A Waldorf Graduation

You may have noticed things have been quite on this blog lately, and that is because we have been busy wrapping up 8 years at our Waldorf school with my kids graduation last week. A Waldorf education was something I just knew as a parent that I needed to make happen for my kids, and seeing it through 8th grade graduation was a big goal. It has taken a lot of hard work and perseverance all around, and it’s hard to believe that we actually did it. It’s been a bittersweet time the last few weeks of wrapping things up, revisiting a lot of memories, preparing to set off on new adventures, and saying goodbye.

This has been a long road, with somewhat of a bumpy start. My daughter started in first grade, and her twin brother wasn’t able to join until third grade. I still remember how happy I was the day both of my kids finally started attending school there. I wrote about it nearly 6 years ago: A Waldorf Education.

We had many fun adventures through the years with our class including farm field trips, apple picking, cider pressing parties and yearly class campouts.

On one field trip, we visited a farm powered by a team of draft horses and learned a lot about traditional farming practices and where our sustenance comes from. I was very inspired from a homesteading standpoint, and wrote about it here: Draft Horse Field Trip

Every fall, the entire school gathered on the lower field to celebrate the festival of Michaelmas and honor the situations we must all face where we confront our dragons in life. It always prompted me to think about what I had been up against each year and what things I had overcome.

The winter festivals always brought a lot of light into the darkest time of year, and the Advent spiral walk was always one of my favorites. All the glowing candles radiated a glow that could warm me up from the inside on even the coldest, darkest day.

Not to mention the crystal cookie cave at the Winter Light Faire. I could seriously just go sit in there for hours if they would let me.

We learned about festivals like Santa Lucia Day, St. Nicholas, Hanukah, and many more.

We rang in the spring with May Faire every year and the 4th grade may pole dance.

My kids seemed so grown up doing the may pole dance their fourth grade year, and this year as I watched the fourth graders dancing, they all seemed so little! Things like this have really marked the milestones along the way.

Every year the class put on an amazing play, traveling back through time, space, and folklore. Their subject matter ranged from Odin of Norse mythology,

to Ancient Greece, 

to the fairytale seaside kingdom of the Little Mermaid.

Through each one, they became a group of very accomplished thespians along the way. We even made a trip down to the Oregon Shakespeare Festival last fall to watch a production of Much Ado About Nothing, to prepare for their 80’s Shakespeare production of Twelfth Night. (Yes that was a cool as it sounded!)

Most importantly, the class has been a community and second family for one another. They have grown up together, remained friends through thick and thin, and supported one another as they grew into the young adults they have become. Their teacher, whom they have had for all eight years, has been an amazing figure in their lives, and they have been so lucky to have her. Just as the class has been a community for the students, the school has been a community for the parents. These years we have spent here have been rich and full, sometimes difficult, and always a constant amidst life’s transitions. I am extremely proud of my kids and proud of their class. As we move on into the next chapter of life, we have a lot of good things to take away with us, and great adventures ahead.

“Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.”
~W.B. Yeats