Back in Charleston - and building its first Waldorf School
Joined Lee in Charleston today. He came a couple days early to work on the Waldorf school we are going to create here....The Acorn School of Charleston.
Yep, going to happen.
And just in sync...the New York Times publishes this piece for the Sunday paper. This was the topic of Lee's presentation today at an information meeting.
I feel so frustrated by our educational system in this country. We use our children as guinea pigs - let's try this, let's try that. And then, worst of all, we project our own fears onto our children. OMG....what if they aren't reading at 6! Are they damaged? Do they need special help? Are they on the "spectrum?"
So much pressure on kids. So much garbage.
I feel so happy to be working on creating a Waldorf School with Lee here in Charleston. Waldorf's attitude is "the later the better" - not "the sooner the better."
Slow food? Why not Slow Childhood?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/let-the-kids-learn-through-play.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region
Slow food? Why not Slow Childhood?
http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/17/opinion/sunday/let-the-kids-learn-through-play.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&module=opinion-c-col-right-region®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region
Oh, and in service of shameless self-promotion, here is the website for the school:
www.acornschoolcharleston.org
I can't agree more! My children, now 23 and 21, grew up with a 'shameful' mother who did not schedule their every minute. You can be sure I was in the minority, and was viewed with skepticism. I was judged, disdained, and viewed as negligent because I did not bring them from school to soccer practice to piano lessons, home for supper, and then to tutors for homework. I let them ride their bikes around the neighborhood without me driving right beside them. I let them schedule their own time. I did not fill their weekends with endless schedules of sports lessons, dance lessons, or music lessons. But don't get me wrong! I gave them numerous opportunities for fun and learning. We went to museums, zoos, and the various lessons each of them decided to undertake. But it was their decision. And each of them had time for friends, and for vegging in their rooms. Both of them grew to love reading, music, and sports in their own ways and their own time. And they have both grown to be substantial, responsible, well-balanced and adjusted human beings who are independent and able to schedule their own lives! I guess because people have been so concerned with their child being able to compete in the shark infested waters of adulthood, they unwittingly created a shark infested childhood by making sure that their child was in all the right classes, sports, activities, wore the right clothes, and had the right friends! By trying to give their child what they viewed as the best, they created the worst environment for their child. They created an adult environment for which their child had no skills for survival.
ReplyDelete