Who is Chrysalis?
I am taking a break today — a peace and prayer break from the movement, the campaign, and the striving.
Let’s take some time to look into the future together.
What do you see?
Where do the children play?
Who cares for their dreams?
Who commits to them?
How will they know we love them and that we want them to bring all of their spiritual gifts to us and to the world?
And that we will support them with what they need in order to do that?
These are the questions which preoccupied Lakota medicine men like Black Elk and Lame Deer, artistic psychologists like Carl Jung and Hermann Hesse, and of course Rudolf Steiner and the Western inner tradition.
And now, it motivates the teachers at Chrysalis.
Whether questioning authority, or proposing the new way, our ever-present responsibility is to the free and beautiful future, where the true dream can be born again, and the innocent thrive.
With pride and joy, I would like to recognize my daughter Berenika, her partner Nathanael Blachere, Stu Summer, Anders Pittman, and the rest of the faculty at Chrysalis for their courage and patient dedication to the living dream that is this school of life for young people — and all of us.
Chrysalis inspires, and not just because it celebrates both the high and the practical arts, and the best of the lifecraft traditions. Most inspiring of all, the work of its faculty and students is moving within the productive working life of a contemporary American village with the deepest of spiritual roots — and branches which reach high into every blue sky.
Please consider the following notes from their project, and if moved, make a donation to the new classroom at Chrysalis.
Below, please find some photographs from the work site, and the teachers’ own description of the work and the ask.
Dear Friends,
Chrysalis is a new homeschool initiative in upstate New York. Chrysalis’s story began in September 2023 when four inspired teachers decided to teach four children with special gifts and challenges in their educational histories.
Over the course of the year, the environment we developed became a space where both teachers and students grew motivated to learn together. As teachers, it was essential that every child was listened to, understood, and observed attentively so that the root of various behavioral challenges could become more clear.
Chrysalis values the role of listening in the educational experience and strives to meet each child with interest and to be in service to what is arising from them. At Chrysalis we also recognize the importance of hands-on, practical activity as essential to the developing human being, and we integrate embodied learning into the activities of each day, as a balance to academic learning.
As the year progressed, Chrysalis grew to seven children and five teachers. We learned how to create warm, welcoming social environments together. The year culminated in a multimedia performance of the story Momo. The play exemplified the growth that the children had gone through throughout the year, and there was a real camaraderie, even though there were also challenges. This play was also an opportunity for children who had previously had challenging experiences in educational settings and in the community to offer a gift and be appreciated by their peers and the broader community in a new way.
Looking ahead to next year, we are working towards building a second classroom and expanding our student body. We began the second classroom with the donations from the production of Momo and it is now fully framed! We are now in the second phase of the project and need support from our community to bring it to completion. If you can donate to this classroom becoming a reality please do! We appreciate any donations, large and small. And please share this GoFundMe with friends, family, and community!
We are building the classroom ourselves with help from our friends and community but need the following materials to continue! We have outlined the costs below.
Wall and ceiling insulation ~ $2,200
Roofing materials ~ $650
Drywall and interior paint $720
Floor insulation $560
Flooring and subfloor structure $750
Exterior siding and paint $900
Trim $200
The total remaining cost is roughly $6,000
Thank you for your support!
Warmly,
The Chrysalis Faculty
Chrysalis 2024
If you are interested in the educational options at Chrysalis, below please find the 2023 Letter to Parents. For updated information, please be in touch with Berenika Lehrman, berenika@fund-balance.com or 518-965-2028.
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Greetings Parents!
We are a group of teachers and craftspeople who are inspired and interested in the potential that craft, hands-on work, and engagement with the land have to enliven and enhance education. In the context of our time, and the world of media that surrounds us, it is especially important that children engage their wills creatively with the natural world.
Our goal is to cultivate “imagination, courage for truth, and feeling of responsibility.” We want each student to develop capacities and to find ways to share their gifts with the world.
The range of our group is currently 4th to 8th grade. We will be working with material from the Waldorf curriculum for these ages. Instruction will be a combination of traditional classroom, one-on-one and small group tutoring, and craft and artistic workshops.
Classes will be three days a week, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, from 8:45 to 2:00pm. Bring a snack, lunch, and weather appropriate clothing for outdoor activities.
Our basic schedule will be Main Lesson, Snack, Math and English tutoring, Lunch/Recess, Shop/Handwork.
We will begin our school year September 25th. The first week we will be preparing our classroom and outdoor spaces together. We will be located on 5 acres of land with diverse ecology, from field to forest, from garden to pond, with a renovated barn space as our classroom and shop, at 641 Harlemville Road, Hillsdale NY 12529.
Call Berenika Lehrman at 518 965 2028 or Stu Summer at 518 672 7302 with any questions.
Sincerely, the Chrysalis Faculty
Nathanael Blachere, Berenika Lehrman,
Anders Pittman, Stu Summer
Tuition is a Sliding Scale
$3,500 - $9,900 a Year, with no one being turned away due to lack of funds. Give us a call.
This tuition is based on other area schools’ fees in a proportionate manner, according to our schedule.