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Missing the Point --- NEW

Honoring Teens as they really are

One of the most popular current innovations in secondary education goes under the heading of Advanced Placement. more...

The Education of Will Power --- NEW

Living Wisdom School's Approach to Real Maturity

Will power and teenagers – it seems an obvious match when you stop to think about it, but unfortunately, it’s usually viewed as a generational power struggle.  In an Education For Life School, this juxtaposition is seen in a very different way.  As the third of four elements in the Tools of Maturity progression (along with the body, feelings, and intellect), will power represents the activating quality that allows people to bring their hopes and ideas into manifestation.  Recently, one of our past students was given the following compliment by a friend.

“I want to be like you.  I used to think that there were two kinds of people in the world:  those who lived passively, just responding to life as it comes to them, and those who live more actively, watching for opportunities in order to take advantage of them.  But you’re different; you create your own opportunities.!” more...

The Second Stage of Maturity: The Feeling Years

Practical Application of Living Wisdom Philosophy

The second stage of growth in Education for Life covers the ages from 6-12, the “Feeling” or elementary years.  Here we find a very special window of opportunity more...

Preparing for Puberty

An Approach for Living Wisdom Schools

If we were preparing for an important job interview, we would take the time to develop the best possible presentation. In preparing our children for puberty more...

Sharing the Inspiration

A Memory From Last Year's 2nd-3rd Grade Class

The meadow was golden when we arrived at Tuolumne in Yosemite in mid-September last year. We hiked up the trail from there and pitched our tents around Cathedral Lake, nestled under the peak. A few families had never been to Yosemite and there were a few new to backpacking, including a four-year-old sibling. Over the next two days parents and students together climbed Echo and Tresider Peaks, both over 10,000 ft. A few stayed in camp and enjoyed the glorious alpine meadow. more...

Direct Experience in the Feeling Years

An experience in John Orlowski's 4th-6th grade class

Taking our whole curriculum outside the classroom is one of my greatest pleasures in teaching at Ananda Living Wisdom School. Poetry, creative writing, and art projects come alive when they are experienced in the heart of nature. more...

Focusing Attention

by Hridaya Atwell

In the first newsletter I gave examples of how Living Wisdom teachers help awaken enthusiasm in students through experiences in nature. With this edition we’ll “flow into” examples of helping students focus attention.more...

Awakening Enthusiasm

by Hridaya Atwell, co-director Ananda LWS

If you want to inspire children to learn something, love it, and retain it for future use, first find a way to awaken their enthusiasm, then guide them in focusing their attention, next, give them a direct experience, and finally, allow them to share their inspiration. more...

 

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Interview with Alexa Wondergem --- NEW

By Hridaya Atwell

Alexa Wondergem is a wonderful example of a person who continuously uses her will and energy to make LWS a better place to be!  She is a pro-active volunteer who is always asking for more to do and thinking of ways to improve what we are currently doing.  On a regular basis, you can thank her for the updates to our school website calendar, for her bookwork skills, and presently, she is heading up a new Parent Directory, for those parents who want to be able to contact one another!  With her unbridled enthusiasm to do the job quickly and efficiently, she is a joy to work with! more...

Interview with Penelope Hiestand

By Hridaya Atwell

Penelope’s son, Nelson, is a first grader in Narani’s class this year; however, Penelope has been connected with the school for many years. Fourteen years ago she was involved in one of the first youth internship programs at Ananda Village and took the Education for Life summer training program.  In 1999 and 2000 she taught the boys’ junior high and high school English class.. more...

Interview with Koda Sun

By Santoshi Kendall

Often some of the school’s best friends and supporters are the parents of the students; in this issue we would like to highlight one of our parents and neighbors, Koda Sun. His older boy Jahsa attended a number of years back; his younger son Jaiya began with us in the 2nd grade and is now in 10th grade. more...

 

Read Articles by Our Graduates

An Interview with Alumni Mirabai Deranja --- NEW

by Hridaya Atwell

Our Alumni focus for this edition is on Mirabai Deranja.  The quote you just read from The Education of Will Power article was said to her.  “You’re different,” was a friend’s compliment, “You create your own opportunities.!”
Many of you will recognize her as the leader of our Drama, Dance & Sports Summer Day Camp! 
Mirabai is a great example of someone who has used her will power to make things happen in her life.  After graduating from the University of California at Santa Cruz, she had set two goals for herself:  to become bilingual in Spanish and to become an excellent Tango dancer.  To accomplish these two goals, she decided to move to Buenos Aires.  Five years later, she had embarked on a successful career as a tango dancer and teacher! 

We asked Mirabai if she could share anything she experienced from LWS having to do with will power… more...

An Interview with Alumni Taruna Wu

By Hridaya Atwell

"I don't know of another place I could have gone to school that would have given me the same well-rounded education as the one I received at LWS. LWS focuses on all aspects of development, not just academics. LWS taught me the importance of patience and introspection. I know for a fact that I would not be the well-rounded person I am today if I had not gone to LWS" more...

An Interview with Alumni Stephanie Sexton

by Durga Smallen

"Two summers ago in 2008/2009 - I was a 'climbing bum', climbing all over Yosemite, Tahoe and the Mammoth area. Towards the end of the summer I was on my way back from a trip when I had an epiphany that I needed to work in a field where I could help empower youth in the outdoors." more...

A Year on the Ice

Nalini Snell

Of the multitude of experiences in nature throughout my entire life, my year living in Antarctica was the most impactful on many levels and by far the most extreme.  The highest, driest, coldest, most remote continent on the planet offered me an unparalleled experience of the raw power and pure pristine beauty of nature. more...

Transformation in the Wilderness

Kai Girard

My early memories of the Ananda LWS include outdoor pursuits that were many and varied. From exploring rivers and caves, to canoe trips and making fires in the rain with Tim Tschantz and summer days at Pubble Pond, Bridgeport or Mushroom Hole, the foothills gave us the opportunity to be outside in so many ways. more...

 

Read Articles by Our Friends

Maghi and The Costume Shop

By Hridaya Atwell

Maghi has been behind the scenes for many years as our magical costume lady for Family Entertainment Night. Maghi and her husband, Vasanta, first moved to Ananda in 1985 from Southern California; Maghi had been a preschool and Kindergarten teacher for several years before moving here.  Known lovingly as “Miss Mary,” she was the LWS Kindergarten teacher for her first four years at Ananda.  It soon became known that she had other creative talents more...

Yogoata Dairy

An Interview with Virani Ramsden

Virani Ramsden, our "friend" in this October 2010 edition, is the head of Yogoata Dairy at Ananda Village. After researching and studying goats and apprenticing on a large goat farm in New Mexico, she started Yogoata in January of 2009. more...

Flow Learning Inspirations

Interview with J. Bharat Cornell

Joseph Bharat Cornell, a member of Ananda Community for 35 years, is one of the most inspiring nature educators in the world today. His first book, Sharing Nature with Children, sparked a worldwide revolution in nature education and became a classic. His six Sharing Nature Books have been translated into twenty languages more...

Making Living Wisdom School a Special Place to Be

An Interview with Brian Powers

A School could have no better friend than Brian (Bajrang) Powers. Interviewing him for this section was, for me, extremely uplifting. His enthusiasm and ability to incorporate the Education for Life principles into his projects, classes, and adventures with students is endlessly inspiring. more...