Upcoming Events:

Simplicity Parenting Event

Applying Simplicity Principles During the Holidays

Tuesday, December 19, 9:15 am

Indoor Sycamore Classroom

The winter holidays are a wonderful time for reconnecting and celebrating with family and friends. They can also create some of the biggest disruptions in your childcare rhythms and routines, contributing to higher stress, disrupted sleep and even emotional meltdowns (sometimes even from the children).

So how do you preserve your own sanity and a sense of peace in your household while still participating in holiday celebrations?

The Simplicity Parenting Method offers four pillars for reducing family stressors and building greater meaning and connection among family members.
In this conversation, we’ll briefly go through those four pillars of simplicity and discuss how to apply them during the holiday season so that you can spend less time stressing about overwhelm and more time building special family experiences and memories.

Drew Sample is not only an Acorn Hill parent alum and current Washington Waldorf School parent, but he is also a certified group facilitator with Simplicity Parenting. This is a parenting philosophy based on the work of child clinician Kim John Payne which provides an antidote to the new normal of modern overwhelm, by giving parents practical tools to simplify family life and prioritize healthy development, enjoyment, and well-being. Drew leads rich discussions with parents based on evidence, personal experience and open conversation.

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Past Events:

Creating Safe Harbor in the Storm

Young Children and the Pandemic Environment

Tuesday, March 8, 2022
8-9:15 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Join us on Zoom as we welcome Liz Hagerman, Acorn Hill’s Parent Toddler teacher, who will discuss the impact of the pandemic on our children’s social and emotional well-being, and the importance of parent self-care in meeting the challenges of parenting in the pandemic. This session will be part presentation and part conversation. Discussion is geared toward the needs of the young child, age birth to 7.

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Liz Hagerman, MA BC-DMT LGPC, is a therapist at the Center for Family Well Being, a holistic integrative therapy practice for children, teens, adults, and families. She works with the youngest children up into the early grades. She is a Counselor, a board-certified Dance/Movement Therapist, early childhood professional. Since 2007, Liz has studied the Pikler® approach at the Pikler Institute in Budapest, Hungary and will soon become one of the first Certified Pikler® Professionals in North America. Liz has worked with young children and their parents in both school settings and therapeutically through play since 2001. She is also on the faculty of the Infant and Young Child Observation Program at WBCP. Liz is an advocate for connecting with nature, and in the summer, she fishes for salmon on her family’s commercial fishing vessel in Alaska. She is also the mother of two amazing sons, now in their 20s, who are alumni of Acorn Hill and WWS.

Meeting ID: 751 3595 1102
Passcode: z8BsZe

Developing Numeracy in Waldorf Education

Wednesday, March 2, 2022
8 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Please join us for an evening with WWS faculty members discussing how the Waldorf pedagogy assists in developing numeric literacy. The program will cover ways that families and caregivers can encourage numeracy early development and how this foundation supports future academic work. There will be an opportunity for questions and answers.

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Sarah Heirman is the Middle School Math Teacher at WWS. She holds her BA, University of Maryland, Baltimore County, her MS from Mercy College, and trained at the Center for Anthroposophy in Mathematics and English. Sarah’s background includes working as a special education teacher in elementary education, and working in Admissions and as a middle school math specialist at the Rudolf Steiner School in New York City. Sarah is a graduate of the WWS high school, and her two children attend WWS.

K. Kiley currently serves as the Operations Coordinator at WWS and previously taught in the Children’s Garden. They hold a Bachelor in Arts and Humanities from University of Maryland College Park and have completed additional training in Early Childhood Education from the Sunbridge Institute and in Engaging with Infants and Toddlers through Respectful and Peaceful Care, an introduction to the Pikler Approach.

Bailey More is the High School Math Teacher at WWS. She holds her BS in Mathematics Education from the University of Central Florida. Before starting at WWS, she worked as a math support teacher. Bailey is passionate about math and enjoys being able to share that passion with students. “I know I can’t make everyone love math like I do, but I’m hoping students take away an appreciation for what math brings to our lives.”

Meeting ID: 703 052 5637
Passcode: MT6ew8

Culturally Relevant Education

A Training for School Communities

Wednesday, February 23, 2022
8-9:30 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Join us on Zoom as we welcome Celestine Stadnick, who will discuss ways to better equip educational organizations, teachers, students, communities, stakeholders and leaders in being truly inclusive of all members of society.

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Celestine Stadnick was born on the Pine Ridge Indian Reservation in 1990, to a Lakota father and a Swiss mother. Having spent 10 years of her educational journey at the Lakota Waldorf School, the Rudolf Steiner School Lucerne and the Atelier School Zurich, she was inspired to become a Waldorf teacher. After several years as a class teacher, she founded a teacher training for indigenous Waldorf pedagogy at the Lakota Waldorf School in 2019, with the support of the Academy for Anthroposophical Pedagogy, Dornach. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in Educational Administration and Leadership at the University of New Brunswick. Her interest in culturally relevant pedagogy has been her driving force throughout her journey as a pedagogue, and she aims to create many more spaces for learners to unfold and develop themselves according to their own cultural identities.

Meeting ID: 784 6927 5163
Passcode: y3MHXJ

Why Waldorf?

Wednesday, January 19, 2022
8 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

As the time approaches to consider your family’s place at Acorn Hill for the coming 2022-23 school year, we warmly invite you to attend our “Why Waldorf” event via Zoom. 

This evening has been planned to share our excitement with you about our unique approach to early childhood education, and why this approach is especially important during this challenging time in the world. We offer children and families a rich opportunity for building community, emotional and physical resilience, and lifelong capacities for empathetic as well as creative thinking. We hope to answer your questions about Waldorf education, our enrollment and re-enrollment processes, determining class placements, first grade readiness, and more. 

Join us for an interactive evening as you explore the possibilities of Waldorf education for your children in the coming years! 

To receive a reminder about this event, please register here:


Join us on Zoom: 

Meeting ID: 725 6496 0934
Passcode: qi1P9T

The Diverse Human Heritage of the Land on Which We Dwell

To Go into the Future One Must Connect with the Past

Wednesday, November 17, 2021
7:30-9 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

As part of Acorn Hill’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion work, we are committed to learning about the history of the land we live on. Michael Judge will take a deep look at the history of humanity right out our front door, from the indigenous tribes who stewarded this land for over 10,000 years, to the migrant invasion and occupation by colonists over the past 500 years. It is a long and fascinating story for which archeologists have found remarkable evidence. Some reflections on this history and the inherent clash of different forms of consciousness will be shared. Please join us in this opportunity to awaken to the reality and role of diversity in our landscape.

Michael Judge was born in Washington DC and has lived mostly in Maryland. He is a graduate in History from the University of Maryland where he also studied Archaeology and Anthropology. He has completed the Educational Course work for Certification from the State of Maryland, and holds two Waldorf Certificates in Education and Games & Movement. Michael has worked in business and Environmental Education as well as tutored, coached basketball, and taught in a number of Waldorf Schools and Summer Camps. He also helps organize organic-biodynamic gardening and agriculture in our region.

Meeting ID: 793 8537 1295
Passcode: 7c9sdd

The Green Earth, Children’s Play and Your Child’s Brain

Thursday, October 28, 2021
8-9:30 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Join us on Zoom as we welcome Sharifa Oppenheimer, author of With Stars in Their Eyes: Brain Science and Your Child’s Journey Toward the Self. She will address the child’s foundational need for a deep connection to nature and the freedom to play wholeheartedly within nature’s embrace. We will learn about the “Loose Parts” theory of creativity as it relates to brain development, as well as how to prepare a rich play environment for your child. We’ll explore the dance of supervising children’s play: when and how to step toward a tense situation and when to step back and allow children to practice their negotiation skills. We will also cover the child’s need for age-appropriate“risky play” as well as both the child’s and adult’s development of risk assessment.

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Sharifa Oppenheimer was the founding teacher of the Charlottesville Waldorf School, VA, where she taught kindergarten for 21 years and served as day care director of the early-childhood program. She has worked with teacher-training programs at Sunbridge College and Rudolf Steiner College as a master teacher offering practicum and internship opportunities. She has written many articles on Waldorf education, helping the parents of her students create supportive home environments. Recently she initiated a home-based kindergarten program, The Rose Garden. Sharifa is the mother of three grown sons, who were educated in the Waldorf tradition. She lives in an enchanted forest in Virginia.

Meeting ID: 925 0499 6336
Passcode: w3wE4j

Putting Your Oxygen Mask on First:

How to Model Healthy Lifestyle Habits You Want Your Children to Adopt

Monday, September 20, 2021
8:00 pm
OPEN TO THE PUBLIC

Join us on Zoom as we welcome Julie Wendt who will discuss ways that parents can put themselves first by nurturing new habits and focusing on self-care. She will speak to the power of imitation for raising healthier children and building happier family relationships. And she will discuss how improving nutrition and committing to new behaviors can nurture stronger mental, emotional and spiritual lives for the whole family. Assess your health habits by reviewing the Diet, Nutrition and Lifestyle Journal Questionnaire!

Julie Wendt is a Licensed Dietician Nutritionist (LDN) in Maryland, a Licensed Nutritionist in Washington, D.C., and a Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS). She holds a B.S. in Resource Economics from Cornell University and a Master of Science in Integrative Health and Nutrition from Maryland University of Integrative Health.

Meeting ID: 763 1488 9802
Passcode: S6KyNn