“The Wonderfully Human” Podcast
Wonderfully human conversations about childhood, parenting, and becoming.
Hosted by Donovan Gay and Sarah Barrett
Meet the Hosts
Sarah Barrett
Sarah Barrett is a mother, teacher, speaker, storyteller, and co-founder of Lotus & Ivy, a Waldorf-inspired virtual homeschool program serving families around the world. With a unique blend of engineering, educational leadership, and more than fifteen years of experience working with children and families, she is passionate about helping parents and educators create the conditions where children flourish.
Sarah earned a degree in Industrial and Systems Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology before beginning her career with Walt Disney World. There she discovered the power of storytelling, meaningful experiences, and thoughtful design—principles that continue to shape her approach to education today.
Unable to find the kind of education she envisioned for her own family, Sarah founded her first Waldorf-inspired homeschool enrichment program in Orlando, Florida. That school became the first of seven programs she would establish in Florida, Georgia, California, and online, creating joyful learning communities where children could experience nature, storytelling, artistic work, festivals, meaningful academics, and deep friendships.
Over the years, Sarah has developed homeschool curriculum, taught mathematics, science, and Waldorf main lessons to homeschoolers and in-person at Sacramento Waldorf School, founded the Waldorf Homeschool Conference, and continues to speak at homeschooling conferences across the country. She also leads parent workshops, adult study circles, seasonal festivals, and storytelling experiences that help families bring beauty, rhythm, and wonder into everyday life.
Sarah is the co-host of the Wonderfully Human podcast and writes regularly about child development, education, homeschooling, and the conditions that help children become resilient, creative, compassionate, and deeply human. Her work draws from Waldorf education, modern research, and years of experience working alongside families, while remaining accessible to parents regardless of how their children are educated.
Whether she is teaching, speaking, writing, or mentoring parents, Sarah's work is guided by one central question:
What is education really for?
Education is about calling forth each child's unique gifts, cultivating the capacities to use those gifts with confidence and wisdom, and providing rich academic experiences that develop the mind itself. Education doesn't create an adult who is ready for college and career. It creates the conditions in which a child becomes more fully who they already have the potential to be.
Donovan Gay
Donovan Gay is a Waldorf educator and writer. Born and raised in Johannesburg, South Africa, his own connection with Waldorf education began when he attended Michael Mount Waldorf School from Class 8 to Class 13. After moving to the UK in 1991, he trained as a Steiner/Waldorf teacher at Emerson College in Sussex.
Over a teaching career spanning more than twenty-five years, Donovan has worked in Waldorf schools in South Africa, Scotland and Wales. He has taught across Classes 1 to 10 as a Class Teacher and subject teacher and has also worked extensively in teacher mentoring, curriculum development and professional development. Alongside his classroom work, Donovan has held leadership roles within Waldorf schools, including serving as Chair of the College of Teachers.
In 2019, Donovan moved to Spain, where he founded Waldorf Ways. Initially an online teaching platform offering educational resources and courses, Waldorf Ways has evolved into a space for writing and deeper reflection on Waldorf education, child development and the principles and intentions that stand behind Waldorf practice.
Donovan now teaches online with Lotus & Ivy, working primarily with children in the middle and upper school years, while continuing his writing and wider work through Waldorf Ways. Across both, he is particularly interested in what children need at different stages of their development and how education can meet the developing human being rather than simply prepare children for academic achievement.
Drawing on more than three decades of involvement in Waldorf education, Donovan's work explores the relationship between child development and the curriculum, the inner development of the teacher and the larger question of what education is ultimately for. Through his teaching and writing, he seeks to bring the deeper understanding of the human being that stands behind Waldorf education into thoughtful conversation with the realities of childhood, parenting and education today.