During these days of COVID-19, A parent's perspective on why SWS is her family's choice
Dear Fellow Seacoast Waldorf Families:
With summer upon us, this is the time we begin to consider next year’s school plan for
our children. As such, I wanted to reach out and share my thoughts with all of you.
As my immediate family and I have “social-distanced” at home for the last two and a half months, I realize how privileged we are. I have had the ability to work from home, as has my wife. Our children have lots of outdoor space where they can play freely. My parents live next door and so have been part of our social distancing group, providing us with both their company and childcare. And luckily, we have been healthy.
Now, as we begin to think about the next school year, I feel great relief because I know
our children will be attending the Seacoast Waldorf School. If it is a return to a “regular” school year – our boys will return to a school, an education, a community, and a philosophy that nurtures them as children, challenges them physically and mentally, stimulates their curiosity for learning, and instills in them empathy and kindness to others. If they return, most likely, to a school year with some sort of social distance rules/learning, then I know we have the unique benefits of the following:
Small Classes:
With SWS class sizes averaging between 6 to 12 students, our children may fit in their classrooms while maintaining social distancing rules; unlike our neighboring public schools which have 20-25 students per class and little space to move around safely
SWS Campus:
With small classes and 5 acres of woods, fields, and trails – our children will have the space and freedom to be outside, not confined to limited play space or recess time
With class designated play space for the Early Childhood programs – we can be confident our younger children will be able to freely use their play equipment and play areas safely
On-line Learning:
At the back of my mind was always an underlying worry – am I putting our children at a disadvantage by restricting their access to electronics? I have my answer! All those Waldorf teachers and parents of alumni were correct: our kids learn quickly – as I have seen these past two months! My children know more about Zoom than I do!
But here is the advantage: our SWS teachers are bringing creative and substantive content to the online learning. Their assignments aren’t simply to have the kids type their answers to questions on the computer – their assignments, while given online, have our children writing in their traditional Main Lesson Books; they are modeling with beeswax; they are coloring with traditional colored pencils and beeswax crayons; they are writing in cursive; they are painting with water colors; they are practicing their form drawings; they are going outdoors and building forts and crawling in basements for their Shelter lessons or measuring trees and planting seeds for their Botany course; they are knitting and embroidering. Their instructions may be online – but the real work, the real learning, is so much more.
Student/Teacher Ratio:
Our SWS teachers can focus on our students. Rather than dividing their online (or in person) time amongst 20 or 25 students, our main lesson teachers can spend extra time with their class of 6-12 students. They can provide more one-on-one meetings with their students each week than teachers of large classes; they can provide interactive zoom meetings with smaller classes (something very difficult to do with a class of 25); they have the ability to bring real depth to each class – not just busy work.
Knowing this, I cannot imagine sending my children anywhere other than SWS next year. I cannot imagine transitioning them to a school where they will not know their peers, or their teacher; not at a time like this.
Teaching from home is hard; I have not heard of a single teacher – public or private –
who likes teaching our children on-line. But if I had to choose a teacher who had ten students versus a teacher who had twenty-five – you better believe I will choose the smaller class. This spring left a lot to be desired by students, parents, and teachers across our nation. All schools are now gearing up for the likelihood of new classroom designs and/or on-line learning in the fall. Our school is no different. I know our teachers are working hard this summer to ensure that we have a content-rich, high-contact education plan for the fall. If ever there was a time to choose SWS over other school options – this is it. These are the teachers that know and care about our children – and this is the curriculum and attention that I want my children to receive.
My children are looking forward to another SWS school year in the fall – I hope all of
yours are, too.
Warmly,
Hesper Schleiderer-Hardy
Parent of 2 children in the Grades program