Description …Veronika van Duin was trained as a nurse and lived for many years in a community with people with special needs, her own family and, later, teenage boarders. She and her husband live with young children with special needs. Her own children are now grown. Needless to say, she has had ample experience in making a home for diverse personalities with extremely different needs. She shares her experience and insights in Homemaking as a Social Art. Her perspective is that the task of homemaking is at the center of our social existence – a role that creates the heart of society and is nothing less than an art. She never claims that there is a blueprint for creating the perfect home, but rather offers principles and observations based on a study of what she calls the seven “life processes” and how they affect us. She addresses the significance of rhythm, relationships, artistic environment, caring, self-development, and much more besides. This is a welcome and supportive work – one which I believe will be embraced with gratitude by those who read it. Highly recommended. Veronika van Duin is also the author of A Rainbow over the River – Experiences of life, death and other worlds. — Waldorf Books Today, social and economic pressures affect the traditional role of the homemaker. Emphasis is placed on the working world instead of home life, and many struggle to function in several roles at once. This increasingly hectic climate has tended to downgrade of the work of the homemaker. Taking a spiritual perspective inspired by Rudolf Steiner, Veronika van Duin suggests that homemaking needs to be undertaken consciously as an honored and valued area of work, as nothing less than a “social art.” She asserts that, by elevating our regard for the homemaker, we can enjoy a happier and more contented family and home life. The author does not claim any blueprint for perfect homemaking, but offers principles and observations based on a study of the seven “life processes” and how they affect us. She addresses the significance of rhythm, relationships, artistic environment, caring, self-development, and much more in this invaluable book.
