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First EFL International Online Conference July 6-8, 2020
Due to COVID 19, we will be having our annual EFL Conference on Zoom. We will certainly miss having you here with us. The up side is that this format will allow us to include others from China, India, and other far away places.
Sample Conference Schedule
Education for Life Conference Schedule for 2019
July 8 & 9, at Ananda Village, Nevada City, California
Monday
6:15-7:45 Meditation at Crystal Hermitage Moksha Mandir
8:00 Breakfast on own (Market open)
8:30-9 Welcome at Living Wisdom Center (LWC)
9:00-11:00 Workshop: Using the Student Snapshot to focus the curriculum on individual student needs, and the Curriculum Generator to align activities with the EFL Curriculum Categories
11:00-11:30 Break
11:30-12:30 Workshop: How to share EFL perspectives with parents while appreciating the differences between the classroom and home
12:30 Lunch on own (Market & EL open)
2-3:45 Teacher Exchange for each Stage of Maturity in classrooms
4:30 Car Pool to Meditation Retreat (MR)
5:00 Sadhana at MR Temple of Silence
6:30 Dinner at MR $10
7:30-9:00 It’s Never Too Late: a movie about a great Italian teacher, Alberto Manzi, who lived EFL principles; by an Italian filmmaker who is also a student of EFL (Giacomo Campiotti)
Tuesday:
6:15-7:45 Meditation & Yoga at Crystal Hermitage Dome
8:00 Breakfast provided at CH, in silence until 8:30
9:00-10:00 Workshop @ CH: What elements make for a deep, rich, and wholistic approach to on-site teacher training?
10:00-10:15 Break
10:15-11:15 Workshop @ CH: How to integrate multiple levels of Progressive Development in the same class
11:15-11:45 Break and move from Crystal Hermitage to the Community Center
11:45-12:45 Physical Activity Workshop @ Community Center
12:45 Lunch on own (Market & EL open)
2:00-2:30 Ranchi Pilgrimage slide show
2:30-4:00 Reflection @ LWC: What did I learn this year about implementing EFL, including the use of fantasy and fun? and conference closing
Go With Love!
Events at the Living Wisdom Center (LWC) unless noted otherwise: MR = Meditation Retreat, CH =
Crystal Hermitage
Online Platform
We will be using the Zoom platform for all the meetings. You will need to download the app before the meeting time. We will post the link on this page. Please send in your payment prior to class.
Here is a helpful link to learn more about Zoom and how to connect: https://support.zoom.us/hc/en-us/articles/201362193-Joining-a-Meeting
Cost & Payment Information
Cost for the conference is $50. Checks can be made out to EFL International and mailed to 14618 Tyler Foote Road, Box 198, Nevada City, CA 95959. For more information, scholarships, etc., please contact Irene at irene@edforlife.org.
Testimonials
- The EFL teachers that have been in the classroom and behind the scenes for 10, 20, 30, or 40 years, and are so full of life and love and inspiration!
- The EFL Conference is fun! I enjoyed hearing success stories.
- The collective enthusiasm, dedication, and devotion that all the teachers exude for Education for Life.
- I love the star curriculum map! I am going to use it to plan my big units this year.
- I was inspired by the research-based presentations.
- I saw the importance of having fun, and how to use it to raise consciousness
- Learning to trust that I can dedicate time for mindful activities without feeling I’m taking time away from academics.
Videos of conference highlights
Visit our EFL YouTube Channel
Education for Life annual conference highlights at this link
Education for Life Blogs
Joyful Education: Forty Years and Counting
by Nitai Deranja
In this blog I’d like to share various vignettes and insights that have come to me in the course of exploring our Education for Life philosophy.
A Living Wisdom School Blog
by Rachel Van Boven and Rose Neal
by Rachel Van Boven and Rose Neal
A Cucumber Seed is a blog devoted to telling the story of Living Wisdom Schools and Education for Life.
Educating Preschool Students From the “Inside Out”
by Chandi Holliman
Preschool-Kindergarten teacher shares inspiration and activities that work.
Education for Life in Public School
by Elizabeth Aguilar
Documenting how the EFL principles translate into the public school system.
Live in Laughter
by Premi Grenell
Co-creative, child-centered, experiential, and joyful. “Lightly I walk,” “Hands on!” “Proof is the pudding!”
by Premi Grenell
Co-creative, child-centered, experiential, and joyful. “Lightly I walk,” “Hands on!” “Proof is the pudding!”
More Than the Car
by Brian Powers
Welcome friends, to the Living Wisdom School’s Vintage Car Restoration and Preservation honors elective.
From Two-year-olds to Teenagers
by Irene Schulman
Experiences and valuable lessons I have learned from students of all ages.
Core Principles of Education for Life
The Tools and Stages of Maturity
The Goal of Maturity: As people advance along the Progressive Development scale, they experience a gradual expansion of consciousness that in Education for Life is defined as Maturity, or “the ability to relate appropriately to other realities than one’s own.” The primary means for developing this ability are the Body, Feelings, Will, and Intellect, which are referred to as the Tools of Maturity.
Flow Learning
Flow Learning™ is easily adapted from its origins in nature education to a broad-based approach that lets teachers in any discipline help students gain an intuitive as well as an intellectual understanding of the subject matter. There are four phases to the process: Awaken Enthusiasm, Focus Attention, Direct Experience, and Share Inspiration. Read an interview with Joseph Bharat Cornell, founder of Flow Learning and the Sharing Nature Worldwide organization.
Progressive Development and Specific Gravity
Progressive Development is the central principle of Education for Life, providing the underlying map for all-around student development. Generally speaking, growth along this dimension is motivated by a person’s desire to avoid pain and to achieve happiness.
Specific Gravity identifies the general level of consciousness along the Progressive Development spectrum that a particular child tends to manifest, so we can help guide them toward maturity.
Curriculum Categories
Education for Life is child-centered, in the sense that every aspect of school should be focused on supporting the all-around, balanced development of each student.