This afternoon at the Waldorf school Heute nachmittag in der Waldorfschule
I simply love to start Advent with walking the spiral. The school is always happy to see us, this time we even ran into Jonathan's and Charlotte's playgroup teacher. She was their teacher from 2001 to 2003! The teachers there do such a wonderful job singing and playing music during the spiral and the mood is so festive. Each person carries his apple candle to the middle, lights it, and walks out of the spiral placing the candle somewhere on the way. In case you are wondering, yes, we did go to church also and we do have our Advent wreath, but the spiral is something I would not want to miss. We took Jonathan and Charlotte to their first one back in 2000 when we were still in North Carolina and have been to one almost every year since then. Here are a few more pictures:
Für mich ist diese Adventsspirale ein wunderbarer Einstieg in den Advent. Die Waldorfschule freut sich immer, wenn wir kommen, wir haben sogar Jonathans und Charlottes Spielgruppenleiterin getroffen. Die Spielgruppe war von 2001 bis 2003, soooo lange her! Die Lehrer singen und machen Adventsmusik während jeder seine Apfelkerze zur Mitte trägt, sie dort entzündet und dann aus der Spirale wieder herausgeht, wobei man die Kerze abstellt. Wir waren heute morgen natürlich auch in der Kirche und haben auch unseren eigenen Adventskranz, aber diese Spirale will ich wirklich nicht missen. Jonathan und Charlotte haben ihre erste Spirale im Jahre 2000 erlebt, als wir noch in North Carolina waren. Seitdem haben wir fast jedes Jahr hier in New York mitgemacht. Und jetzt noch ein paar Fotos:
Apple candle preparation
Apfelkerzen werden vorbereitet
Where is all the snow???
Wo ist denn der Schnee geblieben???
In the foyer
In der Eingangshalle
Look, even the little gnomes have their apple candles!
Sogar die kleinen Zwerge haben ihre Apfelkerzen!
After the spiral
Nach der Spirale
Happy Advent, Eva :) It's a beautiful night. I love the gnomes' little apples! (You must have had a lot of rain to melt all that snow?!)
ReplyDeleteHappy Advent to you also. We were wondering how they had made those apple candles for the gnomes, but we were not sure. Yes, there was flooding in Buffalo, but we only got lots of rain.
DeleteI especially love "visiting" you during Advent, such beauty and peace :-)
ReplyDeleteAdvent Blessings to you all
San xx
Thanks for your kind words, San. I do try to find some peace and to relive all my childhood traditions. The spiral is not part of my childhood, but it has been part of my children's lives. It does make Advent extra special.
DeleteDie Spirale ist wirklich sehr stimmungsvoll. Wie schön, so etwas mitzuerleben.
ReplyDeleteEinen schönen Advent euch allen!
Ja, die Stimmung ist immer einmalig. Auch Euch eine schöne Adventszeit.
DeleteWunderschön! Wir wollen auch bald unsere Adventsspirale machen.
ReplyDeleteGibt es bei Euch Familien, die das zusammen machen? So haben wir diese Spiral zum ersten Mal erlebt. Es war ein Familienereignis mit vielen Eltern und kleinen Kindern in Durham in North Carolina. Dort gab es keine "öffentliche" Spirale.
DeleteBisher kennen wir niemanden, der daran interessiert wäre. Vielleicht ergibt es sich mal, wäre schön. Aber für jetzt ist es einfach nur wir 6, ist auch schön.
DeleteJa, vielleicht ergibt sich irgendwann etwas, das wäre doch schön. Gut, daß Ihr sechs Leute seid, dann ist es auch schon effektiv.
DeleteBeautiful Advent pictures! I hadn't seen Advent at a Waldorf school before. The gnomes are adorable!
ReplyDeleteThank you for your thoughts on formal lessons during the first two weeks of Advent. We are focusing on Advent Adventure by Holy Heroes, baking, and gift making. I was hoping to include a unit study of virtues that we need more time for than our usual school day allows. However, so far, we don't have time for the unit study now either-- which subjects do you do as unit studies? I'm thinking I will have to rotate out a subject in order to fit in some unit studies that I think would be good. I'm looking at: Shakespeare, logic, virtues, fairy tales, and finances as unit studies. Thoughts? Thank you!
God bless,
Barbara
Thanks, Barbara. Advent in a Waldorf school is like Advent in Germany. There is an Advent wreath, the Nikolaus comes, there are all the German Advent and Christmas songs, they celebrate St. Lucia, and normally have a Christmas play. I love to go there during this time because everything is so German and familiar.
DeleteYour ideas for unit studies sound good. I normally do them in history, geography, sometimes literature, science, and certain math topics (measurement and money for example). I think it really depends on interest and resources. It also matters if you want to do something like that for all children, a few children, or just a particular child. I tried to do something with virtues once, Emmanuel Books used to sell a program called P.A.C.E, but I never got very far with it and finally sold it. It felt too artificial. I think logic is better done a bit here, a bit there, and I don't do that until my children are about 14. I myself do not enjoy this at all, so I just give them books to read, like the ones from the Bluedorn Family. So I would say, whatever you feel comfortable with, whatever your children seem ready for, and whatever fits into your overall lessons would be good for a unit study.