It wasn't the uniforms or the unpleasant breakfast served at 9am in the classroom. Nor was it the lack of decent outdoor time or frequent art classes. It wasn't the 1.5 hours we would spend at night going through the homework pack or lack of after school activities, and it wasn't even the movie they showed in the classroom, on day two.
It was all of this, combined with the overwhelming fear that I was single-handedly ruining her young life by stifling her in such a way. Combined with the fact that we could just eke by this year while paying the high tuition at the private school. Combined with the fact that after almost 30 weeks pregnant I was weepy and emotional and, maybe - just maybe - a little irrational.
That aside, we are happy with our switch. I don't know how long we can keep it up financially, but I'm not going to worry about it for now. Because for now...
Instead of spending the first two hours in seated, static reading time and the next 40 minutes writing, Bela spends the first two hours in form drawing, or arithmetic, or language arts - a class full of fairy tales and rich with vocabulary, one that walks them through the written language letter by letter and then inspires them to read the words they have been writing.
Instead of switching between library, art, and 1 (maybe 2) measly days of P.E., she spends the rest of each day involved in Spanish class, Chinese, Beeswax modeling, Painting, Movement, Eurythmy, Music, and knitting. She gets more than 1 hour of outdoor time every day. The subjects blend together - her teacher does such a good job of integrating art and music and story into every aspect of the curriculum. School life is rich with festivals. The teacher to student ratio is 1:17 and not 1:35.
And yes, maybe Steiner is a little far out there, even for me. Maybe I find some of the spiritual talk the tiniest bit hippy-dippy. But for now? For now, I couldn't be happier. Richer, maybe. But not happier.
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