We are looking for stories, pictures, video, anything about how your family came to Prairie Moon. These will be the birth stories for our school as we strive to keep it going strong for years to come.
Monika and I were gardening in the Summer of 2001 at our home in Lawrence. Realizing we were needing some mulch for our plantings, she ran to the local nursery for a few minutes to pick up some bags of mulch. She returned several hours later, having forgotten that she had wanted to go to a lecture scheduled that day by a Waldorf educator from the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education Program in Chicago. She attended the workshop sweaty and dirty in her overalls and, upon returning home, announced that we were to become involved with starting a Waldorf school in Lawrence. "What's a Waldorf School?" I asked. Thus began my journey on this amazing path of development. We contacted the couple, Marty and Juliana Haught, who arranged for this speaker to come to Lawrence and, along with Rick Mitchell, we formed the board for the Waldorf Association of Lawrence, set up a website, and began the work of drawing forward the other families who would help create and sustain the first Waldorf school in Kansas. What an amazing journey it has been. I'll see if I can find some of the photos to post from the Spring and Summer of 2005, when a core group of families began giving so generously of themselves to help transform the physical structure of the former Grant Elementary school building into a one-room Waldorf early childhood classroom. And then the families who came on the following Summer to to welcome the addition of our first Grades teacher, Bret Schacht, into the Prairie Moon family. Thanks, Chris, for beginning this blog!
Quinn and I had moved to Lawrence so I could finish grad school and he could attend Lawrence schools, which research told me were some of the best. Two months into Kindergarten and two months into grad school, Quinn begging and pleading to NOT go to school, not sleeping, altogether freaking out, it was clear that we needed something different. I took him out, not knowing what our next step would be... other options were not at all promising. Another move??? In Spring, 2005, paging through the Arts Center publication (looking for something to keep Q. busy!) I saw the Prairie Moon Ad. I immediately called and spoke with Monika (for over an hour) and within the week, enrolled Quinn in Kindergarten at Prairie Moon beginning Fall, 2005. Happy! Happy! We participated in work days, met dear friends, and Quinn each day would come home telling me stories, singing songs...THIS was what we were looking for! A little less angelic perhaps, but my Quinn still looks forward to school. He recently stayed home sick (really sick - coughing, sore throat) but by 1:00 was BEGGING me to take him to school since roles for the play were being named. He commented that he can never miss school without missing out on something important. What an idea!
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Monika and I were gardening in the Summer of 2001 at our home in Lawrence. Realizing we were needing some mulch for our plantings, she ran to the local nursery for a few minutes to pick up some bags of mulch. She returned several hours later, having forgotten that she had wanted to go to a lecture scheduled that day by a Waldorf educator from the Arcturus Rudolf Steiner Education Program in Chicago. She attended the workshop sweaty and dirty in her overalls and, upon returning home, announced that we were to become involved with starting a Waldorf school in Lawrence. "What's a Waldorf School?" I asked. Thus began my journey on this amazing path of development. We contacted the couple, Marty and Juliana Haught, who arranged for this speaker to come to Lawrence and, along with Rick Mitchell, we formed the board for the Waldorf Association of Lawrence, set up a website, and began the work of drawing forward the other families who would help create and sustain the first Waldorf school in Kansas. What an amazing journey it has been. I'll see if I can find some of the photos to post from the Spring and Summer of 2005, when a core group of families began giving so generously of themselves to help transform the physical structure of the former Grant Elementary school building into a one-room Waldorf early childhood classroom. And then the families who came on the following Summer to to welcome the addition of our first Grades teacher, Bret Schacht, into the Prairie Moon family. Thanks, Chris, for beginning this blog!
ReplyDeleteQuinn and I had moved to Lawrence so I could finish grad school and he could attend Lawrence schools, which research told me were some of the best. Two months into Kindergarten and two months into grad school, Quinn begging and pleading to NOT go to school, not sleeping, altogether freaking out, it was clear that we needed something different. I took him out, not knowing what our next step would be... other options were not at all promising. Another move??? In Spring, 2005, paging through the Arts Center publication (looking for something to keep Q. busy!) I saw the Prairie Moon Ad. I immediately called and spoke with Monika (for over an hour) and within the week, enrolled Quinn in Kindergarten at Prairie Moon beginning Fall, 2005. Happy! Happy! We participated in work days, met dear friends, and Quinn each day would come home telling me stories, singing songs...THIS was what we were looking for! A little less angelic perhaps, but my Quinn still looks forward to school. He recently stayed home sick (really sick - coughing, sore throat) but by 1:00 was BEGGING me to take him to school since roles for the play were being named. He commented that he can never miss school without missing out on something important. What an idea!
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