RUDOLF STEINER SCHOOL
BULLETIN JANUARY-FEBRUARY 2012
THE FIRST WALDORF SCHOOL IN NORTH AMERICA
THREE YEARS OF WHAT?
Not MY child! “Your son might stay for a third year of kindergarten.” These are not the words you expect to hear as a parent of a child in the second year of kindergarten. “What– my child is doing another year of kindergarten, really!?” Questions come fast and furious, laced with surprise, denial, fear and other assorted emotions. And these emotions may cloud what is being discussed: Your child and their readiness for first grade. My wife and I can only speak for our situation with our son. His older brother sailed on to the first grade after two years in the Downstairs Kindergarten. We expected the same trajectory for Leland so when the idea of a third year was mentioned during his first year of kindergarten we were, to put it mildly, a bit surprised. “How can you know so early? What if we work with him over the summer? We discussed it with his previous teacher, our older son’s teacher, our friends and professionals in the field. We gathered as much information as we could about the idea of red-shirting-- holding a child back early to better prepare him or her for the more regimented grade-years.
IN THIS ISSUE
Parent Letter
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And we also spoke to parents (mostly fathers) who had been pushed ahead as children and who even now, as adults, wished they had not been.
Therapeutic Eurythmy
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We talked with other parents who wished they had held their child back as they watch their child struggle to keep up in classes. We wanted what was best for our son. And what was evident from the beginning – though at times hard to see -- was that our child’s best-interests were to have him stay a third year in kindergarten.
Sports at Steiner Alumna Returns to Teach Committee Updates Community Marketplace
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