be !

WiseBodies brand-new class for 12 - 14 year old boys is off to a wonderful start!

Today was our second class, and already we are happy and whole together.

Throughout the Fall, we'll study birds, insects, and mammals. We've begun by learning about the Great Blue Whale.

Since this is WiseBodies, we are focussing on the mating behavior and reproductive anatomy of the beings with whom we share our Earth.

BE students welcome family and friends into our classroom, to join us for the last part of each class. Students get the chance to share what we are learning. Family and friends get to ask questions, participate in our closing circle, and take our conversation home.

Science and The Body, Second Class!

Science and The Body children beautifully welcomed a new student.

We began class by lighting our special beeswax candle, then ate on a "floor" table the children beautifully set up.

We unscrambled the scrambled letters of each child, practising asking for help when needed.

The children looked closely at Calendula flowers, emerging Calendula seeds, and fully formed Calendula seed heads. We figured out where, within the flower head, seeds are formed.

With watercolors, we painted our individual interpretation of Calendula. We agreed that it's cool to borrow ideas and materials from each other.

Parents and relatives arrived.

We gathered in the pillow room, and thought about how we might like to end class. One student thought it would suit the spirit of our class if we ended each Monday with a poem.

One student's uncle recited the first lines from Shakespeare's Sonnet 18:

Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day? Thou art more lovely and more temperate. Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May, And summer’s lease hath all too short a date. Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines, And often is his gold complexion dimmed; And every fair from fair sometime declines, By chance, or nature’s changing course, untrimmed; But thy eternal summer shall not fade, Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st, Nor shall death brag thou wand’rest in his shade, When in eternal lines to Time thou grow’st. So long as men can breathe, or eyes can see, So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.

It was so lovely, we held hands and had him repeat this three more times.

The child who had begun class by lighting our candle blew the candle out.

First Day of Class.

WiseBodies classes began today!

Science and The Body children, their parents, and I had a fine afternoon together.

By the end of class, we knew each other's names inside and out, in order and out-of-order, right-side-up and upside-down. We discovered many things we have in common, and some things we don't. We learned how cool it is to say "no", and how much support one receives in this class for using this word. We all decided we want to come back next week.

It was a very, very good first day of class. Nice work, Science families!

If you haven't visited our website, do: wisebodies.org Or make an appointment to come to class; you'll enjoy it.

BE! Our new class! Open House!

be! Open Class for be!**

Join us Monday, July 27th, 4:00pm - 5:30pm, to learn about and experience our new after-school class, be, for 12 - 14 year old girls and boys.

be is a year-long, coming-of-age class for girls and boys, meeting Tuesday afternoons 3:30 - 5:00 pm, September 2015 - May 2016, in Chatham, NY.

be girls and boys will have the chance to explore who and how they are in their inner worlds, in their families, at school, and in the world; to practice grounded communication; to play games supporting together and alone time; to learn about the whole and healthy body; to prepare food with and for each other; to reveal the best of who they are; to learn skills for bringing parents into personal communication, and to experience their own self-created coming-of-age ceremony.

For questions and to RSVP, please call Isa at 518-821-9676 or send her a message.

“Isa Coffey knows how to get teenagers to listen, speak honestly, and show respect for others. Her unique WISEBODIES is an approach to sex education that is less about sex and more about the understanding of differences among us that usually (and hopefully) comes with maturity. All parents should feel comfortable trusting Isa to offer their children a safe environment to discuss their deep personal questions about their sexual and personal identities and learn evidence based information about their changing bodies, both physically and emotionally.”

”

— Nancey Rosensweig, CNM Catskill Holistic GYN/Midwifery

In This Circle Summer Tea for Girls and their Mothers!

“WiseBodies is a wonderful after-school class that teaches the mind, body, and soul to work as one. The atmosphere is calm, controlled, focused, safe, and learning friendly….” Emily, 13

In This Circle Summer Tea for Girls and their Mothers

In This Circle is a year-long teen girls’ coming-of-age class, for girls 12 - 15 years old, and their mothers. We meet Wednesday afternoons, October through May, in Chatham, NY.

To give you a chance to experience what In This Circle is like, we are hosting a Summer Tea for Girls and their Mothers, Wednesday, September 29th, 4:00 - 5:30 pm

You’ll be able to meet In This Circle girls (for many girls, September will be the beginning of their third year!); meet their mothers; meet Isa, the teacher; see the classrooms; and have an experience of what class is like.

Please visit our website, wisebodies.org
For questions, and to RSVP, please call Isa at 518-821-9676 or email her at wisebodieshudson@gmail.com.

“...I wish all kids had this kind of safe, wholesome and nourishing environment to learn about sex!”
Sarah, mother of three girls who attend WiseBodies classes

Hudson Pride Parade

KNOW students were brilliant on Saturday, June 27th, when they built, then escorted, our first WiseBodies float down Warren Street to celebrate Hudson Pride.

Previous to the Parade, the students had spent hours shopping the Salvation Army for costumes, searching out local stores for festive float materials, and preparing 6 hours of perfect Pride soundscore.

Mateo Coffey-Loring and Mary Patierno joined us as our film and photography crew. Maija Reed joined us as long-time WiseBody community support. We saw - and heard! - WiseBodies parents and children along the Parade route.

While WiseBodies students and I have joined in Hudson's Black Lives Matter marches, this was our first year joining a community event as WiseBodies school. We look forward to seeing what kind of positive impact we can have in our local communities in the coming months and years.

After all, sexuality education is all about clear communication, creating positive change, learning how to use power toward goodness, and working together.

Nice job, KNOW students!

June is our month of saying good-bye

Something magical happened in Science and The Body class, in June.

During the previous few weeks of May, the children and I moved through uncertainty about how we'd manage to say good-bye to our beloved year together, to doing just that.

In the process we faced and named anxiety, sorrow, and uncertainty.

We also named pride for what we'd created together, love for one-another, and excitement about the new classes we'll join come September.

The first week of June, Science and The Body children and I spent our very last day of class writing poetry together on our refrigerator door. We took one poem with us out into the woods, into the rain.

We climbed to our special spot in the woods, and practiced saying our poem together. When we had it memorized, we stood in a circle, held hands, and called it out to our forest, to our rain, and to ourselves.

We felt ready to let go, to welcome what's coming next.

Open House Week

Open House Week was a delightful 4 evenings of current WiseBodies students and families greeting soon-to-be WiseBodies students and families.

WiseBodies students and parents helped lead conversation; asked great questions; showed new families around our classrooms, kitchen, front garden, and front garden swing.

It was exciting to see so many curious new faces open to exploring what we do and how we learn here at WiseBodies.

By the end of our first night's Open House, our Monday afternoon class, Science and The Body, was beyond full-up for September, 2015 - 2016! Any more new families and we'll consider adding a second Science and The Body for this-coming Fall.

By the end of the week, our new Fall class, "be", for 12 - 14 year old girls and boys, was half-filled, as was our 12 - 15 year old girls-only group, "In This Circle".

In June, July, and August, we'll offer Open House afternoon teas for families interested in exploring whether "be" and "In This Circle" might be just right for your daughters and sons.

We hope you'll consider joining our wonderful school this-coming fall! We've developed quite a magical place to learn full-being sexuality education.

WiseBodies Open House Week, May 11 - 14!

Please join us next week to see what we're up to here at WiseBodies!

Tour our classrooms, including our forest paths.

Meet student apprentices, students, families, and me.

Parents, you are welcome to bring children who might be interested in joining WiseBodies classes this-coming fall semester.

Classes fill at 10 - 12 students; be sure to sign up!

Practicing How to Say Good-bye

We're all feeling the press of ending coming toward us.

None of us wants this class to end.

We've been ideal.

We've had an entire year of spending Monday afternoons together.

We've become really, really close.

It's not easy for close groups to come to an end.

So we're practicing how to say good-bye.

For this moment, and for future moments.

For these relationships, and for future relationships.

There's absolutely nothing easy about it.

There is plenty of tenderness, and sweetness, and sorrow.

There's dodging, and we're looking it in the face.

There's humor, and we're dissecting it.

There's sleepiness, and we're allowing it and waking it up.

There's lots and lots of truth, and we're celebrating it.

High School Students and the Ice Cream Truck

Deeply settled into conversation about Everything related to sexuality and human beings, 100% focussed, with not a single chance that anything could take our focus, the light-feathered jingle of the ice cream truck coming up the hill launched every single high school student out of the classroom and into the street, stocking-footed, tennis-shoed, and bare-footed, racing down the hill and up the hill and around the corner to chase the ice cream truck.

We were laughing and grinning, flagging down cars, unstoppable.

Soon our hands were full of blue and red dyes, our mouths full of chocolate and peppermint, our hearts full of merriment.

We never know what our evenings together will bring, but they're always filled with wonder, learning, and joy.

Open House Week!

Families interested in Fall classes are invited to our week of Open Houses!

Come meet WiseBodies teachers, get a feel for what classes here are like, visit our classrooms, and talk with families currently enrolled.

Parents and children welcome!

Dreaming

Science and The Body kids and families are getting ready to finish for this year.

We're all kinda sad about closing a class that has been a magical mix of wonderful.

Today we worked on the herbal dream pillows that will be included in our Herbal Medicine Kits. The children helped each other with all aspects of hand-sewing.

The result was a bunch of very individual, very beautiful linen pouches, filled with herbs to encourage sweet dreams and restful sleep.

We also melted beeswax, olive oil, and a blend of healing herbs that get to rest for an entire week before we pour the salve into salve containers also destined for our medicine kits.

A fun conversation, including parents, had us dreaming forward into next year.

What a perfectly lovely afternoon.

A fun reminder: Open House for Science and The Body will be held here on Monday, May 11th from 6 - 7:30pm! You'll be able to meet teachers, new families, and families who already have participated in Science and The Body!

We are a Parade.

WiseBodies KNOW students are going to take up space in Hudson's Gay Pride Parade.

It's true.

We're going to be a fabulous float.

Come see us.

Come see us all.

KNOW students have plenty going on right now.

We've been joining Hudson's Black Lives Matter demonstrations and teach-ins.

We're growing in size.

We're deep in conversation about all issues related to teenage sexuality.

We're getting ready for OPEN HOUSES in May.

Students are preparing to help teach younger WiseBodies students this-coming Fall Semester.

It's a rich time here at WiseBodies.

Converstaynesting. And shoes.

These 10 - 12 year old Science and The Body are writing their own dictionary.

They've realized our common language does not fully support the extent of their understanding of human relationships.

And so words are created.

Our herbal medicine boxes grow.

Plus, with so many wonderful kids and families in and out of our red door, sometimes one of my boots heads out the door by mistake, and I'm left with another's.

Hearts, Sweethearts, Sweet Bodies

KNOW High School Students never seem to have enough time together, so have extended our class by 30 minutes each week. I imagine we'll soon have 24-hour classes.

We began class by cooking breakfast for dinner. Yum!

Listening to our own and each other's hearts, we pondered the place the heart holds in our growing awareness of our sexuality.

And on from there, deep, engaging conversation, with parents joining us for the special way we end class each week.

Brilliant KNOW.

Herbal Medicine

Science and The Body kids continued work on their Herbal Medicine Boxes.

Last week, when I was away, experienced and fun teacher Jaime Cooper took the lead with the class, helping the girls and boys complete construction of their medicine kits, adding their first bag of medicinal herbs. Bags of nettle leaf were labeled with the plant name in two languages: English and Botanical (sometimes called Latin!).

This week Science and The Body kids learned about two more medicinal herbs: Oats and Peppermint. The children filled out index cards for Nettle Leaf, Milky Oat Tops, and Peppermint leaf. They included each plant's name in English and Botanical language, and a sentence or two about what each plant offers.

Also, we cut large squares of cheescloth, filled them with rolled oats and pinches of dried lavender flower and peppermint leaf. The children tied up the bags and placed them in labeled ziplock bags for use when needed for a healing bath.

We pondered why it is that we can have a very jolly time together, and at the same time do detailed, strong work. More pondering on this question still to come.

Our Wise Community

WiseBodies is a rich community of families that lovingly work together.

Last week, the week of March 16th, I was away at a family funeral. All classes were taught by students and parents! It was a spectacular week of excellent, wise education.

How We Get Along

Science and The Body class had many fine opportunities yesterday to practice deep listening, and the art of verbal and non-verbal communication. We continued practising recognizing personal boundaries. We also spent time discussing compromise within a group, including why and how this benefits each individual as well as the group as a whole.

Yestday was a beatutifully warm and sunny day!

The children made the decision, based on collective thinking and discussion, to spend the afternoon outdoors.

We each took a cupcake out with us, eating along the path through the snow to the back beeyard, where we visited the beehive, and witnessing bees happily spreading their wings for the first time since the end of autumn.
We learned how to recognize bee poop!, which dotted the deep snow, the garden furniture, and the stone walls.

We walked and ran our way down the road to the forest. The children suggested games for us to try in the snowy woods, which included lots of sneakers sinking into deep, soft snow.

It was such a pleasure to be in our outdoor classroom, after months in our indoor classroom. Some children hurled their bodies into sunlit snow banks.

We returned home to see a porch full of parents awaiting our arrival. We stood outside on the warm porch, holding hands for our finishing circle. The children described their bee findings and our games in the woods.

Plant Bodies Meet Human Bodies

Science and The Bodies students are in their second week of our new unit. We're learning about the wonders that occur when our bodies connect with the plant world.

We began making herbal medicine kits from recycled cardboard and duct tape.

We're looking into how plants maintain their structural boundaries, and practicing ways we can maintain our own.

Today we finished with parents and students singing Happy Birthday to two in our circle, eating chocolate cupcakes dipped in whipped cream. A yummy finish to a yummy afternoon.