The Seedlings Program is the early childhood part of the Forest Children Parents’ Cooperative. It is inspired by Waldorf education, a way of teaching and being with children devised by turn-of-the-last-century scientist and philosopher Rudolf Steiner (who is also the father of bio-dynamic agriculture among other things).

During the first stage of childhood, from birth until around the age of six or seven, children are learning and experiencing the world primarily through physical activity. The Seedlings Program, for children ages three and a half to six, provides plenty of opportunity for learning and meaningful engagement through exploration, creative play, and purposeful work.

Day to day

Each day in the Seedlings Program follows a gentle rhythm that the children look forward to and that provides them with a sense of security. The day begins with creative free play; an opportunity for children to exercise healthy fantasy. This is also the time for crafts, art, and cooking projects. This time is followed by circle time, during which the children sing and recite verses. Finger plays and rhymes inspire a love of language and develop children’s fine and gross motor skills. Midmorning brings the time for our snack and the children help set the table with beeswax candles and cloth napkins.

After our snack time the children take turns washing the dishes and sweeping the floor. Our work is accompanied by “working songs.” Next we go outside to explore and learn about nature. Sometimes we simply play at the new play ground, other times we go on “wild hunts” through the forest. We often go out to collect things, such as herbs for tea, leaves for crafts, wild greens for salads or hickory nuts for drying. This spring we started a small school vegetable garden and are looking forward to making a scarlet runner bean tipi for playing in (and eating!).

Soon it is time for our lunch and after that the morning draws to a close with me telling a story or fairy tale. This is a time for listening and quiet reflection. Stories are told from memory, and special attention is paid to the words chosen and pronunciation, in an effort to engage the children’s imaginations fully and allow them to develop their language skills. Every day of the week includes artistic activity such as water color painting, beeswax modeling, drawing with beeswax crayons or other crafts, and dance and movement. Here process is emphasized over product.

Throughout the morning, the children and I engage in purposeful work such as carding wool, shucking corn, doing dishes, creating useful or beautiful objects, and cleaning up. Practical work provides children with meaningful actions to imitate, and it is through imitation that a child learns.

Our toys are created from natural, simple materials, such as wood, colorful silks, shells and smooth stones so as to be open ended (they can be more than one thing) and beautiful.

Through out the year we focused on a different theme each month. We learned about farms by visiting Gateway farm and Yellowroot Farm as well as other farms in the area. We learned all about sheep and wool with our “Sheep to Shawl” theme. We visited the sheep and farmers at Gateway Farm. The children helped wash raw wool, then carded it (a coveted activity!) and helped spin it. While some of the older kids are learning to work with a drop spindle (fantastic for small motor skills that are needed for learning to write), I do most of the spinning. We are working with our wool in other ways as well, such as wet felting and weaving. Other themes we have explored include the Autumn Harvest, Winter Holidays, and finally Spring.

The children have now graduated to the Saplings Program for 5-10 year olds. Thank you all for your support and welcoming the Seedlings into your day-to-day lives.

Tanya Carwyn has been an exploring member at Earthaven for nearly a year and was the program coordinator of the Seedlings program.

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The Forest Children Program (FCP) has been celebrating a big accomplishment. The students published a book entitled Princess Gilanee, about how Princess Gilanee and her horse, Pal, united the elements of Earth, Water, Air, and Fire to bring peace to their community.

The book was one of the focal points of last year’s curriculum for this integrative homeschool resource and enrichment program, now in its fifth year at Earthaven. The program includes Earthaven members’ children and children from local families as well. It currently involves less than a dozen children, ages 6 through 12, and meets three days a week, weaving together individual homeschooling and a supplemental experiential program that provides each child with personal attention and focus.

When Kiesa Kay became coordinator of the FCP in 2006, she came with a project. Her author friend, Robin Carrington, dying from melanoma. asked her friend Kiesa to finish a book Robin had begun but would not be able to finish. She feared her children and grandchildren wouldn’t be able to hear her stories about Princess Gilanee.

Kiesa brought the two chapters Robin had completed to the Forest Children, and they immediately offered to help. After reviewing the mind map for the book, their creative work began. Dylan, Cory, Noah, Nimuae, Soleil, Malachi, and Yeshua worked together through the school year to bring the book to life.

Princess Gilanee tells the story of how one girl and her horse succeeded in uniting feuding tribes  by helping them realize they were all one tribe and must work together. Along the journey, Gilanee makes important discoveries about herself, as well.

The children visualized the homes, clothes, and conversations of the various Earth, Water, Air and Fire element people. They acted out scenes that hadn’t been written yet, working with the ideas they’d added to Robin’s original vision. The completed version says a lot about being one with nature and living joyfully. The coordinator typed up their stories, blending them with Robin’s work, and arranged for the book to be published through Sheridan Books and Bremner Press. The story of Princess Gilanee and the element people appeals to adults and children, with its timeless message of one tribe, love, and resilience.

Princess Gilanee is available for a $10 donation to the Forest Children Program.

Donations account for about 40% of the FCP’s income (tuition accounts for the rest). Your contribution helps keep the Forest Children Program open and thriving. Your donation can also help support the funding of a playground by designating the purpose of your gift on your check.

The Forest Children Program Vision

We envision a world of people living sustainably, thinking independently, making decisions cooperatively, nurturing healthy children, families and communities, and allowing the flow of divine spirit through everything.

We take advantage of our natural setting in the Appalachian mountains of western North Carolina to encourage each child to develop a deeper understanding of the cycles of nature and sustainable stewardship of the earth.

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During the school year, kids who attend the Forest Children’s Program can be seen scampering across the Village Green at least three days a week, while several, mostly older kids commute to schools in Black Mountain or to their other parent’s locale in Asheville.

Back in June, I became curious about whether these lucky younguns were going to stay around all Summer, or go off to other adventures, and here’s what I was told. In “the Brandon and Tanya family,” Brandon wrote: “Aleah [Tanya’s 11-year-old] has been visiting Kentucky and Missouri with her Dad, and will be going on a trip to Indiana and Massachusetts with us in July. Here one week and with Dad one week after that. Aurora [Brandon’s ex-partner Brandi’s 9-year-old] will also come on the trip to IN and MA; and while at home she is doing an outdoor leadership program called Task. (Willow, the baby, will, of course, accompany the family, as she approaches her first birthday in September.)

Mihaly offered this list on behalf of 7-year-old Tessa, who lives during the school year with her Mom in Nashville: playing troll under the new bridge, eating homemade raw ice cream, jumping on the trampoline, watching movies, building a fort, swimmin’ in the hole, riding bikes, sleeping late, picking blueberries, helping with chores and construction, massage nights, contra dancing, reading at bedtime, dressing up, playing cards, listening to her CDs, eating candy at the Trading Post, walking Bridgit (the Cow), collecting eggs, playing in the woods, double-slumber parties, writing in her diary, putting on skits.

Holly wrote from Main Street: “Rose is working one day a week at the Inn on Mill Creek, a B & B near Ridgecrest. She is also apprenticing with [our neighbor] Rainbow in order to learn how to paint murals, and going to the Thursday contra dances as much as she can. She practices her guitar every day. She was accepted into, and leaves tomorrow, for a program called CLIMBE (Center for Learning and Investigation in Mountain Backcountry Ecosystems), which is done through Montreat College. It’s a 6-day scientific backpacking expedition for rising 8th through 12th graders, in which they’ll hike from Mount Mitchell down to Montreat and test water quality as they come down. There will be 10 kids at a time and the program runs for 6 weeks total, so 60 kids were accepted from over 100 applicants from around the country. She is also helping around the house, working in the garden, and hanging out with friends at Earthaven. ” Holly continued: [Rose’s brother] “Eli is not doing much this summer! Aside from some EH and town playdates, he goes to work with me two days a week. It’s a little boring there, but he reads a lot. He has also done a math camp with the TLC director and math teacher. Both kids will likely spend some time in Indiana and Ohio with extended family this summer.”

We also got an update from Jill on daughter Mira’s behalf (although I’m surprised that articulate 8-year-old didn’t write her own!): “Mira’s first 2 wks at EH were great! She joined the Sister Stitch group, which inspired her to sew a purse for Fran, which was well received at Fran’s b’day party. Mira also enjoyed a great b’day celebration with Cory getting into the mud/clay pit!! Mira has been enjoying spending time with the other kids, bike riding, berry picking, going to the swimming hole, planting seeds, harvesting, picking up our harvest at the CSA, chasing the salamanders. She put together a 500-piece puzzle the A&A folks loaned her. She is a bookworm, and while Jill is at Qigong class, Mira is somewhere in the magic treehouse book collection off on adventures with the characters. Greg took her out on a library trip, and got her the new Peter Pan DVD. She has a charmed summer life, and we’ve only just begun. We make our rounds with dinner dates. Life is good!”

Seems like we got the goods on most of the girls, and on Eli, but we know our other fellas Gailen, Nick and Joshua, Cory, and Yeshua and Otus were out there swimming, picking berries, going to town with their folks, checking out the woods’ creatures, and playing lots of games, too.

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