Discovering Waldorf & Steiner

It was six months ago that I discovered Waldorf and Steiner - I had no idea how important this moment would be for my family. I was looking for alternative schools in our area (although Tess was just turning 2) because many have wait lists, etc. Our overall goal is to homeschool but if that ever becomes a non-reality for us I wanted to be sure that we were lined up for the next best thing.

In my search for alternative schools, I discovered there was a Waldorf school about 20 minutes away. I never looked further into the philosophies but I fell in love with their nature-focused approach. I called and learned that they did not anticipate there would be a wait list in the near future so I added the school to our list and closed the book on it.

Fast forward three months later, just after Tess turned two, and I finally began to research Waldorf and Steiner -I was blown away. How could I have missed this for so many years?! There were so many details about this approach which are important to me and our family but I was clueless as to how to incorporate it into our daily lives. Waldorf was my answer.

From rhythm to play things, festival celebration to faith, simplicity to reverence - this was what we needed. Now Waldorf isn't a set of steadfast rules for the way a family should be, but rather, it inspires to keep things simple and magical. Waldorf is important to me because:

1. Time with and in nature is of utmost importance.
2. Creating a magical and enchanting environment which protects childhood.
3. Daily, weekly, monthly and yearly rhythms and celebrations help guide children as they come to know what to expect.
4. Child inclusion in everyday chores helps them feel like the are contributing to the family's goal.
5. Life is the curriculum so there is no need to rush traditional learning ideas when there is so much about the natural and everyday world they soak up each day. Waiting until a child is ready to learn maximizes their intuitive curiosity.
6. Turning off the TV and other mainstream influences. Letting your imagination run is by far better exercise than some character doing it for you.
7. Enjoying the simple things and celebrating the small things is key.

For my family, it started with toys. We had so. much. stuff. that we began to sort through what Tess played with and what she didn't. We continued on to separate plastic toys from natural materials and then open-ended play pieces from static toys. This all happened over a few months as I was afraid of doing a huge purge. I felt guilt by paring down some toys, "These are her toys, not mine.", "What if these are things she really wants to have?" and all sorts of thoughts like that. My compromise was to store them up in the basement so we could try it out for a while to make sure I didn't regret getting rid of everything. I knew in my heart that she would better because of it but it was still difficult.

I knew that by removing stimulating and concrete-idea toys that it would allow her the mind-space to create from her own imagination and being. I wanted her light to shine through, not something already made for her.

And then it happened... she did. She created and laughed and genuinely played.

Nothing negative happened by slowing removing the clutter (we rid our home of many unwanted items beyond toys) from our lives. In fact, not only did nothing negative happen but great and beautiful family time was etched in our day more and more as we progressed.

Next step was providing new play things for Tess. Ideally, a Waldorf family makes many of the play things for their child so it is wonderfully adaptable for any budget size. Scott began to great little hand-carved gnomes and outside swings. I began to needle felt wool balls, and hand-dye playsilks.

 Purchasing a few of the traditional Waldorf items did help our transition a little easier after the purging stage because we felt like we could replenish what we took away. We used buy/sell/trade Facebook groups to sell items that we no longer used in order to fund new things. This coincided with Easter so we were able to gift her some items as well. We were able to purchase playstands, a weighted Waldorf doll, play silks, some forest animal Ostheimer figures, rocker board, peg dolls, enchanting books, wood bowls and plates and small seasonal items for her nature table. We also found many items to repurpose from thrift stores as well!

Next was changing the flow of our house a bit to feature a nature table in a more prominent spot. We are also waiting for a cotton hammock to arrive which will make our space cozy and comfortable - I can't wait! We stopped watching TV for some time now so we were finally able to work our family room around the play space versus the television.

Creating a reverence for things like meals and waking/sleeping were important as well. We light a candle with every dinner to highlight how special the time is together. Beautiful verses and songs are added to everyday tasks like waking, walking, making bread, sleeping, etc.

We are still working on finding a more established rhythm but what we have so far works for us. More on the importance of that in another post soon!

There is still so much I'm inspired to do but only being three months in to this process, I'm really proud of my family for all that we've accomplished.