The whole family is very welcome to join us on Saturday, January 11 between 10am and 12pm for our annual school-wide Open House. Come meet teachers and see classrooms. We’ll have information available on next year’s early childhood programs and we are eager to show off work and teachers for grades 1-8 too! Bring a friend or neighbor — this is truly a “more is merrier” morning at school. Hope to see you there!
Our Annual School-wide Open House
The whole family is very welcome at our annual school-wide Open House, this Saturday, January 26th! Please come walk through the school, meet teachers, see current student work and hear about our early childhood program expansion and new outdoor kindergartens! We are so excited to share a glimpse of our school with you. You are welcome anytime between 10 am and 12 pm, although if you are particularly interested in early childhood, join Miss Mary at 10:45am in the green house classroom to hear more specifically about those changes…..And, plan a trip up to Lowery Farm to visit with Teachers Isaac and Jamie about our plans for that space — the farm is open between 10:30am and 12:30pm.
See you there!
Meanwhile, please enjoy these examples from previous years of the sorts of work you’ll be able to view:
Community Eurythmy
We are happy to welcome Audun Smit back to Madrona School for the month of March! In addition to teaching kindergarten - 8th grade classes, he will be offering community Eurythmy on Fridays at 9:00 - 10:00am in the Eagle Harbor Congregational Church Fellowship Hall at 105 Winslow Way W on Bainbridge Island.
We hope that you will be able to join us for this rare opportunity to do Eurythmy with an inspiring young teacher. RSVPs to the school office, 206-855-8041, would be nice, but are not required. We have Eurythmy shoes or bring your own.
No previous experience is necessary. Bring a friend!
Move your body - touch your soul.
The Benefits of Eurythmy...
We have one more adult eurythmy class this year with our visiting eurythmist, Audun Smit. The class is open to all this Friday at 9am in the EHCC Fellowship Hall. The following thoughts on eurythmy are offered by one of our founding parents and teachers, and were originally published in our weekly school newsletter on March 1, 2016.
Eurythmy- Nurture Your Own Heart and Soul
One of the most helpful things we can do for our children is to nurture our own hearts and souls. When, I’m calmer, my children are calmer. When I’m content, my children are content. Children reflect much of what they experience with the adults around them. And for the next 3 weeks we now have an incredible opportunity to nurture ourselves right here at Madrona- in a free adult eurythmy class.
The word eurythmy stems from the Greek roots for beautiful or harmonious rhythm. A dictionary may define eurythmy as a system of harmonious body movement to the rhythm of spoken words. But it is much more. Eurythmy is an art form created by Rudolf Steiner. And in a slightly modified form it can be appliedtherapeutically. Rudolf Steiner’s essential point is that eurythmy is visible speech, visible music. He described it as “art of the soul”. One can even go further and maintain that the movements of eurythmy do actually proceed out of the inner movements of the organization of man. That said, as you can see, it’s very hard to describe eurythmy in words; it really needs to be experienced.
I’m not a eurythmist, but I’ll share with you how I feel after finishing an adult eurythmy class. I feel calm, centered, and uplifted yet grounded. I feel a greater sense of connection- connection to a grander Source, to the others in the eurythmy circle, to the earth, and to myself. I feel pure joy! Wow- all in one hour! Another added bonus- it’s just plain fun!
A bit of history that you may not be aware of is that Madrona School was seeded in eurythmy (and festivals). Prior to the start of the school, we were blessed with David Michael Monasch, a eurythmist from Seattle, coming to Bainbridge every week to teach eurythmy. We experienced the gift of community literally moving together as One during eurythmy class and I believe that those years of relating in this nonverbal way helped set the foundation for a healthy school to be co-founded.
Now we’re blessed with another amazingeurythmy teacher, Audun Smit . I experience Audun’s presence as pure and clear. He exemplifies both groundedness and radiance. Before I learned his name, I found myself calling him “the Angelic Eurythmy teacher”. So even if you’re not so interested in eurythmy, it may be worth coming just to be in his presence.
I hope to see you in adult eurythmy class Friday mornings March 4, 11, 18 from 9:00-10:00. Actually I wish all parents could experience this simple, yet profound practice. After all, parenting isn’t always easy and we could all use a bit of nurturing for our own hearts and souls.
With deep gratitude,
Debby Haase
Former Madrona teacher of Grades 1-8
Parent of two Madrona graduates
Co-founder of Madrona
