What builds a home
Last weekend, as you know, I was fortunate enough to attend the Rahima Baldwin conference at Cedarwood Waldorf School. It was as wonderful as I imagined it would be. Rahima is such an amazing speaker, she really reaches out to everyone. I think everyone there left on a high after hearing her speak. Her question and answer session was almost as insightful as her speech itself. It was so great to be around so many Waldorf parents, I have to say I have never seen so many knitting needles going at once!
Some highlights that really got to me from her speech:
"Nurturing is invisible"
How true is that?! Does your significant other ever ask you what you did all day at home with the kids and you can not come up with one thing? You know you've done so much, calmed down fears, rescued dearly loved dolls from dragons (or in our house - Paw Paw), sang silly songs, alleviated melt downs, kissed away boo boos; the list just keeps going.... But yet you can't seem to put it into words.
"Doing things rhythmically simplifies life"
I think that one speaks for itself.
"Teach tolerance but stand strong"
That one really got to me because I really try to teach tolerance but standing strong is hard for me. With C it's a bit easier but with K I know I am a push over at times and I need to work on that.
A couple other great quotes to note:
"Children learn what they live"
"Reverence and Gratitude - two of the most important things in life"
The 8th graders played us some beautiful music as we left to raise money for a field trip to Costa Rica.
One of the high points of the conference for me was meeting Kyrie and Kate. I don't think I could express how sweet both of these ladies are. I felt so comfortable and at home with both of them. And Kyrie's sweet baby girl - OH MY! Her beautiful pictures don't even begin to do justice for her cuteness!! Kyrie and Kate are both even sweeter than their blogs could ever try to show. If you haven't checked them out before, please do so now! Thank you ladies for the wonderful day!!
I did not take any pictures of the conference itself other than the first image on this post but I did get a few shots of the classrooms during the tour at Cedarwood.
I will leave you with those as I get back to my Halloween madness! Have a great weekend and Happy Halloween!
The daily classroom rhythm
Entering one of the Kindergarten classrooms
Rainbow of play cloths
Beautiful window
Kindergarten toys
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I just re-read this post and I must apologize. I typed this up on about 2 hours of sleep so my brain is still in sleep mode!
14 comments:
what a great post nicole. and what a lucky lady you are. my mom always used to go to rahima baldwin's conferences when she still lived in ann arbor and always came back so inspired.
You are so so soooo lucky! I am so jealous! Thanks for sharing with me--I really needed a bit of parenting inspiration today! Happy weekend!
OMG, how much do I love seeing pictures of Waldorf classrooms? Thank you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Rosaleen
xxx
Oh, I am so jealous that you got to go to that conference! As I am expecting another baby, I have recently been reading some of Rahima's older books on natural childbirth and pregnancy and have found those to be just as wonderful as YAYCFT! And the group of knitters in the audience is just funny :)
lovely classroom ;o)
thank you Nicole for posting this. I was unable to attend the conference this weekend and hearing about your experience was exactly what I needed today. :)
What a wonderful post. Thank you for sharing. I HAVE to ask, where on earth did you find those spectacular red mushroom shoes pictured in your header? My Stella is obsessed with red shoes, and mushrooms, so these are practically Heaven.
Ah lovely :-) I was just watching a youtube video of Rahima last night! In case anyone is interested: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-EjMggbjoRQ
excellent post and the pictures are so beautiful!
thank you for sharing these words of wisdom nicole! listening to rahima certainly must of been incredibly inspiring! waldorf classrooms are always so filled with warmth and beauty, you truly must of felt so at home!
I loved this post Nicole!...I really wish I could go to one of Rahima's conferences...And the pictures of the school are lovely and so inspiring :-)
Beautiful post. I find the images of the classrooms so comforting. I think that is what draws me to waldorf. I never get tired of seeing schools, waldorf children or classrooms.
I have to agree with you all 100%. If I could live in a Waldorf kindi classroom I think I would never be stressed. They are just so warm and relaxing *sigh* Oh to dream!!
AmyJ - The boots are by Livie and Luca.
Hope everyone had a great weekend!
Thank you for sharing. How wonderful to be able to attend such a conference and to get inspired for your daily work with your own children.
Thank you for sharing.
Warm wishes.
Beautiful thoughts, and photographs too. Thank you for sharing!
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