Biodynamics

I haven't yet found a Waldorf community here (either through word of mouth or by checking the Networking page at Christopherus Homeschool), although it wouldn't surprise me if there was one since this is a college town. But I did found out that there is a small Sufi school and homeschool co-op as well as a well-established Sufi biodynamic farm.

Steiner & Biodynamics:

Agriculture Course: The Birth of the Biodynamic Method

What Is Biodynamics?
A Way to Heal and Revitalize the Earth

Bees

I would love to learn more about this farm and collect with the people there.

Sufi vision inspires southern Illinois farm: Dayempur Farm strives for economic, agricultural, social and energy sustainability article

Dayempur Farm: Center for Sustainable Living website

Organic Living at Dayempur Farm from Jamie Drendel on Vimeo.

Southern Illinois Food Adventures: Local Adventures: Sufi Park Community Garden blog post

I worry about my soon-to-be 8th grader and her disconnect from reality through books. Now that we are lucky enough to have a house where she can have her own room, she increasingly hides away. She reads to the exclusion of almost everything else, hundreds of pages a day. My goal next year is to have the curriculum be a really good fit for her interests and developmental stage, to encourage her intrinsic motivation (which she had once upon a time but then lost), and to have as much be hands-on as possible. I wonder if I can find a way for her to work at this farm?

Recently learned, through an article in Whole Living November 2012, that "many organic farms, in the United States and beyond, provide free lodging to guests willing to lend a hand." Visit World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms (WWOOF) to find a directory of host farms. The Montessori middle school program, ideally, takes place on a working farm. REAL work for children this age is so so important!!!