Youth and Studies
Christine Summerfield, mother, teacher and artist, was raised in a large family in rural Ontario on the shores of Lake St. Claire. As a child, she grew to appreciate simple things in life, such as fishing with her dad, digging in her mother’s garden and making things by hand.
As a young adult, she studied World Religions, French and Art History. Upon meeting and marrying the love of her life, she and her husband moved to the west coast in Vancouver, where she became a mother of two daughters and worked as a cook, gardener and writer. While mothering her young children, she taught classes in worm composting to children at City Farmer Compost Demonstration Garden.
Vocational Life
Her travels then brought her to the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, where she and her family settled in Boulder. Christine completed her training as a Waldorf Early Childhood educator and worked as a kindergarten teacher for over a decade, all the while deepening her studies in human development and exploring her creative pursuits in felting, puppetry, storytelling and festivals. She also volunteered at Waldorf festivals for 20 years and was a homestay parent for eight years, providing homes to out of state students studying at a local Waldorf Waldorf High School in Boulder.
While working with young children, she also developed a love for working with parents. Upon completing her training as a Simplicity Parenting Facilitator and Coach, she led many study groups on Kim Payne’s book Simplicity Parenting in the Boulder area. She has also offered public speaking engagements in local schools on various parenting topics, such as the Four Temperaments, De-Cluttering, Rhythm, and Simplifying Schedules and Holidays in family life.
During her transition into working with parents, Christine worked with many families, simplifying spaces in the home. She took several classes with NAPO, the National Association of Professional Organizers, honing her skills in communicating and organizing. She now has over 1500 contact hours of de-cluttering and organizing experience. She is passionate about helping families get clear on their values and letting go of things they no longer need, use or love, in order to have more time for the things they really love. She has found time and again the deep and concrete benefits of this work, including more ease and flow and peace in daily family life. She believes this work is timely and is devoted to serving families and honoring the sanctity of the home in this way.
She now offers services in de-cluttering, simplifying and organizing spaces in the home, one step at a time.
Personal Interests
When Christine is not organizing, she can be found in her garden, where she finds inspiration for her nature stories and poems for young children. You can discover them at www.wiselilystories.com She also loves needle felting soft, woolly pictures for children and teaching felting circles in the circle of community. Christine loves to sing, travel to France and take part in the Dances of Universal Peace. She also loves to go for long walks and spend time with family and friends around the kitchen table.