John's Birthday Continues

Uncle Ryan and Aunt Jinette bought John a sensory/water table!  It is HUGE!  They dropped it off on the porch one night late after we were all in bed.  When John woke up to a huge box on the porch, I was a bit nervous to open it and set it up--- I was thinking, Should I just wait until summer when I can have it in the back yard?  Well, that didn't last!  Ryan and John set it up the table on Saturday while I went to the gym.  They filled it with noodles, rice and dried beans.  SOOO FUN! There are beans, rice and noodle pieces everywhere in our house, everywhere!  Thanks Ryan and Jinette!  Rumor has it Ryan will be in town for a couple days coming up... we would love to have you over for some sensory play!! ;D

Aunt Kelli came over on Friday barring gifts, too.  Kelli came over and brought John the big cardboard building blocks!  WooHoo!  John helped tear the package apart and was sure Kelli and I were very efficient while putting the blocks together.  Both Kelli and I had "cardboard cuts" by the time all 65 were folded.

Ryan loves the blocks as much as John, their favorite is building a wall with a window to peak through! :)

It was really fun to have Kelli over, she helped feed Stephen his lunch, played with John and helped get everyone ready to go to the Dr.  Oh how I love an extra set of hands!   And the company- adult interaction!!!  It sounds like we have a standing lunch play date every other Friday....  I'm so excited!  It will be really fun for all of us, John and Stephen just love their Auntie! <3

 





 If you are looking for a birthday gift for a 2 year old... these are both excellent ideas!! :)

And, Moon Sand it a great one too!! ;D  Auntie Sara bought John this really weird dough/clay/sand stuff.  It is hard to explain, but a HUGE, HUGE hit with John!  He knows it makes a disaster, which is probably his favorite part of it. haha  We (I) am excited for this summer-  we will be playing with it in the sensory table, outside!! :D Yay for messy, super fun toys!  John loves to make messes!

Here is Stephen up on all fours...

Waldorf, In Review

I will just speak for myself here...
I couldn't agree more with the philosophy of Waldorf!
It is an extremely nurturing, safe school. They really look at the child as a whole, every part counts. I love this.  At the end of the day, I would rather have our kids have all B's and be involved in sports, volunteer, do family things, have a social life, etc.
Ryan and I went to a reading class that was geared towards 2nd graders.  The teacher was so engaging, he could rattle off rhyming stories and songs that were very intricate.  I was so impressed and truly excited for the next part of the lesson- I could have listened to him all day.  He talked about the method they use to teach the children how to write a story. First, they come up with the picture of their story then write the words.  DUH!  It was really an "ah ha" moment for me. 
When I was the student, as soon as the teacher said, "today we are going to write a story about an elephant" (or whatever for that matter) I was immediately drowning in anxiety.  My mind would be racing a million miles an hour... What would the elephant do? What should the first line be? How should it end? Should he be nice? Mean? Funny? Ahh, BARF!  I felt so relaxed at Waldorf, they teach by having the child see the whole picture, and then put it on paper.  Completely the opposite of a traditional school.

My BIG hesitation was that they are years behind a traditional school.  They actually don't teach the children to read until they are in second grade!  EEK.  I get a pit in my stomach thinking about that.  Having worked in a traditional preschool, I was teaching preschoolers what the 1st graders at Waldorf were learning.

Ryan and I are going to go visit a couple other schools. I do think Waldorf may be the perfect fit for our family for Preschool and Kindergarten.  We are not sold on the grade school part....yet.  
The search continues.