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Waldorf

What Would Steiner Think?

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Having a Waldorf kid means keeping certain things on hand. We have play silks: large rectangles of silk fabric for dress up and open ended play. We have a nature table on Nora’s dresser, which features rocks, sticks, seeds and shells Nora has collected from just about everywhere she goes. And we have beeswax. Heat it up and it’s a modeling medium, like Play-doh, but not the creepy consistency of Play-doh.

We also don’t have a television. Ben and I threw away our t.v. after watching a New Year’s special for the year 2000 which featured a smashed Bono and a very spacy Liz Taylor (may she rest in peace) wishing us well in the new millennium. We realized television didn’t have much to offer us.

Waldorf schools discourage or even prohibit screen time for kids. I know it sounds extreme to some, but it works well for us. Nora has a great attention span, a stupendous vocabulary for a four-year-old and never begs for things at the store because she’s seen them on television.

Still, we are not zealots about it. Nora and I are on a Mary Poppins kick, watching the movie about once a week. I got an iPad a few months ago and she discovered an abiding love of Angry Birds, so we let her play that a few times a week.

Still, this week I got a twinge of guilty pleasure when Nora picked up a flat rectangular piece of beeswax and held it to her ear like a mobile phone — an iPhone to be exact. Ben picked up on this and the two of them began crafting intricate cell phone models from beeswax and proceeding to run off to all points of the house, calling each other and chatting.

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It was a delicious moment, even if it did make poor Rudolf Steiner shift uncomfortably in this grave.

May Day In the Valley of Love and Delight

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Yesterday was our Waldorf school’s May celebration. Time to celebrate spring, flowers and sunshine, never mind that there wasn’t any of the latter. The glowing children produced their own.

All the children wore white and each class danced and sang around the Maypole by turns.

Tis the gift to be simple,
tis the gift to be free,
tis the gift to come down where we ought to be
and when we find ourselves in a place just right
it will be in the valley of love and delight

–Jospeh Brackett Sr.

Waldorf Diary: Martinmas Lantern Walk

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So shine my light in the still dark night...

Okay everybody, wrap your brains around this:

My daughter’s school celebrated Martinmas by making paper lanterns,  sticking real candles in them, lighting them with real fire, and then taking a twenty minute walk on uneven trails through a rhododendron garden in the inky blackness while singing songs about light.

No one caught fire.  No one broke a limb.  No one had to sign a waiver.  We all were treated to an honest to goodness experience that didn’t involve LEDs or cell phones (except when I took this photo in the parking lot with my cell phone — but I did it for you!).

It was beautiful.  Just beautiful.

Waldorf Mommy: Michaelmas

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“Through celebrations in their seasons are the deeper powers of human nature realized.”

— Rudolf Steiner

Waldorf is big on festivals.  September 29th was Michaelmas.  In our last parent council meeting, a parent tried to describe the meaning of Michaelmas to the newbies, she got it confused with Martinmas, which has something to do with lanterns.

I’ve done some piecing together from a few sources and descriptions and as near as I can make out, Michaelmas is about preparing yourself for winter both mentally and physically.  The challenges of winter are symbolized by a dragon.  Saint Michael is able to slay the dragon, therefore ensuring survival.

My daughter’s school put together quite the celebration. 

On Monday, the kindergarteners planted bulbs in the courtyard.  Wednesday morning, the third grade class came in at sunrise to stir buckets of manure tea, which was referred to as a “bio-dynamic preparation.”  Turns out Rudolf Steiner not only developed a great educational model, but also a methodology for organic farming.  What a guy.  The manure tea was then sprinkled on the bulbs planted earlier in the week.

All students brought a harvest gift to their classrooms for exchange.  We brought a bouquet of flowers from our garden, some dahlias, sedum and lilies.  And we brought a half dozen eggs for each of Nora’s teachers.

The main event was a play put on by all the grades depicting Saint Michael’s slaying of the dragon.  We’re talking kids playing recorders, lots of singing, lines said in unison: I was a puddle people.  My only regret was that I could make out most of the words.  Kindergarteners are relegated to a viewing position on a hill above the crowd next to the playground, so as bored kids peeled off the group and headed for the play structure, it became impossible to hear everything.

The second graders had on greens shirts and green felt hats.  The first graders were dressed in white and waved large puff balls over their heads, I believe symbolizing winter. The fourth graders were townspeople. The fifth graders were red and got to bang on a bunch of percussion instruments when the dragon came through.  The seventh & eighth graders were underneath a rather impressive looking dragon costume.  It was an amazingly cohesive performance for gradeschoolers.  Again, Waldorf kids impress me with their attentiveness and self possession.  These kids had it together.

After the play, there was a family picnic in the park and then an early release for the entire school.  School day over at lunch time.  No aftercare provided.  In other words, an effective tool for forcing busy parents to take a breath and spend an afternoon with their kids.

Waldorf, I love you.

Waldorf Mommy: Counting Down and Falling Down

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It’s two days until Nora starts school.  I’m off work this week, pretending to be a stay at home mom.  I like it, obviously.

I wanted Nora to have some transition time between schools.  The idea of sending her to preschool one day and kindergarten the next seemed callous.

So we’ve been running errands, collecting the last few items on her supply list.  Yesterday we went to a kid/parent yoga class, where she got knocked down twice by rambunctious seven-year-old boys without shirts.  It was good practice in getting back up.  She was clearly impressed with their boisterousness and even took her shirt off to match.  (No, I didn’t stop her, it was hot and she’s three.) We’re also building a raised bed for the garden and picking out a paint color for the bathroom.

We’re sewing some wild oats as well.  Since nail polish and temporary tattoos are verboten at Waldorf school, she has her finger and toenails painted, and sports a horse and a cow tattoo on her belly and a unicorn on her forearm.  Wednesday night we will cermoniously remove them at bathtime.

We plan to spend the next two days doing fun things, but in the back of my mind, there’s a desire to keep her from harm long enough to get through the first day of school without illness or injury.  She’s getting over a cold; her nose needs to stop running so she doesn’t get sent home on Thursday, and I need to make sure she doesn’t break any little bones.  This is causing a few inhibitions when it comes to selecting activities.  Swimming?  What if she slips on wet floor and goes to school with a big bruise on her forehead?  Preschool carnival rides at Oaks Park?  What if she picks up a new virus or gets hurt on a ride?

I’m not normally like this, but something about a big milestone makes me cautious.  I don’t want to blow it for her.  But, of course, I don’t want her few days at home filled with banal trips to the grocery store and home depot.

Nora needs to practice getting up when bigger kids knock her down, and I need to practice letting her fall.