Donna Simmons Conference: Review

Donna Simmons came to town, and we were fortunate enough to be able to take part in a 1-day conference with her. She is tall, with a large, warm and reassuring presence. She is a homeschooling mom, and, of course, creator of some of the finest Waldorf based homeschooling materials available.

She cut right to the heart of how to apply Steiner principles to education; not being afraid of the spiritual aspects of how Waldorf works. She walked us through how learning arises out of the 12 senses, how the 3 fold human being works. She broke down the 7-year cycles, and how each relates to a different stage of development, and the importance of meeting each stage. Interestingly, her mandatory book recommendation for all grades was not even one of her own, but “Learning About the World Through Modeling,” by Arthur Auer.

We got a chance to do form drawing. I felt a bit nervous standing at the chalkboard, which is a good thing, as it reminded me of what my children must feel.

She took us on a journey of the sweep of the stories, the building of history as it is presented through Waldorf schooling, and as it relates to the children’s development. She asks us to remember that we are building qualities, not pumping our children full of arbitrary information.

Whether you use Donna’s materials or not, if she comes back to town I highly recommend taking the opportunity to learn from her. Her wisdom is very practical and down to earth. You will come away inspired and rejuvenated.