Director's Blog
Susie Fahrer publishes the Kaleidoscope periodically throughout the year that illustrates and summarizes what has been happening at our vibrant school. Read to find out more.
Educating the Innovation Generation, Parts I-IV
Educating the Innovation Generation A Four Part Heart of the Matter Series Copyright by Renee Owen and Rainbow Community School, fall 2013 PART I: Why create innovators? The mission statement at Rainbow Community School ends saying we are developing students who will...
Heart of the Matter: Educating the Innovation Generation, Part II
Heart of the Matter - Innovation Generation Part II In this issue, Executive Director Renee's article is titled "Educating the Innovation Generation Part II: What Encourages Innovation?" Most people assume that creativity and innovation are qualities that a person is...
Heart of the Matter: Educating the Innovation Generation, Part III
In the first of this three part series, we defined innovation as creative problem solving that is useful. We gained perspective on the new generation of students, and learned that innovation will be required of 21st Century students entering the work force.
Invisible and Untouchable
“Ninety-nine percent of who you are is invisible and untouchable.” -Buckminster Fuller. Thanks, David Novak, for visiting Rainbow today (seen here with Nitarra, one of the fabulous 8th grade scholars). David, who is a Buckminster Fuller expert (and plays Bucky in...
A Spiritual Community Without Dogma, or “Learning is a Metaphysical Activity, Part II”
While Rainbow is not defined as a spiritual community, many of us who have children there, work there, or are alumni families, unofficially consider it our spiritual community (or one of our spiritual communities). Why? For each person it would be a different...
Beautiful Women with Big Hearts
Two beautiful women at Rainbow. Emmylou Harris graced Rainbow's campus with a visit recently. I am sure it was nice for her that no one seemed to recognize her. She was simply here to pick up Ryan from after school and see the new playground that she has heard so...
Montessori and Rainbow Learning Approaches Compared
It isn’t uncommon for people to assume that Rainbow Community School is a Montessori School. After all, our preschool and kindergarten classrooms look quite similar to a Montessori classroom. The Rainbow Learning model does have some important similar approaches and...
Learning is a Metaphysical Activity
I attended a lecture by Buckminster Fuller last night. Of course, Bucky passed on many years ago, so it was an actor giving the lecture, but it was very real. Enlightening and enlivening. We traveled through notions of time and space, which amounted to infinite...
Transformation
Friday morning was the new moon and the Lunar New Year. We move into the Year of the Horse, and from a "water" time -- a time of lots of flow and flexible change -- into a "wood" time. Saturday was Imbolc -- the true beginning of spring, energetically. Seeds and...
A Special Visit from a Rainbow Founder
In early December Anne Craig visited Rainbow for the first time in many years. Anne is one of the three visionary women who founded Rainbow Mountain in 1977. It was such a joy to see her enthusiastic reaction to how much Rainbow has changed. Truly touching. She...
Kaleidoscope for January — News about Rainbow’s Expansion!
Kaleidoscope, January 2014: The View from Executive Director, Renee Owen The light returns! Yes, each of us in so many ways have made it through the darkest days, and now the light returns. Hope reigns. That was the theme of the Rainbow winter program, The Festival...
The Happiness Index and More
Jeffrey Sachs, one of Time's "Most Influential People," is the world's most important economist. He works for the UN and countries around the world to promote sustainability, and he is on a life-long mission to wipe out poverty. Dr. Sachs is the originator of the...
We DID It!
We raised the $200,000 down payment to purchase the church! We did it on time! Just as the Holiday Performance was about to begin, the final $6,000 was donated on the December 20th deadline! We did it under budget. Thanks to so many great sponsors, volunteers, and a...
Look Who Came to Visit!
Look who came to visit! Nura Laird (formerly Ashrita Laird), blessed us with a visit in November. Ms. Laird is one of the brilliant women who founded Rainbow in 1977. She was executive director for the majority of the Rainbow's first 14 years and an extraordinary...
It’s Just Like Sitting Down With Renee…
...and having a conversation! Click on this link to listen to a Podcast from Asheville Fm's Living Well program. Host Bob Hanna spends an hour with Rainbow Community School executive director, Renee Owen, interviewing her about her own fascinating history and her...
Reconnecting to Our Humanity
From a fellow classmate at Harvard, "The only way for humans to compete with technology is to become more human." (From the Future of Learning, Summer, 2013) As I have written lately, the more technologically advanced society becomes, the less humans are valued for...
Oh My God…
...was my response to this video. Thank you, John Johnson, from Odyssey Community School for sharing it with me.
The Adventurous Renee
Jambo! I had an amazing trip to Africa! My parents from Minnesota, who are in their 70’s, and my sister and I traveled with an organization called VOSH (Volunteer Optometric Services for Humanity) to Marangu, Tanzania – a village at the base of Mount Kilimanjaro, to...