Explorations Online 2024-2025

Deepen your understanding of the life of spirit through study, exercises in self-development, and the practice of the arts.

Deepen your understanding of the life of spirit through study, exercises in self-development, and the practice of the arts.

2024 Registration is now open!

Please come join our growing international cohort and explore with us all Anthroposophy has to offer to the world today!

Program introduction

With its convenient online format this course in anthroposophical foundational studies is open and available to all interested people from around the world. We are gratified that so many are finding it to be a meaningful and practical way to deepening of their understanding of basic anthroposophy and related arts – while also having the opportunity to consider the contemporary issues facing us in our schools and society at large.

Completion of this program fulfills entrance requirements for further Waldorf teacher education programs.

What you'll experience

Next year’s course will begin March 16, 2024, and will run through February 9, 2025, with a three-month summer break. Classes meet on weekends twice a month – Saturdays and Sundays 12:00 – 2:00 p.m. ET, 9:00 – 11:00 a.m. PT.

Each class begins with 30 minutes of artistic work (speech/storytelling, movement, music, or pastel drawing), followed by contemplative studies on current themes, using anthroposophy as a method of inquiry.

To view the schedule and workshop themes of the current cycle, see the Program Schedule section below.

Who should attend

The course is intended primarily for parents, administrators, and new teachers in public and independent Waldorf schools as well as those teaching children at home.

Tuition

The tuition for the 10-month course is $850. 

Although you may register with deposit only, and pay the balance over the following nine months, please remember that you are signing up for the entire course of classes and that your monthly installments are not to be thought of as payments for classes taken each month. 

Payment options:

  • $85 deposit at registration followed by nine monthly payments of the same amount

  • $850 at registration

Forms of payment:

  • You may either use your credit card, which would enable us to automate your payment plan, but carries a 3% bank fee

  • Or you may select to pay by check, in which case the responsibility for mailing your checks in a timely manner would be entirely up to you.

Cancellations and Refunds

Should you need to withdraw from the program for any reason, please email your cancellation request to bev@centerforanthroposophy.org  and we will terminate your monthly payment plan going forward at that time.  Unfortunately, there are no retroactive refunds for classes not taken or missed.

Financial Aid

A limited financial aid is available upon request. Anyone in need of such tuition assistance, please fill out and submit the form below.

Explorations Financial Aid Application

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Do you intend to pursue Waldorf Teacher Training upon completion of this course?(Required)
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Beverly Boyer Image

Beverly Boyer

Director of Explorations

Contact Beverly directly with questions about the program.

What you'll explore

Click the toggle below for the schedule and session topics we’ll cover. 

Program Schedule

EXPLORATIONS 2024-25   Final Schedule

March 16 and March 23-24  Meditative Practices and Self-Development, with Bev Boyer and guest Torin Finser, speech with Debbie Spitulnik

April 13-14 and April 20-21 Practical Thinking and the Rightful Place of Technology, with Douglas Gerwin, eurythmy with Leonore Russell

June 1-2 Parents and Community in a Waldorf School, with David Barham, pastel drawing with Nikki Shoneman

SUMMER RECESS

September 14-15 and September 21-22 Meeting the Social and Emotional Needs of Children Today, with Kim John Payne, eurythmy with Leonore Russell

October 19-20 and October 26-27 Temperaments and Learning Styles, with Carla Beebe Comey, speech with Debbie Spitulnik

November 9-10 and November 23 Healing the Hurt:  Learning to Support Each Other as Advocates for Social Justice, with Heather Scott, singing with Meg O’Dell Chittenden 

December 7-8 and December 14 Phenomenology: Learning to See with Beginner’s Eyes, study and visual arts with Colleen O’Connors

January 11-12 and January 25-26 Overview of the Waldorf Grades Curriculum: A Renewed Pedagogy for our Times, with Alison Henry, singing with Meg O’Dell Chittenden

February 8-9 and February 22 Innovation Through Anthroposophical Initiatives, with Karen Atkinson and Bev Boyer, pastel drawing with Nikki Shoneman 

Program Leadership

Beverly Boyer Image

Beverly Boyer

Director of Explorations

Faculty

The 2024-25 guest speakers and artistic leaders include:

Torin Finser
Beverly Boyer
Debbie Spitulnik
Douglas Gerwin
David Barham
Leonore Russell
Kim John Payne
Carla Beebe Comey
Heather Scott
Meg O'Dell Chittenden
Colleen O'Connors
Nikki Shoneman
Alison Henry
Angela Lindstrom (guest presenter)
Karen Atkinson

What former students have said...

Blessings to you and thank you so much for this wonderful program. It enriches my weeks and days and moments with an internal calm and strength I have never known.

Blessings to you… Explorations participant

Each week is truly a gift of true learning and I so appreciate how each weekend builds and layers from the previous weeks in such an intentional way…Especially between this session and last session- taking last session’s concept of racialized identity to another level… giving us the keys of how to truly change ourselves through our awakened thinking. I am just so impressed by how these complex understandings have been made accessible to us as teachers in such a meaningful and thoughtful way.

Each week is truly a gift of true learning Explorations Participant

Reading and Materials List

  1. A pack of chalk pastels (not oil pastels), A rainbow of colors is preferred. (Nupastel by prismacolor are good quality.)
  2. Pastel paper 9”x12” or bigger - can use watercolor paper - 3 sheets.
  3. Colored pencils or Lyra pencils - whatever colors you already have will work.
  4. A journal to write and sketch in - blank and unlined is best.
  5. Masking tape.

All reading assignments will be taken from a single text – Guided Self-Study by Torin M. Finser. This book is a compilation from Steiner’s basic books, including How to Higher Worlds, Theosophy, and Intuitive Thinking as a Spiritual Path: A Philosophy of Freedom.

Guided Self-Study is readily available from Amazon as well as from Steiner Books. There is a reading assignment for each workshop theme throughout the course as listed below. Note that assignments are given using both page references and chapter titles. Please bring your copy of Guided Self-Study to each class.

The readings are meant to serve as both a preparation for the weekend sessions and a reference point for discussions. Instructors will assume some familiarity with the material and will welcome questions and lively engagement during the weekend sessions.

Workshop One: Meditative Practices and Self-Development
Prior to the first class, please read pages 191-202 (Appendix 1) and pages 3-21 (chapters 1 – 2 in section of the book called the “The Book of Peace”)
Prior to the second weekend, please read Pages 69-79 (Chapter 1 from the section of the book called “The Book of Knowledge”)

Workshop Two: Practical Thinking and the Rightful Place of Technology
Prior to the first weekend, please read pages 103-116 (Chapters 1-3 from "The Book of Freedom”)
Prior to the second weekend, please read pages 141-161 (“Practical Training in
Thought”)

Workshop Three: Parents and Community in a Waldorf School
Please read pages 80-88 (Chapter 2 from “The Book of Knowledge”)

Workshop Four: Meeting the Social and Emotional Needs of Children Today
Please read pages 22-31 (Chapters 3 and 4 from “The Book of Peace”)

Workshop Five: Temperaments and Learning Styles
Please read pages 89-102 (“The Four Temperaments”)

Workshop Six: Healing the Hurt
Please read pages 32-48 (Chapters 5-8 from “The Book of Peace”)

Workshop Seven: Phenomenology: Learning to See with Beginner’s Eyes
Please read pages 117-132 (Chapters 4-8 from “The Book of Freedom”)

Workshop Eight: Overview of the Waldorf Grades Curriculum
Please read pages 139-140 (Chapter 12 from “The Book of Freedom”)

Workshop Nine: Innovation Through Anthroposophical Initiatives
Please read pages 203-215 (Appendices 2 -3)