Friday, June 12, 2009

Bye, Bye LilleBo!
End of School Year Party.
Our first whole year in a preschool/Dagis here in Sweden is officially over. We had a lovely ceremony at the Waldorf School to complete SwedeGirls's year. The parents gathered before the ceremony to learn songs and make wild flower head wreaths for the children.
I got to chat (in english) with some of the other parents. I even made a new friend that had her baby at home! That's the beauty of Waldorf schools- the people attracted to them are lively, soulful, and always interesting. I have plans to see a couple of the families we have met at the school over our summer break.
The finished wreaths

We set up lovely food for our potluck lunch.

We admired the beauty of the school itself!

And surprised the children, welcoming them into a room, adorning them with flowered wreaths, and singing to them. The teachers played a special song on the lyres. A nice little bit was made of the importance of closing of the school year, and thank yous said.

Her teachers from this year


I am truly grateful for our school . It is part of the regular Swedish Dagis system that provides government funded preschool. In the USA, and in Denmark(I learned from our Danish friends today), Waldorf schools are private and very pricey. Because this is public and well funded, the teachers are well trained, the students are economically diverse, and we do not have the constant stress and bad personal dynamics that go with being a tiny, fledgling, economically struggling private school like most American Waldorf Schools. We are fortunate to have a sense of stability at our school that is absent in most American Waldorf schools. We are grateful for the chance to go to this school, which extends all the way through the grades to high school. Will we stay? Time will tell. I was pretty intrigued at the Spring festival seeing the pictures of the high school kids' on their school trip to Africa. This year we had the most minute complaints (wishing the youngest were more included in the festival preparations and performances), but overall we have been very happy at cozy LilleBo.

7 comments:

lesliesparkman said...

sounds wonderful Heidi! i'm a little envious i must say. we miss the Waldorf education since we have been homeschooling but don't miss the madness and drama of our small school here. Bennett may go to the Kindergarten next year because Jackson's experience was so amazing. glad to see you are happy and doing well. take care
Leslie Sparkman

Liquid Pen said...

That looks so sweet. I love the flower wreaths. Happy year one in Sweden! It kind of flew by....and kind of not.

SwedeLife said...

Not one year yet, just one SCHOOL YEAR. Our annioversary here will be something for sure, but not for another month!

Rose said...

Oh wow. I don't even know what to say except that you are so. blessed.

(And so is The Swede Girl!)

Stephanie said...

My brother was a music teacher at a Waldorf school in the states and really liked it. It looks like a fun place to go to school!

Also, I had a pregnancy question. Do you think it is worth it for me to buy this while I'm in the states to take during the last month of pregnancy? You seem to know your stuff when it comes to pregnancy! http://www.mountainmeadowherbs.com/gentle-birth-formula-p-31.html?sort=1a&page=1

Unknown said...

Very lovely way to end the year at school for her! Much nicer than my experiences at grade 8 graduations here in Maine (happy I am now retired from teaching!) Looking forward to reading and enjoying more of your posts.

MermaidLilli said...

This post was so lovely! Just got home and so glad to read all these posts. Your life there seems so rich! LOVE