-
Start with your Heart
Several years ago, when my children attended Living Wisdom School, I drove carpool in the mornings. The car was filled with different ages of students ranging from 1st to 7th grade. On one particular morning, the older children brought up a news topic involving leaders behaving in ways that they couldn’t understand. There was a pause for several blocks, and then, while looking out the car window, the 1st grader says, “Well, I guess they didn’t go to Living Wisdom.” The culture of kindness, positivity, empathy, and joy is felt by all ages at Living Wisdom. We’ve primarily offered this Education for Life education since 1997 through our school programs,…
-
Appreciation, Calm, Education for Life, Experiential learning, Focused Attention, Meditation, Teaching Spiritual Principles
Circle Time
Every morning, in every Living Wisdom School classroom from preschool to middle school, the school day begins the same way. Circle Time is a special part of the day for the class to come together in unity, set the intention for the day, share and support one another, and send collective well-wishes to friends, family, and all of humanity. A short meditation is part of each classroom’s Circle Time. For our Preschool and Kindergarten classes, a highlight of Circle Time is being a “Shining Star.” Each day a new student is a Shining Star, taking turns in this role to lead the blessing, “light” the candle, and be a…
-
“I like how things are right now!”
Our Middle School teacher, Matthew Fredrickson, shares a moment from his classroom. On what seemed like an ordinary Monday morning in our Middle School classroom, one of the sixth grade girls smiled cheerfully as she looked at me and said, “I like how things are right now!” For a moment, I didn’t comprehend her meaning. What, the stories? I wondered to myself. The children were crafting stories using their new vocabulary word list-nothing unusual for a Monday morning. The intent serenity of the room was occasionally, and thoughtfully, interrupted with questions about content, phrasing, grammar, or spelling. Smatterings of friendly chatter would follow for a minute or two until gradually,…
-
~Happy New Year~
It is amazing how time can get away from you! As we embark on the adventures of Living Wisdom School in 2017...
-
Joy Juice
At Living Wisdom, we use Conscious Discipline, the work of Dr. Becky Bailey, as a complementary tool in working with children. Two of our staff members attended a "Building Resilience in Classrooms" training with Dr. Becky Bailey this past October. Michelle Mall, our school secretary, was so inspired by the training that she's been sending out weekly emails to share...
-
Season of JOY
We began the holidays with preparations for our annual Stone Soup. Each class makes a different dish for the event, and all the classes come together...
-
Appreciation leads to greater connection
Teacher Shawn is our Intermediate class teacher, with students ages 9 to 11 years old. Shawn was noticing that there was a need for more cohesion and empowerment among her female students. A class emerged for these students...
-
Reach of Faith
At Living Wisdom School (LWS) we practice many little—and sometimes big—“reaches of faith” every day. Our teachers practice faith in the individual potential of each student, helping each student reach for the best within themselves. To do this, our community...
-
Share the Love
Listen to a pre-school parent talk about her family's experience at LWS...
-
The Power of Family Traditions
Every Monday since September, the elementary students have been joining together for a morning sharing time, the inner joy circle. We spend about 30 minutes together with the intention of connecting with one another and sharing in practices that raise our consciousness as a group and facilitate a child’s personal growth. This last week we talked about our favorite things during Thanksgiving. Almost all of the hands raised...