I am so struck by the power of the animals, the trees, and the outdoor space at our farm school. It is amazing to see children at peace when they are doing what children should--wild little beings part of the wild around us. I almost can't imagine "preschool" anymore without the crow of a rooster or the dancing shade and sun that alternate through our windows. I want you to know that perhaps more than anything, nature is the gift our school is giving your children . . .
As I give tours of our school, sometimes I am nervous. I know the animals are cute and all, but there is pressure to keep the kids reigned in, to remove all sticks, to spend the day dedicated to more "academic" pursuits. Don't get me wrong, I am sure that we are in the right place doing the right thing for children. But . . .parents are nervous about academics and school success, and I understand as the parent of an 8 1/2 year old third grader myself. Hey, I help with the homework each night and I get the report cards and test scores and print outs with "AR" reading levels and I wonder how my kid stacks up deep down inside myself, sometimes. (It makes me type run-on sentences and hyperventilate just thinking about it.)
Then, I apply a salve to my wounds, like this article,
"From Playing to Thinking: How Kindergarten Provides a Foundation for Scientific Understanding" by Eugene Schwartz: (NOTE that the Waldorf kindergarten is for children 3 to 6 or 7 years of age).
The author says that observers of a Waldorf kindergarten can perceive it as a "sheltered" situation.
"To a degree, this is true: during the school day, Waldorf kindergarteners are protected from the media, electronic devices, synthetic noises and processed foods. On the other hand, unlike most urban and suburban preschoolers, Waldorf kindergarteners are exposed to a great deal as well: the realities of food preparation, the wind, the rain, warm and cold, brambles and briars (on their daily walks); in some settings, they encounter sheep and goats, chickens and ponies, birds and fish, in all their raw reality, uncaged and unlabelled. . . .So which child is the "sheltered" one, and which is the child really meeting life?"
WE ARE! And we do write, "read", and know our alphabet. We can also count pinecones, groom a miniature horse, and build a castle with silks and clips that would make any king or queen proud. What fun!
