Family Life and Learning in the Time of Covid-2019

What at time! We live in Vermont where Middlebury College is closed, all the schools are closed, the yoga studio and the gyms are closed, bars and restaurants are closed, churches are closed, the bookstore and other small businesses are closed.  And not only that, we can’t see friends or family or be closer than 6 feet to anyone, even outside! And this is the case for most of us all over the world right now. 

If we ever doubted that we are connected and interdependent, that we are all responsible, that everything we do or don’t do matters, it is not possible to doubt that any longer.  We are interconnected in every way; we are a network.  This is the way our planet and our life on earth “works.” These are natural laws.  

As I become accustomed to home bound life, I am focusing on simple gifts that surround me like the birds at the feeder, the green shoots of daffodils pushing up through the brown, brittle leaves, the red fox stalking any small rodent who might be peeking up from the ground, my neighbor who I can see from my study window, pruning his apple trees this morning. 

I am also overwhelmed by the number of learning and uplifting experiences that people are offering for free online.  Because we are educators and lovers of the arts, we are linked to so many possibilities from generous individuals and organizations.  

Our own grandchildren are now being homeschooled by their parents. Lucky for them, their mother is a first-grade teacher and now she is their teacher, fully equipped with knowledge, resources, strategies, organizational expertise and patience! (You can follow her twitter posts of home schooling learning experiences on @MsCadwell1C) One of the first images she sent us was a flexible, movable daily schedule handwritten by Asher and Delilah including morning meeting, reading, math, recess!! science, choice time and so on.  I sent this schedule to my friend Laura and she sent it on to her son’s family and now, they have made one too. See below.

In order not to downplay the enormous challenge for parents during this time, here’s what a friend and former preschool teacher and director wrote to me yesterday…

It is clear that many parents are both trying to work full time from home, and that although they want to be 100% embracing homeschooling, simplifying, observing the natural world... it’s super challenging.  My son said yesterday that he now feels all teachers need a tremendous raise!  He said it’s day 5, but feels like day 80!  My daughter-in-law wrote about the push and pull feeling of loving this time with her kids, stressing a lot about work, and worrying about the world...

Planning the week of learning at home

That said, there are ways we can move forward. As grandparents, we have shared much more time than usual connecting virtually with the grandchildren.  Just yesterday, I shared a drawing experience with Asher, age 7, and Delilah, age 5.  I sent them a preview video explaining and demonstrating the idea and the technique of “bug drawing.”  This is not about drawing insects, rather it is a kid friendly way to learn contour drawing by pretending that you are a small insect crawling along the edges and interior lines of a leaf, stem, pinecone, shell, or other object.  We had fun together and are planning our next shared drawing experience.  You can read more about this idea here and here.

We are sure that there are many ways that grandparents might share virtually (or on the phone) with their grandchildren, or aunts and uncles with nieces and nephews, or friends of the family with children, …stories, simple recipes, riddles and word games, picture books, guessing games.  Give it a try.  We are lucky to live in an age where many of us have a virtual way to be together and to learn together. Old fashion letter writing is a wonderful practice too, to share stories and ideas and to exchange love and care.

We know that there are some families who will certainly struggle more with learning at home and there are families who do not have internet access. I know that many school systems are working hard to address this and to gain internet access for all families.

We will share some of the resources that we have received in the last week or so here, and then, in the next blog post, we hope to share more.  Share them with us too! We will pass them on. And pass them on to your friends, families, and neighbors. We are all in this together and we can create a positive wave.  

One of the first blog posts I read that inspired me was from Christina Greve.  She said this about being at home with children. 

 If you’re on lockdown with your kids, remember that this is a unique chance to spend quality time with them and be fully present. Slow down, bake, paint, play, draw, read stories and dance.

Help your kids focus on the positive parts of life. They need you to take leadership in the most optimistic way.

Count your blessings because there are so many wonderful things in this world. You can choose to be fearful or you can choose to be grateful.

The bottom line is that finding thankfulness for the “little” things like hugging your pet, holding hands, having a roof over your head, being loved, being alive, having friends, walking in nature and listening to music, is what will get you through this.

Spontaneous rendition of the “Undie Rock” this week for dad…

Christina’s words set the tone for all of us, not only parents of young children.  I take them to heart. To be present and grateful and to find joy…these seem to be the keys to life now.  This is not new news, it is just more important than ever. And, yes, it is a daily practice.

Here are some resources:

Penny Dullaghan is an illustrator and dear friend of ours.  Lucky for us: she designed our website.  She works from home and she home schools her daughter.  Her blog post a week ago is full of wonderful and varied resources for learning online.  I would go here first for her ideas and resources. 

One of the sites she lists is Raddish Kids.  It is all about cooking, learning about cooking, and healthy habits for and with children.  My son Alden made doughnut holes earlier this week with Asher and Delilah and posted photos of the process and the recipe on Instagram. 

Asher and Delilah making doughnut holes, recipe from Raddish Kids

This link came yesterday from a friend.  A wonderful list of nature experiences outside for this time of year. I am eager to try some of them myself…compiled by Four Winds Nature Institute.

Another friend forwarded this wonderful resource. So many art and science museums all over the world are offering online experiences for children and families including the Smithsonian and the Louvre! Please take a look at picture book author and illustrator’s, Mo Wilems Lunchtime Doodles. It is so much fun for all ages.

If you want a music class for younger children, try this one with Mr. Chris.

For yoga for all ages, try some classes by Yoga with Adrienne.

If you would like to connect with Mindfulness experiences for children, go here for weekly online classes. 

This Sunday at 4:00 EDT, there will be a family sing hosted by Revels Inc.  We have attended the Christmas Revels performance ever since our sons were small and now we go every year with our grandchildren.  David Coffin’s strong, melodious voice is hard to resist and we think that you will want to sing along. 

Be well, go outside and walk in nature if you can, do good things for people as you are able, (today I am dropping off bundles of pussy willows to neighbors as my friend Laura did yesterday, and we are contributing to local networks providing assistance to neighbors and our local businesses), cook good food, read, be present…and don’t forget to sing, dance and wash your hands.  For better or for worse, in sickness and in health, we are all in this together.

Grandson Jack stacking!

The Legacy of a Family Farm

The Cadwell Farm...this place...is in my bones...and heart...and soul. I know, intimately, just about every square inch of it. I played and worked on that land and in those houses and barn from birth to my mid 20’s...and periodically every year thereafter. The summer thunderstorms raging in over the Hubbardton ridge...the snowstorms blowing in over the Green Mountains...the midsummer moon rising over the mountains...the winter solstice sun setting at it’s most southerly point...they all make my heart sing.

There is a peace about the place that feeds my soul.

And, the Cadwell Farm is a place where my brothers and I get to pay it forward. I am reminded of what a dear friend, Peter Forbes, of Knoll Farm in Waitsfield, Vermont, wrote reflecting on his mentor, Bill Copperthwaite:

When my own life is done, my legacy might be a physical place, made sacred by care and attention, experienced together by people who can also find on that land their deepest courage to go forward and to create beauty, to love again in the dark hours. When my life is done, I want to have created a safe harbor on the land for my family, and others, to find and speak their truths, to practice creativity, and to use their imagination. I want to help others to believe in the land again and to believe in their own personal power.

My brothers and I are in synch with Peter on this. And Louise and my summer education retreat, with our colleagues Chuck Schwall and Michael Holohan, is one step in this process.

To better frame our connection to this place, let me give you a brief history the farm and my experience on it.

The Cadwell Farm goes back to the early 1800’s. My five younger brothers and I were the sixth generation to be raised on the farm, in the 50’s-60’s-70’s.

That’s me on the left…then Steve, Jason, Michael, Jared and Alden…in shirts and sweaters our Mother made for us.

The farm sits in a valley and looks up to the east to the Green Mountain ridge with Pico Peak the signature profile at just under 4,000 feet, and to the west at the Hubbardton hills. The valley was formed over the millennia by a river, Otter Creek, that flows north from the Green Mountains, over 100 miles into Lake Champlain. Otter Creek defines the western boundary of the farm; and Furnace Brook, a tributary of Otter Creek, defines the eastern boundary. The farm is about 200 acres in all, with 80 acres of tillable open fields, presently planted in feed crops for beef cattle.

The barnyard “piazza” is framed by two houses, north and south, with front porches addressing the street, Elm Street; and a great white clapboard, four story barn (30 feet wide and 100 feet long) that sits back from the road about 200 feet between the houses. For a drone and slide tour of the farm click here.

A sketch of the barn that I made last year….

In my childhood, my father’s Uncle Dan lived in the southern house. He owned the farm and ran it as a dairy farm that milked about 60 black and white Holsteins twice a day, at 5 a.m. and 3 p.m. We lived in the northern house, a typical meandering white clapboard farmhouse that began as a simple one story cape in the 1800’s and expanded through three additions (including the import of a piece of a church from up the street) to become the structure that my mother, an architect, renovated in 1960 to best accommodate her brood.

When I was old enough - about 10 - I was allowed to help with the chores: go get the cows in the lower or upper pasture, pitch down hay from the massive three story hay mow to the cows stanchioned in the milking parlor on the basement level, ladle grain to the same girls, shovel their manure. When I was in my teens I could help with the haying: throw bails onto the wagon, stack bails on the wagon and from there into the barn hay mow. If I was really lucky I got to drive the tractor or the truck.

However, most of my time on the farm was spent at play — in the woods, along the river, in the fields: engineering bike paths through the pine trees, building “cabins” of fallen limbs, or in the abandoned box of an old truck, or, in my early teens, constructed of real lumber with a tin roof and a wood stove!...fishing or skating at the Cove...sitting on the “big rock” gazing at the pollywog pond...inventing games...playing ball (all kinds of ball)...one summer we boarded two ponies, so, “Cowboys and Indians” was the go to drama...later my father persuaded his uncle to cede him a piece of the calf pasture adjoining our backyard and he built a tennis court.

Up and down Elm Street, within about a quarter mile, there were six other families (including the three families of my uncle’s hired farm hands) with 25 kids within a 15 year span. There was never any lack of companionship. We were free range chickens...contained by the boundaries of the farm, yet free to invent our own world there within. Actually, in affirmation of that domain, our mother had a simple, direct command to us boys whenever we got too squirrelly indoors. It was: OUT!

All this in the backdrop of a working dairy farm.

In the early 70’s my Great Uncle Dan died and in his will he sold the farm to my Dad, a life insurance and pension underwriter. All the cattle and dairy equipment were sold at auction.

Dad leased the open land to other farmers for crops and rented Uncle Dan’s house and the remaining tenant house. When Dad wasn’t “doing business” he loved to work around the land...mowing, chain sawing, digging...and always, he would round up one or two or three of us boys to “project” with him. My favorite project of his considerable legacy was the culling of a self seeded stand of maple trees on the knoll across the field east of the house. Today, some 70 years after his initial vision, it’s a sugarbush ready to yield many gallons of syrup.

When I first imagined hosting an education retreat on the farm, all these images from my past came flooding back to me. I feel blessed to have such a place to share with others. Just as this land has been a constant source of inspiration for me, it’s with delighted anticipation that I look forward to witnessing this place as an inspiration for our retreat. To paraphrase and adapt what Peter wrote above: Through a compelling learning experience on the grounds of our family farm I want to help others to believe in their own personal power.

To register for our retreat, click here.

The St. Michael School of Clayton Celebrates 50 Years by Guest Blogger, Charles Schwall

The St. Michael School of Clayton in St. Louis, Missouri, is currently celebrating its 50th year, and those of us connected to the school are reflecting on many years of rewarding work together. I first met Ashley and Louise Cadwell in the autumn of 1992. Ashley had been hired as the headmaster of the school. He and Louise had just returned from living in Reggio Emilia, Italy, where Louise had completed a yearlong internship working in the Reggio schools. Ashley and Louise both had long, deep histories working in progressive education, school development, and research. 

At that time, I was working at the school in an art-enrichment capacity, and also directing the extended-school programs. The early 1990’s were a dynamic time in St. Louis for early childhood education. In 1991, A Newsweek magazine article, “The 10 Best Schools in the World (December 1991),” had caused a surge of interest in the Reggio Approach, The Hundred Languages of Children exhibition had been at Webster University in St Louis. Many educators in St. Louis were fascinated with the distinctive and innovative set of philosophical and pedagogical approaches that are unique to Reggio Emilia.  

During the 1992-93 school year, Ashley introduced me to the essential ideas of the schools in Reggio. He gave me a copy of The Hundred Languages of Children book, and “To Make a Portrait of a Lion” VHS tape. We also engaged in numerous conversations about many principles and practices that he and Louise had learned while in Reggio.  

Charles Schwall, author of this post, and pedagogista & studio teacher (1993-2013), The St. Michael School

Because my background was in the visual arts, the Reggio atelier immediately impressed me.  The “atelier” is a physical space within the school dedicated to children’s exploration and use of many materials, tools, symbolic languages, and forms of representation. I was fascinated by the concept of the “hundred languages of children,” used by the Italian educators as a metaphor for the countless ways young students are capable exploring and expressing ideas. Closely linked to the concept of the atelier, is the role of the “atelierista,” a teacher with a background in the visual arts, who works with small groups of children in the atelier. When I was hired as atelierista (studio teacher) in 1993, I discovered that I not only found my career, but my calling.  

Ashley had a strong vision for the program, and immediately began to restructure the school curriculum and programs to become Reggio-inspired, as well as to integrate other best practices in progressive education. We worked intensely with educators from Reggio Emilia, and several faculty members were able to travel to Reggio Emilia for study tours. It was clear that we had to find our own solutions and interpretations. We were determined to define the values of the Reggio Approach within our own setting.  For example, we had observed in the Reggio schools that the atelierista forms a close collaborative relationship with the classroom teachers, and supports curriculum development, research, and documentation throughout the entire school. We made similar choices at St. Michael School. In the elementary school the concept of the atelier was de-centralized into studio arts, science, music and performing arts, Spanish, social studies, and physical education. In this way, these various disciplines all share the responsibilities of the atelier. 

Michael Holohan, studio teacher at The St. Michael School

Thematic research projects and documentation also became a hallmark of the school’s unique identity.  Our yearlong research projects transform children into researchers and teachers into facilitators as they pursue in-depth learning together. The topic for the research integrates curriculum throughout the year for the entire school, with each class involved in age-appropriate learning experiences.  Recent research topics include: How Can You Make a Difference?; Water; Home; and Maps & Models.

The school continues to grow and develop its Reggio-inspired focus under the leadership of Beth Mosher, who became the head of school in 2008. Currently enjoying its 50-year milestone, and building on 27 years of Reggio-inspired practice, The St. Michael School of Clayton remains a dynamic think-tank for some of the best ideas in education.

Documentation panel and synthesis of research by third through sixth graders, The St. Michael School

Join Us in Vermont July 16-18: REGISTRATION DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2020

Destination: Cadwell Family Farm, Pittsford, Vermont

A Workshop & Residency for Educators Exploring Creativity, Making, and Research

July 16-18, 2020

REGISTRATION DEADLINE: APRIL 1, 2020

This blog post is an announcement. Cadwell Collaborative is thrilled to offer a Workshop and Residency this summer in collaboration with our dear friends and colleagues, Chuck Schwall and Michael Holohan with whom we worked for many successful years in St. Louis at The St. Michael School and as members of the St. Louis Reggio Collaborative. We have cooked up a three day experience for educators that will be joyful and brimming with creativity and inspiration. We can’t wait. We hope that you will join us.

By the way, the location of this workshop and residency is on a gorgeous piece of land in Vermont, on the farm where Ashley grew up with his five brothers. The handsome, timber framed barn includes spacious meeting areas and places to share meals overlooking fields and the Green Mountains. The farm includes playing fields, bird habitats, and a hiking trail linked to the village’s 20 mile network. You will find nearby backroad biking, quarry swimming, river canoeing, as well as farmers markets, micro breweries, and restaurants.

Today, we sent out an announcement via our newsletter that reached some of you, however not all of you, so we are sending it out here also. All the information follows. Please let us know if you are interested. We would love to have you! To register, click here.

Join us at the Cadwell Family Farm where we will all become ever more playful and serious makers, creators, and researchers. Come to find community, learn new skills, be inspired, set new intentions, and return home energized and restored.

We will weave together three days of learning through presentations, experiences in the field, materials workshops, sharing and dialogue, delicious community meals, play, and laughter. You will leave with a bound journal, hand made by you, composed of your creative thinking, work in a variety of materials, and your personal reflections.

You will return home ready to teach and learn alongside your students and colleagues with renewed excitement, energy, and vision.

Facilitators: Louise and Ashley of Cadwell Collaborative, and Charles Schwall and Michael Holohan, studio teachers and pedagogical leaders at The St. Michael School in St. Louis, MO. This team of four has worked together since the mid 90’s.

“Thank you for hosting such high quality professional development. It was like a vitamin shot for me personally and professionally. When I reflect on gratitude-I am so grateful for your commitment to educators.”

— Winter Institute Participant, St. Louis, MO

US$750 Fee for program: includes all sessions and materials,

Thursday-Saturday snacks & lunches, Thursday and Saturday dinners.

US$300 Deposit to hold a place

Housing at the Farm is limited

One dorm rooms with 3 single beds @ $30ea/n

One dorm rooms with 4 single beds @ $30ea/n

One twin bedroom @ $35ea/n

One double bedroom @ $50/n*

Four queen bedrooms @ $55/n*

One king bedroom @ $65/n*

*single occupancy, to double up add 30%

All bedrooms share baths,

Continental breakfast included

Nearby hotels

Brandon Inn (6 miles north)

$135-$170/n

All rooms, bath ensuite

Brandon Motor Lodge (5miles north)

$80-$105/n

All rooms, bath ensuite

LIMITED TO 30 PARTICIPANTS

To reserve space, send deposit payable to:

Cadwell Collaborative, LLC

Send to: PO Box 962, Middlebury, VT 05753

For PayPal or wire bank transfers call Ashley for details. Balance must be paid by May 1, 2020 Refunds & Cancelation: Payment is refundable in full minus a $100 processing fee until April 1, 2020. For cancelations after April 1, 2020 there will be no refund unless the space is filled by June 15, 2020. A change in registration between individuals within an organization can be done with no additional fees.

Main Contact:

Ashley Cadwell cell: 314-614-9889

Ashley Cadwell e-mail: ashley@cadwellcollaborative.com
To Register Click Here!

The Goodness of Rain

The Dog Park inside McCarren Park, Brooklyn, New York

I just reread The Goodness of Rain: Developing an Ecological Identity in Young Children by Ann Pelo. I love this book. It reads like a love letter to the natural world and to a young child, Dylan, whom Ann spends a year with in and around Seattle during Dylan’s second year of life. I was inspired to pull the book back off the shelf because of our grandson, Jack, who is eleven months old.

More that anything else, this book is about slowing down so that we can focus our attention fully on the world around us, as a young child will do, given the time and context. Ann and Dylan head outside every day, no matter the weather, that is often rainy in Seattle. Sometimes, they walk the familiar neighborhood, visiting trees and bushes, ponds and berry patches, as old friends that change day to day and through the seasons. Sometimes, they take trips to other parks, the ocean, apple orchards, and forests. In all of their explorations, Ann’s intent is to take time, to point out, to listen and to respond to Dylan as she seeks to see, hear, and touch the world as Dylan does. Ann begins her book with this poem by Ernest Thompson Seton from Woodland Trails, (1940).

I will show you the trail

and this is what it will lead you to:

a thousand friendships that it will offer

honey in little thorny cups,

the secrets of the underbrush,

the health of sunlight,

suppleness of body,

the unafraidness of the night,

the delight of deep water,

the goodness of rain,

the story of the trail,

the knowledge of the wetlands…

Ann’s chapter titles reveal her themes and her discoveries during her year with Dylan: Finding Place, Walk the Land, Practice Silence, Learn the Names, Embrace Sensuality, Explore New Perspectives, Create Stories, Make Rituals.

Northern Red Oaks, McCarren Park

I took The Goodness of Rain to read in Brooklyn a few weeks ago when we were lucky enough to spend a week with Jack and his parents. Jack lives across the street from a wonderful park in Greenpoint, McCarren Park. Ashley and I were able to spend long stretches of time with Jack in McCarren Park, sometimes three hours, exploring and walking the paths and open spaces with towering Northern Red Oaks, crab apples, heavy with bunches of tiny apples, and ornamental Ginkgos. And robins, grackles, starlings, and house sparrows in abundance as in any city park. I am sure that there are also other birds as we noticed a pair of bird watchers with binoculars and serious intent. And squirrels. Never have I observed squirrel behavior so intently as with Jack. Hiding, munching acorns with their fast moving jaws, running and climbing up the tall oak trunks and leaping from the branch of one to the branches of the next tree. Jack points, watches, and exclaims, “Ca! Ca!” as he does for most moving, living creatures.

At the playground, we put Jack down on the rubber mats that form the ground of the space. Jack is most interested in the cracks in between the mats. What tiny green plants are growing there? What is lodged there? Small leaves from the surrounding crab apples, and soil. All to be investigated, touched, taken out of the cracks, and put back in again. This is Jack’s time, Jack’s agenda, Jack’s focus. We sit on the mat with him at his level and watch and exclaim and wonder with him about it all.

One day, after a longer walk to the East River State Park, we find the wide, stately Hudson River flowing fast and a big wind. Jack sits in the sand and finds small stones and sticks. That is what he wants to focus on…finding them, holding them, touching them together, making marks with them in the sand.

East River State Park

And, we go to the dog park! a fenced in area where dog and dog owners run free and have fun, playing throw and catch and chase games, romping and playing. Jack loves the dogs! He laughs, kicks his feet, is delighted by their energy and their interest in him. They are at his level. They love him.

When I got home to Vermont, I made a book for Jack with many of the photos of our time together exploring McCarren Park…a board book with a letter to Jack in the introduction. I got the idea for the letter from Ann Pelo who concluded her book with a letter to Dylan about their year together. If you can read The Goodness of Rain, please do. Learning to love the natural world provides a foundation and a solace for all of our lives. This is true for babies, and it is true for us, at any age, as we discover and rediscover our place in the natural order of things.

McCarren Park

Dear Jack,

In October, we took some beautiful walks with you in your park, McCarren Park, right across the street from where you live. We walked on sparkling, blue sky days. We saw robins taking baths in the puddles, lots of dogs, squirrels with bushy tails eating acorns, running, and climbing tall oak trees. You pointed to the robins and the squirrels and said, "Ca! Ca!"

You love the cracks in the mats at the playground and the little green plants growing there, and the small yellow leaves that you can pick out with your fingers. You were delighted with the small and big sticks that you found, too. You loved our long walk to the East River State Park, where we found the big Hudson River flowing on a windy day, and sand, and stones, and sticks.

We are so lucky to be able to be with you in your parks and see the world through your eyes, and listen to it, and touch it, watching you discover new things every moment. This is your park in the autumn. We wonder what it will be like in winter and in the spring? Could we visit again and discover it with you?

We love you! Lulu and Yaya

Jack and his friend, the Golden Retriever.