March 1, 2014
9:30 am - 4:00 pm
Place: The Peace and Justice Room, St. Francis Springs
477 Grogan Road, Stoneville, NC 27048
Cost: $75 (lunch included)
(We will be taking an Earth Walk in the morning, so please wear
comfortable shoes and come dressed for the weather)
Click here to register online
"Earth Elder Thomas Berry regularly reminded us that children must understand that their home is not the industrial world but the world of "woodlands and meadows and flowers and birds and mountains and valleys and streams and stars." Thomas counseled us that children must also be enabled to directly experience the Universe. In fact, he believed the child is our guide to how the Universe ought to be experienced by all of us.
Caring for the soul of children is one of the keystones of responding, in both a practical and spiritual way, to our current ecological crises."
~ Bill Plotkin, "Care of the Soul of the World" in Spiritual Ecology: The Cry of the Earth,
ed. by Llewellyn Vaughan-Lee
In this day retreat at beautiful St. Francis Springs, we will deepen our understanding of caring for the soul of the child through presentations by master practitioners on "The Soul Development of the Child in Nature" (Colette Segalla), "Caring for the Soul of the Child in Nature" (Sandy Bisdee), "Caring for the Soul of the Child in Song" (Jennie Walker Brunner), "Caring for the Soul of the Child at Home" (Marie Nordgren) and "Caring for the Soul of the Child in Illness" (Andrew Levitt). Retreat weaver: Peggy Whalen-Levitt.
Sandy Bisdee is the Director of Children's Programs at the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World. She holds a Montessori International (AMI) Teaching Certificate and brings over thirty years of experience as an educator of children to her work at the Center.
Jennie Walker Brunner is a classically trained violinist who also enjoys composing tunes and playing fiddle with the Walker Family Band. She holds a bachelor's degree in Music Education and is a trained Suzuki violin teacher. Jennie is currently working on receiving her Life Ways teacher training and has a deep interest in encouraging people to lift their voices in song.
Andrew Levitt is a pediatric cosmic clown at Moses Cone Hospital in Greensboro, NC. He holds a Ph.D. in Folklore from the University of Pennsylvania and is a professional mime and storyteller.
Marie Nordgren is the founder, director and a teacher at The Children's Garden Preschool, a nature and play based early childhood program in Durham, NC. She received her training in Waldorf early childhood education from Sunbridge College in Spring Valley, New York.
Colette Segalla is a clinical psychologist in Raleigh, NC. She holds a Ph.D. in clinical psychology from Pacifica Graduate Institute in California, where she completed her dissertation on "Spirituality and its Embeddedness in Nature as it Relates to a Child's Development of a Sense of Self."
Peggy Whalen-Levitt is the Director of the Center for Education, Imagination and the Natural World. She holds a Ph.D. in Language in Education from the University of Pennsylvania, where she co-created a graduate program in Childhood Imagination.
