Article on Boundaries

Dear Families,

http://www.janetlansbury.com/2009/10/securing-boundaries-no-walk-in-the-park/

The above link was sent to me by a good friend, a fellow teacher, and a parent working to find the right balance at home. It is a beautiful article that comes from RIE (Resources for Infant Educarers) in Los Angeles. At first it may seem the article recommends parents to be draconian, but at the end, we see a child saying she hopes a parent will be in control.

In the fall, I gave a talk on the Confident Captain, Zen Captain. Our children want to know that we know where the ship is going; we can be both strong and kind. Our sailors feel much more comfortable when they sense the captain knows the destination. The article provides an analogy of driving over a bridge: it would be disturbing if there were no guard rails. I've used another metaphor. Imagine you are blind, and you live in a house. You gain great security from knowing where all the furniture is. Imagine, then, what it would be like if furniture is constantly moved. This is what it may be like for a young child if we are inconsistent with our boundaries. Our children want us to be confident captains of the ship. We can also be aware and sensitive Zen captains.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Blessing of Acceptance -- from the nursery

Dear Parent & Child Families,

I had the fortune or misfortune to have my car broken into last weekend and my luggage stolen.  While it was stressful at the time, my window has been repaired, and I find I can live without or replace (with some help from insurance) other items in the car.  The event helped inspire me to listen to the words of Eckhart Tolle a lot and to think about his stories of monks or wise men who accepted tragedy or blessings with equanimity and a sameness of bearing.

In this state of mind, I thought of an article I often distributed to parents called, "The Blessing of Acceptance," from Wendy Mogel's book The Blessings of a Skinned Knee.  Waldorf teacher and lecturer Jack Petrash holds Mogel's book in high esteem, and has read from it at talks I have attended.  Her chapter on acceptance can be really helpful, I find, when things don't work out as perfectly or as smoothly as they might in an ideal sense.  I hope some of you find it helpful when the flow of home or school life encounters rocks and bumps.

Here is the article.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Winter Songs and Classroom Songs

Dear Families,

It was a delight for me to start the session again on Thursday and Friday and share the joy of life and play and work with you and your children.

Here are lyrics and words to songs or verses I speak or sing throughout the morning.

Here are the words for my rhymes and songs about snow and polar bears.

New and returning parents might notice that a lot of my circle material comes from Wilma Ellersiek.  She was a German university professor of drama and music and movement who, when she became alarmed at how academic German kindergartens were becoming in the 1950s, created a host of reverent or lively songs and gesture games for children--and children and parents together.  These songs and verses were intended as an antidote to too much academic information too early.  Even though the government realized that academic kindergartens interfered with long term school success and allowed kindergartens to follow the play model of Froebel again, Ellersiek had become passionate about here work and continued writing and composing for decades.  The story goes that she met Waldorf kindergarten teacher Klara Hatterman in the black forest on vacation, the two realized they had a lot in common, and Hatterman brought Ellersiek's songs and rhymes into her kindergarten and then into the greater Waldorf community.  Over the years I have observed that children adore Ellersiek's rhymes, and especially since one is unlikely to encounter them in other venues, I tend to use mostly Ellersiek games and rhymes and songs in class.  Kundry Willwerth, translator of the German games into English, writes about Ellersiek here.

Traditional nursery rhymes and songs are wonderful, too, and my predilection for Ellersiek songs in class is in no meant to steer you away from familiar songs like Twinkle, Twinkle or rhymes like "This Little Piggy." 

I look forward to seeing you next week.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Welcome again and snow policy

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5261864/pc-rhythm

Dear Parents,

I have included the link to a description of our class for a 2nd time for families who signed up since my last blog posting. I look forward to seeing you again (or meeting you for the first time) on Thursday and Friday this week.

As always, please bring a soup vegetable if you can.

While it is likely schools will open at their regular time tomorrow. The Whidbey Island Waldorf Schools follows the lead of South Whidbey public schools.

Our parent & child classes do the following:

If a one hour delay is reported, our class begins at 9am as usual.

If a two hour delay is reported, our class will run from 10 to noon.

If schools are closed, class is cancelled, and we will try to schedule a makeup class (either by having you visit twice in one week or some other method).

You can check schoolreport.org or call our school answering machine 360-341-5686 for snow updates.

With warmth and light and warming rain,

William Geoffrey Dolde

Return of the Polar Bear

The time for our winter session of parent & child classes draw near.  Remember that there are classes on both Thursdays and Fridays beginning January 13 and 14.  You may register for either day no matter the age of your child.  You can either contact our enrollment director at enrollment@whidbey.com, call the school (341-5686), or download the application by following this link.

The series of songs and verses about snow and polar bears will be familiar--indeed, these verses seem to be the ones children cherish the repetition of the most.  We will continue to make soup and bake bread.

For parents new to the program, here is a description of our morning.  Please contact me with any questions.

With warmth and light,

William Geoffrey Dolde