Welcome to the Minnesota Waldorf School community. Each of us has taken our own journey to arrive here. We all have our story and each story is knitted into the fabric of our community. We hope that you will find Minnesota Waldorf School a wonderful addition to your story.
Welcome to the MWS Parent Council, a place to make new friends, keep up with the old, learn new skills and make a positive impact on your child’s education. The Parent Council consists of the parents and guardians of MWS students. So, if you have a child here, you are a member of Parent Council and are welcome to participate to whatever extent you desire.
The mission of the Parent Council is “to support and develop the well being of the Community”.
The Parent Council serves as:
- An incubator for parent ideas
- A catalyst for parent initiatives
- A forum for dialogue on current issues and concerns
- A facilitator to enhance parents’ communication within each of the classes, as well as in the school, its Community, and its governing bodies.
Parent Council meeting notices, meeting minutes and archives are posted in the Update.
Here is a list of some of the groups that have come out of the Parent Council:
MWS Parent Handwork
Parent Handwork meets on Wednesdays from 8:30 am to noon in the Early Childhood Building. It is a drop-in group so there is no official membership. You may come on any given Wednesday as well as arrive or leave at any time.
Most parents bring their own handwork project to do or come to learn a handwork technique, such as knitting, crocheting, felting, and needlework. Some parents merely come to socialize. Though attendees consist mainly of parents, everyone — grandparents, other relatives, and friends — are definitely welcome to join in; children can even come if accompanied by an adult.
The goal of Parent Handwork is to foster community in a guilt-free, nurturing environment. A space is carved out to allow the adult to pursue their creativity in the fellowship of others. As such, Parent Handwork is not a production crew or service club for the school, although volunteer opportunities may be presented at times and parents are certainly not disallowed to work on school-oriented projects during the meetings.
Our meeting format is parent-driven. That is why it is mainly an open forum for working on personal projects and to discuss any topics on parents’ minds, often not limited to handwork matters, such as aspects of the Waldorf philosophy, media, child development issues, and one another’s experiences in their MWS journey. However, we do feature special programming if parents show an interest in particular topics. In the past, we have offered a formal lesson on animal needle-felting based on high parental interest; a parent once asked to teach others how to wet-felt; and another parent wanted to lead a discussion on simplicity parenting. In the future, Parent Handwork will morph into whatever parents want it to be.
Parent Handwork has also created a small library of books, pamphlets, and magazines that may be checked out throughout the year. Most publications have been donated, but some are loaned, to our Handwork Library.
If you have any questions about Parent Handwork, feel free to contact Ting Ting Cheng at 651-486-2973 or tinglcheng@gmail.com.
MWS Waldorf Book Club
The Waldorf Book Club was spawned from parent’s desire to learn more about Waldorf Education, Rudolf Steiner and Anthroposophy. All parents and faculty members are welcome to participate in the Book Club – for one session or the whole year.
The group meets monthly throughout the school year on the 4th Sunday of the month from 7-8:30pm (rescheduled as necessary to avoid school conflicts) in the Parent Handwork room. Book selections are made through consensus of the group. Previous selections include: Anthroposophy in Everyday Life, by Rudolf Steiner and Our Twelve Senses: How Healthy Senses Refresh the Soul by Albert Soesman. Watch the MWS Weekly Update for current book selections. Handwork teacher, Kristi Fackel, guides the conversation, with an occasional guest facilitator. Stephanie Richards McDaniel, smcdaniel@bwbr.com, coordinates the dates. If you have any questions please contact Kristi or Stephanie.
Current book study:
Our first book of the year (2011-12) is Devices of the Soul: Battling for Our Selves in an Age of Machines by Steve Talbot. Jonathan Bucki (board chair) and his wife Jennifer Bishop (French teacher) have graciously agreed to lead our discussions. From Jonathan: “The book rocks. It is the most robust, wise exploration about technology I’ve ever read. The author makes us complete our thinking about technology and doesn’t allow thinking that is dualist in nature; technology is neither “all bad” or “all good” in nature. As far as I can tell, it’s good anthroposphy and makes me want more.”
We will break the book into the following sections:
Session 1 – Sunday September 25 7:00-8:30
Part 1: Technology, Nature and the Human Prospect
Part 2: Extraordinary Lives
about 100 pages
Session 2: Sunday October 23 7:00-8:30
Part 3. From information to Education
Part 4. On Socializing Our Machines
about 100 pages
Session 3: Sunday December 4 7:00-8:30
Part 5: On Mechanizing Society
about 50 pages
The book can be purchased through Amazon, Barnes and Noble and other retailers in new, used and e-reader formats.
