I haven't been all that thrilled with either of Lily's school situations. She has been going to some sort of preschool since she was 2. The first was an expensive, glorified version of daycare that made me cringe 2 of the 3 days a week she went. She finally got a teacher I liked and when she was moved up out of that class - took me all of one day to yank her from the new class.
Last spring, I sent Mike at 5:30 in the morning on enrollment day to get her into one of the best preschools in the area. She's been going there since the school year started 3 days a week.
I have been increasingly disturbed with how cookie cutter the activities and school itself seemed. Nothing bad has happened and not once have I felt she isn't being well taken care of or is unhappy. Quite the contrary - she loves school.
In my heart though, I am dissatisfied and knew there was something more for my kids - somewhere. Also, in my heart, I am a total HIPPIE. I absolutely do not live a hippie lifestyle I realize, but that's where my heart wants to be. I kind of cherry pick some hippie criteria that suit me and then am a creature of comfort on the rest, unfortunately.
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Okay, this will relate, stay with me. I follow several blogs - lots and lots that I peek in on daily (quickly). Some of my favorite blogs are from moms who I find amazing. I have noticed some things they all have in common: they are CRAFTY, they are artistic, they are hippie or hippie-ish, they are calm, they love nature, they don't care if their kid wears Matilda Jane (though I do love cute clothes!), they keep life simple, they love to cook good food, they are child centered.
In case you're wondering, here are some links to my faves:
Em Falconbridge
Kelly McCaleb
Amanda Blake Soule
Sarah Jane
So reading on Emily's blog, I peeked into a link she had (not sure if it's still there) for Rudolf Steiner Education. Admiring her a TON, I wanted to see what it was about. After poking around there, I saw he was the inventor of Waldorf education.
I had heard of Waldorf education before and one thing I had heard was that the kids aren't taught to read or write until they were like 7 years old - AND I WAS APPALLED.
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Flash forward to now. I've been seeing more things about Waldorf pop up now and then. For example, another place I've seen stuff is on Etsy. Waldorf toys. Like this, this, and this.
I googled Waldorf schools in my area and there is only one. The Harvest. I went yesterday to check it out and I. AM. IN. LOVE.
The rooms are like warm cocoons of goodness. Seriously, they glow a pinkish hue and look soft.
Everything is all natural materials (wool, wood, etc.)
Everything that goes into their little bodies there is organic, dye-free, white stuff free.
They bake real bread with their own little hands on Tuesdays. They make real vegetable soup (with veggies brought from home) with their own little hands on Thursdays.
They frown on electronic media. We won't be allowed to watch tv on school days.
They spend TONS of time outdoors everyday RAIN or shine.
They imagine and pretend and play play play.
Kids learn best through play at this age. We've all heard this a million times and I want my little girl to stay a little girl and enjoy these days that pass so very fast.
I could go on and on. I'm so excited we found this. It could change our lives ;-) Really.
Here is an interesting link and I hope you will take a peek for your own kiddos (wherever you may live) and if you are Lily's family to see what she (and Natalie one day) is embarking upon!
4 comments:
oohh YAAAYYY!! =D
How EXCITING!! Congratulations, I know Lilly will love it there and how wonderful to get such an amazing chance to fulfill all that talent and interest and curiosity! I'm just BEAMING with joy over here. =D
As for your hippie heart you just keep listening to it. We all do what we can, day by day. Folks need to recognize that every little bit counts and start making people feel good about what they DO do. This is an AWEsome thing to be able to do. Yaaaayyy! just .. .YAY!
Wow, Sara. This sounds fabulous!! Thank you for sharing. I am definitely going to check into this for Eli, although, sadly, I do not think there will be anything similar within driving distance to where we are living. But!! But -- I will try to apply some of the principles to our day-to-day life. I have heard of this type of school, just never really knew what it was all about. Awesome!
I was reading a Parents Mag article about schools in Finland. It sounds very similar to what you are describing, esp the starting school at 7. Plus, they go less time and are smarter than our kiddos here in the US. Sounds great!
woohoo for waldorf! it's a really cool premise: back to nature in all aspects. weird! ;) where's the primary colors and plastic chairs?!? eww.
our preschool classes have as much natural light, materials, and furniture as possible, so i total get the waldorf thing. it's actually really big here in portland. remember my hippie friend lisa?? she was taking courses to be certified as a waldorf teacher. so excited for y'all! i'm sure it will be fabulous! yes, the scandinavians really have it goin on when it comes to early childhood education. they actually let kids play in natural environments...with splinters...and scraped knees! shock-horror!! ;) check out a wonderful teacher in california namesd bev boz. her school is to die for. what we strive to do at my work.
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