We meet once a week as a cooperative
homeschool group. The children are allowed free and
creative playtime indoors and outdoors. We also enjoy an organic potluck
lunch and snack together. The children have activities together, as well
as individual activities for each age group:
Infant and Toddler - up to age 3
We have a toddler circle time with simple songs and fingerplays. The
children may enjoy playing with simple natural playthings, or activities
like helping the parents set the table.
Kindergarten - age 4-6
We have a kindergarten circle time and age appropriate crafts such as
wet-on-wet watercolor painting, beeswax crayon drawing, and planting.
Grade School - ages 7 and up
We have programs for the older children planned for this year which
include handwork, foreign language, and music.
Eurythmy
We are pleased to offer eurythmy from a certified and experienced
instructor for the kindergarten and grade school children.
Class Descriptions
(not all classes are available every semester)
Knitting
– Coordination, patience, perseverance, and imagination are schooled
through the practical work of knitting. Started in Grade 1, knitting
promotes logical thinking later on. Knitting is important because it uses
the finer movements of the limbs and it provides a useful skill as well as
a creative outlet for later life.
Music
– Music is an integral part of Waldorf education. Actively played music
supports healthy brain development, balances the physical and emotional
growth of the child, and helps to develop clear thinking, fine motor
skills and stronger listening capacities.
Wet-on-Wet
Watercolor Painting – One of
the best experiences of color for the young child comes through the
painting with watercolors on wet paper. Colors are in their own true
element in water. The application of wet-on-wet most truly relates to
soft, unfinished, still growing nature of the child.
Fairy Tales
– These tales are filled with wisdom about the conduct of life. They are
of great value to children because they are symbolic pictures which tell
of the development of the human soul and spirit. Rudolf Steiner has said
that all of the characters in a fairy tale are elements within each
individual person, aspects of our own selves and our destinies here on
earth.
Foreign Language – The aim of foreign language teaching in Waldorf education is to
encourage a positive attitude towards people of other cultures and
languages as well as fostering human understanding generally through
establishing the ability to empathize with another person’s perspective
and way of seeing the world. Learning foreign languages offers the
individual other perspectives on his or her own language, culture,
attitudes, and mentality, thus helping the pupil see the world in a more
differentiated way.
Modeling
– Modeling activities aid children in progressing to higher levels of
thinking. Beeswax is the preferred modeling medium in Kindergarten and the
early grades in part because of its ability to hold and respond to warmth,
something very important for young children.
Eurythmy
- Eurythmy is called visible speech and visible music. That which one
would normally hear, in the art of eurythmy, one sees in the movements of
the eurythmist. Both language and music are human, and find the expression
of their qualities within the human.
