- The Benson Family
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Barbara Benson is the mother of five homeschooled children, the youngest of whom is currently (2011) a sixth grader. Barbara has had a long and fruitful relationship to Waldorf education, as she has sought to adapt it to her home and to the needs of her very different children - who include a pair of twins and two girls adopted from China. She has worked with Rahima Baldwin and Barbara Dewey. She is also very involved in the general homeschooling scene, and has worked as a volunteer homeschooling liaison for the state of Indiana.
Pre-children, Barbara worked as a lawyer. She has a Masters degree and CAGS in Counseling Psychology and a JD in law. More recently, she has worked as a meditation teacher and as a certified chi-lel qigong teacher.
Since 2007, Barbara has been a colleague of Donna's and was a moderator for the Christopherus Waldorf at Home forum for several years, sharing her deep knowledge of children, personal growth and spiritual development with others. Her warmth and knowledge prompted Donna to choose her to work as a Christopherus consultant two years ago. After a break (summer 2011), Barbara has returned, full of energy and eager to help homeschoolers!
Here's Barbara:
"On a personal level, I have been happily married for 35 years and my husband Craig is an attorney and entrepreneur. I love gardening and have a home in the country outside of Bloomington, Indiana with 18 acres of land and a summer house on an island in Maine that has been in my family for generations. Both houses have gardens that I lovingly maintain and I am also the designer/gardener of a memorial garden on the island. We enjoy kayaking as a family and boating generally. I like to play tennis in the summer with my own family and with my older siblings when I am in Maine. I meditate, practice qigong and work out regularly from my home using a Bow Flex machine and a body ball and some aerobic dance routines. My husband is a great handyman and we enjoy taking on various challenging home improvement projects together like removing our front lawn in Maine and turning it into a cottage garden complete with walkways and a stone patio! I enjoy Unity Church and get-togethers with friends and qi-gong retreats with other practitioners. I have taught all my children some of the qi-gong practices and I do one practice with my daughters as part of circle about once a week. I teach a meditation class every other week from my home and lead individual and group qi-gong practices. I am a simple but efficient cook, tending more towards fresh fish and vegetables. I follow some of the principles for healthy living and eating outlined on the PH Miracle Living website.
"Christopherus has been a great homeschooling aid for our family. I find that Donna’s materials incorporate the essence of good developmental Waldorf principles adapted to the realities of homeschooling. Her writing style is clear and well researched and the color illustrations are very good. I appreciate that the curricula can be used exactly as written or adapted to more individual homeschooling styles.
"Our family has gotten a lot of benefit from these materials. I find her work in language arts particularly valuable, as well as her various history/myth materials. She provides excellent bibliographies with each publication so a family can delve further into a topic if interested.
"As a consultant, I have enjoyed helping families adapt these excellent materials to an individual family’s specific homeschooling needs. My consulting job is also made easier because the Christopherus website itself is a helpful and user friendly source of information for families.
"I look forward to meeting and assisting some of you on your homeschooling journey!"