The Waldorf School

Here's an article from a blog called Crunchy Parent. It's about the Waldorf School experience. Every school is different. Here's what a parent said about her Waldorf school:

Waldorf vs. Public School: The Kindergarten Decision Looms

So I realized when we decided to have children that we would be taking on a fair amount of responsibility; there’s the whole part about needing to provide supervision and care for them around the clock for a couple of decades, the requirement that you buy them the right color tights for ballet class, and a whole buncha stuff in between. The part that I didn’t fully grasp was the overwhelming sense of responsibility that comes from needing to do all of those things the “right” way, or more importantly, fear of doing things wrong and having your kid call you out on the Maury Povich show in twenty years because you unwittingly bought them the lead-infused Dora the Explorer lunch box which sent them down a dark and winding path to wondering about the identity of their baby’s Daddy and inexplicably ripping off their shirt to signal “game on” in an argument.

My current inner struggle is prompted by the need to enroll Emma in kindergarten in the fall. Now, I should say that both Crunchy Daddy and myself attended public school for the majority of our lives. Actually, I’m 100% public school educated, right up through the PhD., and look how well I turned out. We both always assumed that we would send our children to public school as well. We sort of fell into Emma’s Waldorf school back when she was a toddler and I returned home to mommy full-time. I was looking for some classes in which to participate because I felt oddly negligent not properly honing Emma’s social skills through Kindermusik, Tumble Bears, or something of the sort. We took a few classes through the park district, but I was not terribly impressed with the age-appropriateness of the activities or the socialization opportunities among the children or adults in the class. Around the same time, a friend of mine out in California (where all of the hippest crunchy stuff abounds) told me that she noticed on the AWSNA website that there was a Waldorf school close to my home, and she suggested that I check them out as an early childhood class option. She knew that we were kinda crunchy-oriented in our parenting and thought that Waldorf education was very attachment-parenting friendly, so in might be a good fit. I went to the school website and noticed that they had an upcoming winter craft fair, which I thought would be the prefect opportunity for me to discretely check out the school.

The school was beautiful with its soft lazured walls and simple décor. There were no posters, splashy bulletin boards, or a barrage of overwhelming stimuli. There were simple displays of the beautiful student artwork in the hall, but that was it. The craft fair was heaven for me; hand turned or carved wooden toys, handmade pottery, soaps, Waldorf dolls, fibers, beadwork, the list went on and on. I made a few purchases and resolved to look into the school further.

As a next step, I called the school and arranged for a visit to their early childhood classroom, which served children ages eighteen months through three years accompanied by an adult. The whole morning was so different that any other class that I had experienced with Emma before. The day began with every adult and child (and any younger siblings, who were also welcome to come to the class) seated at a long table in the back of the room. We were each given a small ball of dough to knead and shape however we desired as we waited to greet the other classroom participants. Once everyone had arrived and all of the little dough balls had been set on a baking tray to rise, the children were dismissed from the table to play with the simple classroom toys; toys like a wood play kitchen, baskets of tree branches cut into blocks, a wooden doll carriage, several simple Waldorf dolls, dress up clothes, play silks, and a few wood rocking horses. While the children played, the parents remained at the table at the back, working on a handcraft project (I think that everybody was making a wool crown for their child) and keeping an eye out on the little ones; interacting with them as needed to provide comfort, connection, social guidance, or to nurse.

After the free play time, the adults helped lead the children through cleaning up and we all gathered for a circle time, in which we sang or spoke a number of seasonal verses and engaged in movement activities, ending with every child snuggled up with their parent on the rug (I think that we were sleeping birdies, warm in our nest). Each parent/child dyad was awakened in turn as the teacher brushed over us with a play silk, signaling us that we could go wash up for snack, which was being prepared by a parent in the back of the classroom (I later learned that all parents took turns providing the snack). The children helped set the table with cloth napkins and placemats and ceramic plates and small glasses. Food was set out family style, and we all sat together to say a little verse, complete with arm movements, before enjoying our snack “Earth who gives to us this food, sun who makes it ripe and good, Dear Earth, dear sun, thanks we give to you each one. And we say, blessings on our snack.” Watching even the littlest ones raise their voices to sing and move their arms along was so sweet. I was a bit anxious about the idea of toddlers eating with “real” plates and glasses (No plastic ware? No sippy cups?), but they did fine save the occasional spill. The snack was outstanding. Homemade hummus with fresh vegetables, fresh fruits, cheeses, homemade whole grain quick breads, and water to drink. The children happily ate the nutritious food as it was passed around the table and placed on their little plates, and I welcomed the opportunity to be nourished by the delicious and healthy snack, a rarity for a busy parent. Snack closed with another verse “Thankful, thankful, we are very thankful. Thankful, thankful, we hold our hands together (all hold hands now) And we say, thank you for our snack.” After the verse, children and adults helped to clean up the snack, scraping leftovers into a compost bin, dropping soiled table linens in a bag to be washed, and placing dishes to be washed in a basin. The children were all handed small sponges and rags to wash and dry the table, and then we all gathered together on the rug in the center of the classroom for a story.

Story time did not involve a book, rather a puppet show of sorts was being acted out by the teacher using wooden figure toys and play silks set out on a small table in front of the group. The story props were initially veiled under a play silk while the teacher sang a story-telling verse, and then she lifted the silk to reveal several play silks, a small wooden bridge, and three goats. The children sat in wonder as they listened to the story of the Three Billy Goats Gruff, watching as the goats trip trapped across the bridge to brave the troll. The fable ended with the pieces being draped once again under the silk, as a closing story verse was sung. Children were then bundled up and the whole group moved outside to play until the close of the day. When the time came for the day to end, the group was called back together to sing the closing verse, and the warm, freshly-baked rolls that we had created at the start of the day were placed into each set of tiny eager hands, to satiate little tummies on the ride home.

I came home from the visit delighted and enthusiastic, singing the effusive praise of an early childhood program that seemed to perfectly preserve and meet the needs for wonder, simplicity, and comfort that are so present in young children. As I described the events of the day to Crunchy Daddy punctuating the simple toys, the wholesome food, the company of other moms who were nursing their soft shoe-wearing toddlers, and slinging their babies I recall his reply, “You found the mother ship,” and indeed, I think that I had. Emma and I enrolled in the class for the next session, and she continued at the school for their transitional preschool program (in which parents attend with the children for the first few months, and then transition away so that the children can begin their experience of being at school on their own,) and this year she has moved to the three-day (morning only) preschool class.

Our participation at the school has been wonderful for our family. It was through the school that we have met many other naturally-oriented families in the area who have served as a wonderful resource for us as we move down our path toward greater crunchy awareness. Emma loves her school and loves her friends. Her only sadness is that she does not get to ride a school bus, and I think that she will forgive us for that in time.

So now we are faced with a decision….Emma will be starting kindergarten in the fall and we need to decide if we will continue to keep her at her private Waldorf school or if we will enroll her in public school. There are compelling reasons to keep her where she is. She loves her school and we are well integrated into the school, which consists of a relatively small number of families. The close interpersonal relationships allow us all to meet the needs of the children more effectively and serve as a network for one another. There is a sense of shared investment and responsibility for making the school better. In addition, the teachers have a strong connection to the students and to their families, and the educational model of Waldorf schools is vibrant and compelling. I honestly believe that my children will receive a better overall education there than they would receive in a public school, which I really feel is increasingly pushing too much too soon on young children; depriving them of the spirit of childhood. Moreover, the like-minded crunchy community at the Waldorf school helps to support some of the values that we are trying to instill in the girls, making it less of an uphill battle than if we were swimming against a mainstream current in a public school.

All that said, I realize that children are resilient and that the girls would likely turn out to be bright, educated, upstanding citizens regardless of the educational environment. They might become more aware and steadfast in their own beliefs in the face of divergent thinking that they would likely encounter with greater frequency in a public school. In addition, Waldorf schools approach reading, writing, and math curricula at a different pace than public schools, which might make it difficult to integrate the girls into a public school in the event of a move or other change in life circumstances that would make a Waldorf education an unavailable option in the future. Oh, and then there’s the financial piece. Apparently private schools cost money and since that school voucher thing never found adequate support, we would be making a significant investment in the girls’ education over the course of their academic careers, the kind of investment that would otherwise change our family’s lifestyle. Money that might have been available for things like family vacations, “nice” cars, a “nice” home, more ample college or retirement savings, etc. would be slated to pay for elementary school and we just hadn’t planned on that.

So that’s the dilemma. Which is the right decision to make for Emma now? It seems overwhelming to me to make a decision about where all of my children will be educated forever, so I’m trying to just focus on where I think Emma should be next year, and we’ll make future decisions one year at a time. If you all have any thoughts or ideas about the matter, I’m all ears.