This week, instead of my usual “Sunday With Sarah” video, I present to you Jack Petrash, a master Waldorf teacher with over 30 years of classroom experience. He is also an author, father, and one of the best spokespersons for Waldorf education that I know.

How do we educate children in a rapidly changing world and prepare them for a future that we can’t yet envision?

Jack attempts to answer this question in an inspiring TEDx Talk entitled “Educating Children for the Journey” which I am delighted to share with you here today.

So grab a cup of tea, carve out 10 minutes for yourself, and prepare to be inspired!

BOOKS BY JACK PETRASH:

Understanding Waldorf Education: Teaching from the Inside Out

Navigating the Terrain of Childhood: A Guidebook for Meaningful Parenting and Heartfelt Discipline

Covering Home: Lessons on the Art of Fathering from the Game of Baseball

What comments from Jack’s talk resonated most with you? Was there anything you disagreed with with? Were you left with any questions? Please share your thoughts here!

This week, for the first time, I’ve invited a guest to join me on Sunday With Sarah. 

Meet my son William!

William and I have just returned from visiting colleges out west, and I asked William, who received a Waldorf education from nursery through 8th grade, to share his thoughts on how his education has helped prepare him for high school and college.

Many parents are attracted to Waldorf education when their children are young, but as their children get older, they fear that the education is not rigorous enough to prepare them for high school or to help them get into a competitive college. We’re here to dispel some of those myths!

Click to view the Survey of Waldorf Graduates referenced in the video and compiled by the Research Institute of Waldorf Education.

Do you have questions specifically for William? Or about the topic in general? Leave your questions here, and we’ll do our best to address all of them.

This week on Sunday With Sarah, I share the story of my decision to pull the plug many years ago during TV-Turnoff Week. Not easy while living in Hollywood and being immersed in the entertainment world.

How’d it go? Listen and find out!

For more information and inspiration, please visit Screen-Free Week and the Campaign for a Commercial Free Childhood.

Screen-Free Week 2013 is from April 29 to May 5. Are you inspired to pull the plug on TV, videos, and computers for a week? Is your family already media-free?

Please share your challenges and triumphs here!

This week on Sunday With Sarah, I answer a viewer’s question, and share some ideas on how to encourage healthy eating and to discourage picky eating by children and toddlers.

In addition to the ideas discussed in the video, here are some other ideas:

Do not bribe children to eat!

Why? It doesn’t work in the long run. Children will do what you ask only to get the reward. When the reward is no longer offered, they lose their motivation. We want healthy eating to become a habit.

Here’s an article from the New York Times on why bribery isn’t an effective way of modifying a child’s behavior.

Never offer dessert as a reward.

This gives children the message that sweets are more desirable than more nutritious foods, and that more savory foods are only to be endured in order to get the dessert.

Serve healthy desserts.

Try offering desserts such as yogurt, fruit, baked goods with whole grains, or applesauce, and limit desserts to only a couple of evenings a week.

If your child dislikes vegetables, try serving more fruit.

If your child turns up his or her nose at certain vegetables, try offering a wider variety of fruits instead. Colorful fruits offer most of the same vitamins and nutrition as vegetables.

Try saying “Are you still hungry?” rather than “Are you full?.”

If you are trying to encourage a picky eater to eat more, this can change a child’s mindset. If s/he is still hungry, offer more of the food choices s/he likes.

Have you found effective ways to encourage a picky eater to eat more? Please share your successes and challenges here!

Happy Spring, Friends!

Felted eggs aren’t just for Easter. A bowl full of colorful felted wool eggs also makes a beautiful centerpiece or decoration for the home. Wool eggs also make a great addition to a nature table, a child’s play kitchen, and are fun for market play.

Resources

Felted Easter Eggs Kit

Felted Chicks Kit

Are you an experienced felter? Have any tips to add? If you’ve never wet felted before, are you inspired to try?

Please leave your comments below and post your photos on our Facebook page!

This week on “Sunday With Sarah” I take time to answer some of the questions that viewers have posted here:

• How to Keep Toddlers and Preschoolers Busy
• How to Handle Unwanted Toys / Gifts
• On Becoming a Waldorf Teacher

For more information on becoming a Waldorf teacher and for a list of Waldorf teacher training programs in North America, please visit the Association of Waldorf Schools of North America (AWSNA).

Have any other tips to share? Please leave them here, and keep those questions coming! What topics would you like to hear me discuss in future weeks?

Rudolf Steiner, the founder of Waldorf education, recommended thepentatonic harp or lyre (also known as a kinderharp or kinder lyre) as an ideal instrument for use with young children.

Its dreamy, quiet, and heavenly quality is calming and soothing for babies, toddlers and young children, and it’s simple enough for children and adults with little or no musical background to play.

Tuned in the five-note pentatonic scale (D, E, G, A, B, d, e), anything played on the instrument will sound beautiful and harmonious. There are no wrong notes!

I get phone calls and emails every week asking about the differences between the various pentatonic harps and lyres that we sell at Bella Luna Toys, so in this week’s video I demonstrate the differences between them, talk about the benefits of these instruments for in early childhood, and let you actually hear them.

Instruments Demonstrated:

• Song of the Sea 7-String Pentatonic Harp
• Song of the Sea 10-String Pentatonic Harp
• Choroi Children’s Harp (Kinderharp)

I hope I’ve answered your questions, but if not, leave your comments and questions here and I’ll do my best to answer them!

Not only was I ecstatic to discover many wonderful new wooden toys and Waldorf dolls to introduce this year at Bella Luna Toys, but I was also fortunate to have the opportunity to meet with the presidents of several of the lines of European toys we carry, including Grimm’s Spiel & Holz, PlanToys, Käthe Kruse, HABA, and Ostheimer.

I had a long and wonderful visit with Wolfgang Schühle, the president of Ostheimer in Germany, and met Stephan Zech, the company’s current designer. I was able to share with them my love of Ostheimer figures and tell them about the joy they have brought my family over the last 20 years.

Wolfgang was able to share with me some of the history of the company, founded by Margarete Ostheimer in Stuttgart, Germany nearly 60 years ago. Fortunately, I was able to record some of my talk with Mr. Schühle and am happy to share it with you here!

GIVEAWAY: Win a Five-Piece Collection of Ostheimer Wooden Animals for Spring!

I want to share my Ostheimer love with you, so Bella Luna Toys is giving away a set of these beloved wooden figures, perfect for a child’s Easter basket!

Set Includes:

• 1 Sheep
• 1 Sitting Rabbit
• 1 Picking Brown Hen
• 1 Brown Chick
• 1 Yellow Chick

Click on the link below for details and to enter for a chance to win:

Ostheimer Wooden Toys Giveaway

We’ll announce the winner next Sunday. Thanks for tuning in, and good luck!

Thanks to all of you for your many wonderful comments. Congratulations to Toby Rolf who won the Ostheimer Set Giveaway!

Toby wrote: “We are pretty new to the Waldorf world so I would really LOVE to have these for our daughter! She would especially like the beautiful bunny! Thank you for the opportunity!!”

I hope that this set brings many years of enjoyment and fond childhood memories for your daughter, Toby. Enjoy!

~Sarah

Resources

Wool Roving for Needle Felting

Foam Pad for Needle Felting

Felting Needles

Are you an experienced needle-felter? Have any tips to share? If you’ve never needle-felted before, are you inspired to try?

Please leave your comments below!

If you use a curriculum, how strictly do you follow it? Do you combine resources? Are you an unschooler? Please share what works for you!