner work amplifies their practical application in family life.
The Essential Elements:
Family Culture
Family rhythms
Spatial organization: De-clutter
Training the Child’s Senses
Movement as the Basis of Brain Development
Creativity: Child’s Play
Outdoor Play: no child left inside
Story and the essential nature of Images
Artistic Expression
Family Work and Play
Into the Future: the family grows
The Corresponding Spiritual Work:
The Family Myth: the Parents’ childhood
Breath Practice, Rhythm
Open Spaciousness
Light and Sound Practice
Meditation in Motion
Imaginal Realm: Co-creation
Working with the Elementals and Nature
Prayer and Affirmation
Individuation of the Soul
Balance
“Holding” the Child’s Soul
Hence:
The Element The Spiritual Foundation
1. FamilyCulture……………………………………Family Myth: the Parents’ Childhood
2. Family rhythms…………………………………..Breath Practic & Rhythm
3. Spacial organization: De-clutter …………………Open Spaciousness: Emptiness Practice
4. Training the Senses……………………………….Light & Sound Practice
5. Movement as the Basis of Brain Development……Meditation in Motion
6. Creativity: Child’s Play……………………………Imaginal Realm: Co-creation
7. Outdoor Play………………………………………..Working with the Elements and Nature
8. Story and the essential nature of Images……………Prayer and Affirmation
9. Artistic Expression…………………………………..Individuation of the Soul
10. Family Work and Play……………………………..Balance
11. Into the Future: the family grows………………….Holding the Child’s Soul
The Further Topics:
1. Discipline One: Balance all the Elements
2. Discipline Two: Into the eye of the storm—Cheerful and Kind
3. The Questions they ask: God, Death, Birth, Divorce and others
4. The Family Shadow: Do your own Shadow Work, so they don’t have to act it out.
5. Their Life Challenges: How do we help them with their weaknesses
The Place
This work will be done both at the family’s home and also at The Rose Garden.
The Rose Garden is a magic-filled haven for both children and adults. The Early Childhood program operates on a year-round basis, offering the children the full “round of the seasons.” It is deeply nestled in six acres of ancient well-loved pines woods. A small stream meanders through the property, the perfect place for children to putter in ankle deep water searching for salamanders, crayfish and minnows, or for adults to rest and listen to its joyous song. A hillside of broad-leaf deciduous trees keeps summer temperatures cool, and creates sledding fun in winter. Wooded trails wander along, perfect for an afternoon stroll.
Rose Garden sessions will allow the parents an opportunity to observe a fully integrated model, the Early Childhood program, which operates on the very Elements which they are studying.
Home sessions will give parents an opportunity to ask questions particular to their own family and their own home.
Follow Through
On-site sessions, whether Rose Garden or home visits, will be followed up with regular telephone conferences. Reading material will be given and parents can deepen their learning through homework exercises, as well.
The Year of Work
The program will operate in four phases.
1.) The first phase will consist of twelve weekly visits. All work will be done on-site, rotating between the Rose Garden and the home, investigating the Elements of Family Life.
2.) The second phase will consist of six bi-weekly on-site visits, and six bi-weekly phone conferences. This phase introduces Further Topics.
3.) The third phase will include three monthly visits and weekly phone conferences. The Essential Elements, from the first phase of work will be revisited, and refined.
4.) The fourth phase consists of bi-weekly phone conferences, and a concluding Rose Garden visit and home visit. All work will be reviewed in this period.
This creates a graduated progression, in which the parents’ study begins with an intense 12-week learning and observation of the Essential Elements. Phase two brings in new topics and introduces phone conferencing. Phase by phase, the rein is handed more fully to the parents, so by year’s end parents will have had the opportunity to fully integrate the learning into their daily lives with their families.
The Consultant
Sharifa Oppenheimer was the founding teacher of the Charlottesville Waldorf School and is the author of the very popular book Heaven on Earth, A Handbook for Parents of Young Children. She also helped to create the newly-released What is a Waldorf Kindergarten? She has given her adult life to the education of the young child and to helping the parents of her students create supportive home environments
Sharifa has been a devoted student of the Spirit, as well. In addition to her study of Anthroposophy and Waldorf pedagogy, she has studied Sufism and taught meditation classes and seminars both in the US and abroad for 30 years. Through guiding individual retreatants, she began to understand that the principles involved in the shaping of the soul are the same, whether the soul is young or old. In her many years of teaching young children and adults, she has integrated the developmental approach of the Waldorf early childhood program with the soul-development found in all mystical traditions, creating an approach to Family that is appropriate to both children and adults.
In this ground-breaking method Sharifa offers parents the opportunity to work with her as a personal consultant. Applying the insight gained through individual hands-on weekly instruction, parents will come to a deeper understanding of raising a family, one which is in harmony with Spirit.
The program is designed to be completed within the cycle of one year, though families may choose to take a more leisurely pace.
