About

CIRCLE class is a welcoming place for trans and cis girls and gender fluid kids 11 – 13 years old to learn about their whole bodies in relation to themselves and the natural world.

Circle Class offers kids the chance to experience how amazing and powerful are our voices and our bodies; how intimately connected are our bodies to the plant world; how deeply similar are bodies we’ve known as “female” and as “male”; how we can use our voices in strength and in power; how our bodies grow and change through childhood and adolescence; what cycling is all about and how to prepare for it.

We’re in for a real treat this year: Circle kids, some of whom will be starting their 4th year with us, will be learning how to sew! Yep.

We’ve hired two incredible sewing teachers, Meredith Mack and Ellie von Wellsheim (Founder of The MoonCatcher Project, where Meredith has worked.) who’ll be leading us on a semester-long journey starting with learning how to thread your sewing machine and how to cut fabric; learning how to sew colorful cloth buntings, work aprons, pillows, flags, and more; to learning how to make your own US-style Mooncatcher kit.

We hold this space in joy and tenderness to welcome new kids, and to welcome back the kids who return, year after year, to learn with us.

• We’ll have student-led lessons on the ovulatory/menstrual cycle.
• We’ll get a chance to learn about the MoonCatcher Project, and hear what it’s like for kids around the world to get their periods.
• We’ll add a couple optional, very fun student-led baking classes on weekends during the semester, because we love to bake together.
• What if you don’t have a sewing machine and sewing supplies? We’ll loan them to you for the semester.

Teachers

Meredith Mack

Meredith Mack (she/her) is an entrepreneur who has been using her extensive creative skills to enrich the world. She has been sewing personally and professionally for many years, designing, producing and reinventing a variety of garments.She has also worked as a pattern maker in the Garment District in NYC.

Meredith developed patterns, improved production, maintained sewing machines and guided volunteers for The MoonCatcher Project, a non-profit organization that makes and distributes pads to help keep menstrual cyclers worldwide in school. MCP started in upstate New York making reusable menstrual pads for those who do not have menstrual supplies and are denied education.

Meredith has always felt that sewing is a reliable skill, with endless possibilities. She is excited about teaching sewing to WiseBodies students.

Ellie von Wellsheim

Ellie von Wellsheim (she/her) has a deep concern for social justice. During her lifetime she has initiated and organized several far-reaching efforts beginning with the Compañera Project in the 1980s, an international endeavor in response to human rights injustices in Central America.

Moved by the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in the gulf coast, Ellie organized teams of volunteers for re-building trips to New Orleans and surrounding areas from 2006 – 2015. In 2011, Ellie founded The MoonCatcher Project, 501c3 non-profit, which creates and internationally distributes reusable, washable menstrual pad kits to help keep girls in school alongside menstrual management and reproductive health classes.

Making art has always been her passion and a way to find joy. She has been painting and drawing since she could hold a pencil. Working with WiseBodies is a wonderful creative gift for her.

Isa Coffey

Isa Coffey (she/her) spent the last four decades doing these good things (some, but not all, at the same time): being an out lesbian; helping women have safe abortions; teaching teens, kids, and adults sexual health and wellbeing; founding and running a cervical cap fitting site; leading classes in sexuality in public and private schools; gaining her RN; being a labor and delivery nurse and a homebirth doula; growing medicinal plants and making plant medicine; birthing and raising two sons; caring for honeybees; surviving brain injury.

Ten years ago she dreamed into and birthed WiseBodies, a school in which all humans can come together in safety and joy to recognize sexuality as a force for good, a way to connect fully within the natural world, and a magical pathway toward moving into wholeness.

Location

We will meet via Zoom so students can join us from anywhere!

Dates & Time

We'll meet on Wednesdays from 4:15 - 5:45 pm.

Dates: Sept 14, 21, 28 (no class Oct 5 for Yom Kippur), Oct 12, 19, 26, Nov 2, 9, 16 (no class Nov 23 for Thanksgiving), Nov 30, Dec 7, last class Dec 14.

Registration + Cost

The semester cost is $350 - $650 per semester, sliding scale, for 12 classes. We ask that families make a commitment to attending classes for a full semester. Partial scholarships are available depending on enrollment. Priority given to LGBTQ + Black, Indigenous and People of the Global Majority. Payment plans available.

Please email wisebodies@wisebodies.org for more info.