As an Early Childhood Waldorf parent of two with one just entering the grades, I was glued to the book A Gift of Wonder by Kim Allsup to help light my way through our families new Waldorf journey. As I eagerly turned the pages, I began to understand what was really happening in my daughter's first grade classroom.
The author/teacher beautifully recounted her art of storytelling during main lesson time and genuinely described how Rudolf Steiner curriculum was designed to “matter deeply to children” as they grew and evolved each year.
This thoughtfully written true story of a Waldorf teacher holding her class from First Grade to Sixth, chronicled cherished moments between her and her students while at the same time showing us all…”school as it should be.”
As I visualized this Cape Cod Waldorf schools class beginning first grade and walked with them as they voyaged through the grades that followed, I was able to grasp the sense of timelessness in their old schoolhouse that encouraged childhood, and became fully aware of how Waldorf teachers were wonderfully “free to seize opportunities to spark wonder and harness engagement.”
It was clear that not only purposeful freedom and nurtured relationships were key, but the curriculum content was the MAGIC SAUCE…”truly soul food for the students” AND teacher. Kim Allsup fortified the brilliance of a distinguished education philosophy that has endured and flourished for one hundred years.
Whether they know it or not, children hunger for culture and for a classic and meaningful education that feeds and nourishes the soul. A Gift of Wonder illustrated school as it should be and reinforced why we walk through the doors of our own Waldorf schoolhouse everyday.
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