waldorf or a more traditional preschool, people?
many of you know, i am traditionally not of the traditional variety, so this decision is hard for me.
here's the deal: the traditional preschool is in a convenient location with an utterly exemplary, fairly reknown teacher. (i have mentioned her name a couple times in public, and other people have said things like, "teacher nikki? my son will love that woman until the day he dies. it's 3 years later and he still talks about her," or "teacher nikki? she will make a remarkable first impression on your child. she is world's most fantastic preschool teacher," etc, etc.) you get the point. i have also personally seen this teacher nikki lady a half dozen times at the library, hand-picking out library books for her students, because she bases the curriculum around their interests. she's an all around great gal and wins extra points for biking to work and naming her preschool a gay name like "rainbow." the downsides are that they serve juice, and there's kind of a lot of kids there, and they probably know the names of disney characters, to which adah might respond, "who the fuck is that?" she might be considered a little bit of a weirdo.
i know, this is the most trite thing i've ever read, too. but i can't help it.
the waldorf school, on the other hand, will most likely be filled with other children who are equally oblivious to the TV/commercial world, and would come to school with BPA-free lunch boxes saturated with whole grains and a blueberry for dessert if they're lucky. adah would drink filtered water and run around like a fairy every day, never learning a literacy or math concept until she was 14, because she'd be busy being playful and creative and imaginative. she would also learn how to felt raw sheep's wool, watercolor in natural hues, investigate a worm bin on a living room floor, and be able to teach me how to sew by the time she's four.
how am i supposed to know what's best? each choice leads to such extremes. what if she comes home one day asking for a capri sun? and on the other hand, what if she comes home one day and declares that she's built a hut out of acorns in the forest and she'd like to live there starting tomorrow?
5 comments:
i say traditional. she is gonna get exposed to capri sun and disney no matter what you do. it's a matter or prolonging it or not. in my non-mother opinion (so take it for what it's worth), she needs to see what is out there and make her own decisions. i know, i know she is only 2 yrs old. i assume she is bound to be like every young child at some point: a disney-loving, mcdonalds-craving, capri-sun-drinking lovely young pre-teen. continue to instill ideals. she'll get back to her roots, whether when she's in her teens or her 30s. you and i came around, right?
Megan,
Leaning towards the wood sprite school, because early brain development is so important, to set a foundation for her life. Yet...
I think that the amazing thing about human being brains and hearts is that we are so able to respond and grow from our environments- and it seems to me from your description she will grow and have important experiences at both of these schools. Just different ones. I don't think you can hurt her here. I feel torn between the belief that joining the mainstream society is a good thing for kids, because otherwise they are too disconnected; to believing (like you, I think) that young neurological development is crucial and an environment that best supports that is best. I guess the question is, is that the Waldorf? Or is that this traditional school with the great teacher? Do you have a gut instinct here from having visited the schools? How did Adah respond to each of them?
I think you should do a cost/benefit analysis- with all the categories: cost (and what you'd do that would benefit her life with the difference in cost); location; diversity; educational method; food; culture. And see if that helps. I think you are going to have the battle at home around Disney characters, junk food, and mainstream stuff eventually... I guess that just depends on how long you want to avoid it.
Wish I could help more!
Love and miss you. Uncie Ace
hey. i guess i am responding a little too late, but the good news is it sounds like you can't go wrong!
children are really great at figuring stuff out as long as they have the full support of loving adults, which of course she's gonna get at home and it sounds like she would get at either place.
as a three year old i was not allowed to watch dukes of hazard, but that didn't stop me from running around the play ground pretending to be in a car chase. and the fact that some of my friends did watch TV didn't prevent them from joining with me to build elaborate traps for Mr. Anderson from the Freddy the Pig books... or was he from the Box Car Children?
i feel like in your case even a crazy behaviorism based flash card dominated, focus on school, preschool would go ok, because you would be able to reinforce for adah that learning is about having fun and play is great. she'd learn to see right through her teachers craziness.
yellow springs children center had some pretty strong waldorf influence. some waldorf stuff is really neat and amazing, some is a little creepy.
but the truth is a traditional (constructivist?) preschool and a waldorf school will both bring their philosophical baggage (whether it is explicit or not.) both philosophies though are motivated, i think by trying to do right by children.
ace is right brain development (and emotional social development, etc, etc.) are so important... and luckily (i believe) young human beings are hard wired to develop well, to grow, explore, and learn, in any environment that is stimulating and not hostile.
the food and juice stuff though... it is hard isn't it? i guess you could decide how important that part is to you and to adah. if you end up at rainbow you could always have a conversation with nikki about food, not asking her to change the diet at the school but just explaining where ya'll are coming from so that when adah tells one of her new friends that juice is a gateway drug, the teacher will know what's up.
good luck. you can't go wrong!
The beauty of this is that you will provide the majority of her education (both socially and developmentally). You and Anne will be the core of her values and her social norms and she will look to you for direction, no matter what you choose.
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