Today we will walk the many paths to and through the jungle school we send our kids to. When making our decision on where to settle while waiting for our daughter to fat tummy jump, one of our big deciding factors was education. The first time I walked the paths of this Steiner Waldorf Jungle school, nestled in the Guatemalan hillsides... I knew its where I wanted this unborn belly bump to go to school.
Let's start at the road. Here you see a boy and his ball just in front of where the path starts. Our kids walk straight up that little hill, up and up... all dirt and rocks from here forward.
A small creek rambles next to this path, you can normally here it....unless the ramble of children walking to class is louder.
Finally we arrive at the front gate.
Most of the class rooms are open to the gardens....as you move through the school you find little huts and palapas for the different age groups.
Currently our little girl and little boy are both in this classroom.
Age blurs in the classrooms, the teachers move the kids up when they are ready. In the classrooms there are only toys of wood and wool. Nothing synthetic and no bright colors.
There days are spent singing songs, making art, feeding rabbits and ocasional walks. When I think of how bored I was in school, how much I wined about having to go...and then I see how much they love going in the morning and how happy they come back at night...it seems my educational path was brick and mortar, while here is more bamboo and bird nest.
Here at this Steiner Waldorf the school goes until age 13... then we will have to figure out where to continue. Until then the kids get to look forward to transferring to the big kids classrooms...
It's hard to say what is right or wrong when it comes to education. We can only hope these paths chosen will lead to thriving kids who become thriving adults.
